Middle East

TeleSur | – – The city and its ruins, designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1980, have traded hands several times during Syria’s six-year civil war. The 15-year-old’s voice floated over the ancient Roman theater, heavily damaged then abandoned by Islamic State group members Thursday as Syrian army forces drew near, eventually liberating the […]

Donald Trump

All the President’s Generals: Do they Want War with Iran?

contributors

By William D. Hartung | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – In the splurge of “news,” media-bashing, and Bannonism that’s been Donald Trump’s domestic version of a shock-and-awe campaign, it’s easy to forget just how much of what the new president and his administration have done so far is simply an intensification of trends long underway. […]

Copts

Sectarian Tensions Flare in Egypt as Christians flee ISIL in Sinai

contributors

By Brian Whitaker | (Al-Bab.com) | – – Several hundred Egyptian Christians have fled their homes in North Sinai over the last few days following a series of murders attributed to supporters of the so-called Islamic State. Since the end of January at least seven people have been attacked and killed in the provincial capital, […]

Bernie Sanders

From Bernie Sanders to Harel: Why is Acknowledging Israeli Apartheid a Shock?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – On Monday, Bernie Sanders gave a historic speech at J Street, the liberal pro-Israel lobby that still believes in a two state solution. The lying roll of soiled toilet paper that is Breitbart (Trump’s party organ) reported with horror that Sanders had addressed an “anti-Israel” group. […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Palmyra: Trump about to find out that Hizbullah best anti-ISIL Fighters

contributors

TeleSur | – – The so-called Islamic State group [ISIL] has razed ancient monuments during both of its spells in control of Palmyra, a destruction the United Nations has condemned as a war crime. Syrian government forces and their allies fought their way into Palmyra Wednesday, driving back ISIL who have held the historic city […]

Israel/ Palestine

Joining N. Korea, Israel denies Human Rights Watch Work Permit

contributors

IMEMC | – – Israeli authorities have denied Human Rights Watch’s application for a work permit for its Israel and Palestine director, on the grounds that it is not a real human rights group, the organization said, according to Al Mezan Center for Human Rights. In its February 20, 2017 letter denying a work permit […]

Iraq

ISIL: In Iraq’s desert, mass grave horror beneath the dirt

contributors

AFP | (Video News Report) | – – “The sinkhole that could be the largest mass grave in Iraq’s latest conflict is barely visible from the road, nothing more than a small depression behind a desert ridge near Mosul. The Islamic State group transformed the Khasfah into a “place of death”, using it as an […]

Iraq

After Mosul: Can Iraq survive without a unified National Army?

contributors

By Balsam Mustafa | (The Conversation) | – – The operation to retake Iraq’s second city of Mosul from the so-called Islamic State [group] (IS) has entered its crucial phase. The Iraqi army, federal police, elite counter-terrorism units, and rapid response troops are operating on the ground, bolstered by discreetly embedded US special forces. The […]

censorship

Turkey’s Coup aftermath and Human Rights: A Feminist Perspective

contributors

By Banu Gökarıksel | ( Duke University Blog ) | – – Feminist critiques of political power reveal the central function of gender, sexuality, and difference in maintaining that power. Yet, in current events, a feminist geopolitics is rarely considered and has been absent from analysis of the 2016 coup attempt and its aftermath in […]