Syria

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Last week during the visit of the Finnish president, Trump acted out with a journalist, James Mason of Reuters who asked him a simple question. What exactly did Trump want from Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky during the notorious July telephone call? Trump did a bad de Niro impression, asking him, […]

Donald Trump

Is Turkey planning an attack on Syrian Kurds?

Reese Erlich

ISTANBUL —The Turkish government plans to use Syrian refugees to displace the local Kurdish population in northern Syria. But so far, the scheme isn’t working so well. Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayep Erdoğan announced his intention to settle up to two million refugees now living in Turkey into northern Syria. “We aim to accelerate […]

Featured

The Saudi Axis and Israel’s Drone War on the Shiite Crescent

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In the past week, Linah al-Saafin at Al Jazeera English points out, an Israeli drone hit a Hizbullah target in Lebanon, Israeli fighter jets bombed a base in Syria with Iranian personnel, and Israel somehow hit bases of a Shiite militia in Iraq, including one on the Syria-Iraq border, killing […]

Archaeology

Thousands of Years of World’s Heritage Endangered in Syria, Cradle of Civilization

The Conversation

By Lubna Omar | – I used to be a Near Eastern archaeologist working in Syria. Nowadays, I am stuck in academic purgatory, observing from a great distance as the country burns, unable to help protect its history or its present. Syria sits within what’s known as the cradle of civilization. It’s part of the […]

Immigration

US Homeland Security could return Syrian Refugees in US to Violence, Arrest, Torture under al-Assad

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (Washington, DC) – The US should renew its grant of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to almost 7,000 Syrians living in the United States, Human Rights Watch said today. People forced to return to Syria still face violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture. Destroyed house from US-led coalition strike that killed 13 […]

Displaced and Refugees

Are Syrian Refugees a Danger to the West?

The Conversation

By Arie Kruglanski, David Webber, Erica Molinario and Katarzyna Jaśko | – While today’s news is full of stories about refugees and migrants to the U.S. from Central America, the plight of those particular refugees is only part of an international migration crisis that has been going on since 2015 and has driven 25.9 million […]

Afghanistan

Majority of US Veterans doubt Value of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria Wars: Pew

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A Pew Research Center opinion poll conducted among 1,284 veterans who had served since 2001 (which also polled 1,087 American civilians as a control), found that a majority of veterans holds that the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars and the intervention against ISIl in Syria were not worth it. The results […]

Syria

Syria: US Coalition needs to Reimburse Civilians for Thousands of Innocents Killed and Massive Property Destruction in fight against ISIL

Human Rights Watch

First Public ‘Condolence’ Payment Provides Way Forward

Featured

Trump Heights on Stolen Golan an Indictment of Colonial White Privilege

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a publicity stunt Trumpian in its iniquity and emptiness, the government of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu put up a sign in the Occupied Syrian Golan Heights, saying “Trump Heights.” There isn’t really any settlement there yet, just a sign, just as there isn’t any reality to Trump more […]