Middle East

Zein Basravi | Al Jazeera English | (Video News Report) | – – “Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was in Tehran on Sunday, his first visit since US President Donald Trump told Congress that Iran is not complying with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), more commonly known as […]

Israel/ Palestine

Widespread theft of Palestinian olive harvest by Israeli Squatters

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Over the past few days, Israeli settlers have reportedly stolen the harvest of hundreds of Palestinian olive trees in the northern occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian sources. Official Palestinian Authority (PA)-owned Wafa news agency reported that Israeli settlers from the illegal Kedumim settlement, stole the […]

Featured

Barzani gambled it all and Lost– Kurdistan Pres. ending Career

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani has written a letter to the parliament of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government announcing that he will not run for president again and will go out of office on November 1 as his much-extended term of office ends. Barzani had taken heart from […]

Iraq

Iraq: How Youtube & Facebook Fake News Raised Kurdish-Shiite Tensions

Juan Cole

By Histyar Qader | Erbil | (Niqash.org) | – – After clashes in northern Iraq this week, hundreds of fake pictures have flooded Iraqi social media. Some are real, some not, but leaders on both sides say it’s leading to a dangerous escalation of tensions. Given the partisan nature of much of the media funding […]

Feminism

Saudi women between online resistance and new physical realities

contributors

Heyla Selim | ( GlobalVoices.net ) | – – What role did collective action, and social media play in Saudi Arabia’s decision to lift its ban on women driving? Picture of the author taken in 2015 by Lujain Mirza as part of her research project about visual representation of Saudi Women at Brighton University. All […]

Featured

Continued Conflict: Iraqi PM rejects Kurdish offer, insists Referendum be Annulled

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi was in Tehran on Thursday for consultations with the Iranian government (no, Abadi isn’t afraid of Trump.). During his meeting with Iranian vice president Ishaq Jahangiri, his office released a statement replying to Massoud Barzani. Barzani is the president of the […]

Iraq

Iraqi Arabs & Kurds Use Weapons, Meant For Extremists, On Each Other

contributors

Shalaw Mohammed | (Kirkuk) | (Niqash.org) | – – The countries that gave the Iraqi and Kurdish military rockets, vehicles and guns were concerned that locals might turn the guns on one another. They just didn’t think it would happen so soon. In the various military skirmishes that have erupted during the movement of troops […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israeli settlers attack Palestinians picking olives near Nablus: Caught on Film

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers reportedly attacked Palestinians who were harvesting olvies in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus on Thursday, injuring three Palestinians, including one woman. Ghassan Daghlas, an official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank told Ma’an that Israeli settlers from the […]

Iran

Fundamentalism overrules Science in Iran (See, they’re just like us)

contributors

By Golnaz Esfandiari | ( RFE/RL) | – – Getting a minister approved in Iran is not a perfect science; finding the right formula for the sensitive post of science minister is particularly difficult. More than two months after beginning his second term in office, President Hassan Rohani is still looking to complete his cabinet. […]