Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Reuters reports that on Friday, Turkey began cross-border shelling of the Kurdish-majority Afrin canton in northern Syria. There are also reports of busloads of Sunni Arab guerrillas of the rebel Free Syrian Army, who had been sheltered in Turkey, being sent into Afrin. The region is […]

Iraq

A Mountain Kingdom? Iraqi leaders unconcerned About New PKK ‘Region’

Juan Cole

Special Correspondent | Erbil | (Niqash.org) | – – Late last month the Kurdistan Worker’s Party – an organization some describe as terrorist – declared a region of self-rule in the Qandil mountains. Strangely enough, nobody seems all that upset about their claim. The road into the Qandil mountain area run by the PKK. Only […]

Featured

Russia accuses US of destabilizing Syria with Kurdish-Turkish Clash

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s angry threat to invade a Syrian Kurdish canton in response to the US announcement that it would train and arm a 30,000-man Syrian Kurdish border force produced anxiety in Moscow. Russia has made a big bet, worth billions of rubles and involving […]

Djibouti

Turkey to deploy 60,000 soldiers in bases abroad, including in Qatar

contributors

Middle East Monitor |- – 60,000 armed Turkish soldiers will be deployed across four military bases abroad in accordance with a new 2022 plan, The New Khalij reported today. The Turkish National Security Council finalised the plan yesterday, in order to meet Turkey’s military and commercial interests to support its allies. Turkey already has 3,000 […]

Featured

Trump Admin Commits to Forever War in Syria against Iran

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson gave a talk Wednesday at the right wing Hoover Institution that hovers over Stanford University, in which he committed to a Forever War in Syria. The talk was a mishmash of incompatible talking points and full of inaccurate and tendentious assertions, […]

Palestine

Despite Challenges, Palestine Plans Solar Energy in 500 Schools

contributors

TeleSur | – – While the U.S. and its leader dismiss climate change, the Palestinian government is endorsing renewable energy sources. Despite mounting pressure on the Palestinian government and people by both the U.S. administration and the Israeli occupation, Palestine is attempting to confront the global threat of climate change head on as it plans […]

Arab Spring

Tunisia is back on a knife edge – here’s why

contributors

By Pamela Abbott and Andrea Teti | (The Conversation) | – – While celebrating the seventh anniversary of the ousting of president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisians have been demonstrating against their government. Thousands have been taking to the streets in Tunis and throughout the country, in some cases leading to arrests and running battles […]

Iran

Rouhani: Iran won’t allow unfair pressure on Qatar

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that his country does not accept “unjustified and unfair pressure” exerted on the Qatari people and government. Rouhani made the remarks as he welcomed Qatar’s Parliament Speaker, Ahmed al-Hamoud, in Tehran, the Iranian official news agency reported. “Iran and Qatar have been and […]

Donald Trump

As US throws Kurds under the Bus, Is Turkey preparing to invade Syria?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The BBC reports that Turkish armed forces are massed on the border with Syria in preparation for a possible move into the Kurdish-held areas of Afrin and Manbij. The Kurdish militia, the YPG, took Manbij away from ISIL with US support. Afrin, home to some 500,000 […]