Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – On Wednesday President Vladimir Putin addressed the Russian parliament on the 75th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s attack on his country. He said Russia would have to increase its military preparedness given NATO’s “aggressive” actions on Russia’s borders. (He was talking about NATO defensive moves in Poland […]

Israel/ Palestine

Palestine’s ‘prayer for rain’: How Israel uses water as a weapon of war

contributors

By Ramzy Baroud | ( Ma’an News Agency) | – – Entire communities in the West Bank either have no access to water or have had their water supply reduced almost by half. This alarming development has been taking place for weeks, since Israel’s national water company, “Mekorot”, decided to cut off — or significantly […]

Dissent

Erdogan loses appeal against German media re: Comedian who Satirized him

contributors

By EurActiv.com with AFP Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lost a German court battle against a top media boss when his appeal in a bitter row over free speech was thrown out. Erdoğan had sought a court order to stop the Axel Springer media group’s chief Mathias Doepfner from repeating support for a TV satirist […]

Israel/ Palestine

Livni Slams Netanyahu, Calls for Israeli Referendum on Two-state Solution

contributors

By IMEMC | – – Zionist Union member of the Israeli parliament of the Knesset, Tzipi Livni, called for a referendum, Saturday afternoon, over what she reduced to a “problem” with Palestinians. Speaking at an event in the Israeli city of Rishon LeZion, south of Tel Aviv, Livni censured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel approves $18.6 mn in new funding for Squatter settlements in Palestinian West Bank

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Israeli government approved on Sunday the allocation of an additional 72 million shekels (about $18.6 million) to settlements in the occupied West Bank due to the “worsening security situation” in the territory, according to Israeli media. The funds to illegal settlement communities will reportedly include […]

Corruption

Why don’t Technocrats think the cure for Iraqi Corruption more Democracy? It is Everywhere Else!

contributors

Usman W. Chohan | (The Conversation) | – – The tragedy of modern Iraq is often studied with a humanitarian, moral, religious, political or military lens, but fiscal perspectives are much harder to come by. In strong democracies, it is almost considered a given that a legislature helps oversee the budget, and its oversight supports […]

Featured

Pyrrhic Victory? As Iraq rolls back Daesh, can it stay together as a Country?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – From all accounts, most people in Fallujah are very happy about being out from under the murderous and puritanical rule of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). But Daesh took the city in January of 2014 for a reason. Locals did not put up much of a fight to […]

Iraq

How ISIL is losing al-Anbar Province: Corruption, Reckless Driving, Carelessness w/ Secrets

contributors

Niqash.org | Baghdad | – – “Newsletters sent to Islamic State fighters in Anbar indicate the group’s problems with bad drivers and corruption. It also shows a decentralized command structure that ensures the group’s ongoing survival.” A cache of internal correspondence and newsletters, sent by senior members of the extremist group known as the Islamic […]

Authoritarianism

The rise and fall of Turkey’s progressive opposition

contributors

By Nick Ashdown | ( OpenDemocracy) | – – Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition party, the HDP roared into parliament on the back of a rainbow coalition of alienated progressives and minorities. Now, armed conflict is pulling it back into the messy tangle of Kurdish politics. “It started like a forest fire,” said HDP deputy and honorary president Ertuğrul […]