Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Josh Rogin of the Washington Post caused a stir by noticing something Secretary of State John Kerry said at Aspen last month. Kerry slammed Syrian al-Qaeda (Nusra Front) and Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), then said, “There are a couple of subgroups underneath the two designated — Daesh […]

Alawites

Is Religion really Driving Middle East Violence?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Pew Research has released a report saying that “As a whole, the region continued to have the highest levels of religious hostilities in the world. In 2014, the median level of religious hostilities in the Middle East and North Africa reached a level four times that […]

Houthi

Why are Saudi-led Airstrikes Targeting Civilian Factories in Yemen?

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – Unlawful Attacks Harm Economy, Show Need for Victim Compensation (Beirut) Saudi Arabia-led coalition airstrikes have unlawfully hit numerous factories, warehouses, and other civilian economic structures in Yemen. “The repeated coalition airstrikes on civilian factories appear intended to damage Yemen’s shattered economy long into the future,” said Priyanka Motaparthy, senior […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israeli cabinet approves $12.8 million to ‘strengthen’ Kiryat Arba squatter settlement on Palestinian Land

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Israeli cabinet approved on Sunday a 50 million shekel ($12.8 million) plan to “strengthen” the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba in the occupied West Bank, in a move which anti-settlement group Peace Now called a move by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “prioritize […]

Iran

Is Iran winning their Mideast Cold War with Saudi Arabia?

contributors

By Robert Harvey | (Project Syndicate) | – – LONDON – A cold war is taking place in a very hot place. A key component of the sectarian competition between Shia and Sunni Islam in the Middle East is geopolitical, with Iran facing off against Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies in a struggle for […]

African-Americans

Kurdish Women Fighting ISIL Send Solidarity to BlackLivesMatter

contributors

TeleSur | – – “You are among the most radical voices in today’s racist, sexist, capitalist world,” the YPJ wrote to Black Lives Matter. Fighters from the Kurdish Women’s Defense Units or YPJ, have sent a message of solidarity to the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States. “To our black sisters and brothers! […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syrian Troops foil al-Qaeda riposte in Aleppo as France warns al-Qaeda could replace ISIL

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Even as the Syrian army defeated a counter-offensive by al-Qaeda in Syria and its battlefield allies at Aleppo, French President Francois Hollande warned that al-Qaeda should not be allowed to replace the declining Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) in Syria. On Saturday and Sunday, al-Qaeda (the Nusra Front) […]

Iraq War

Why you can’t explain the Iraq War without mentioning oil

contributors

By Bulent Gökay | (The Conversation) | – – Well before the US and UK led the invasion of Iraq, the two countries were under suspicion about their intentions for Iraq’s oil. When asked on February 6 2003 in a BBC Newsnight programme whether the war in Iraq was about oil, Tony Blair responded: Let […]

Israel/ Palestine

Palestinian mayor: West Bank water crisis worsened by decaying infrastructure

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — An ongoing water crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory has been exacerbated by neglected infrastructure, the mayor of a town in the southern occupied West Bank said on Sunday. Beit Fajjar Mayor Akram Taqatqa said that his town’s water network had not had any maintenance work […]