Middle East

By By James Miller| ( RFE/RL ) | – – On June 29, 2014, when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gave a speech from the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, Iraq, announcing the formation of an Islamic caliphate, the newly proclaimed [so-called] "Islamic State" did indeed have many of the hallmarks of an actual state. It […]

Iraq

Will it ever be ‘Mission Accomplished’? Why Baghdad is Still Insecure

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | (Baghdad) | (Niqash.org) | – – The outskirts of Baghdad are very dangerous these days. Islamic State fighters hide here, mounting attacks on the city. A security barrier is planned but the real issue is intractable. While Baghdad is still the venue for many suicide bombers and car bombs, it is […]

Featured

Syria: As fierce Fighting reignites, Aleppo on brink of ‘Humanitarian Disaster’

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Syria’s largest city, Aleppo has seen a worrying outbreak of violence in the past week that could fatally undermine the cessation of hostilities that had held between most Free Syrian Army units and the Syrian Arab Army. The ceasefire did not extend to al-Qaeda or Daesh […]

Israel/ Palestine

Seven members of Israeli ‘terror cell’ indicted for dozens of attacks on Palestinian civilians & property

contributors

By Celine Hagbard | (IMEMC) | – – Updated. On Monday, an Israeli court indicted seven Israelis, including two sons of a leading rabbi, a soldier, and two minor teens, for participating in dozens of attacks against Palestinian civilians in the Hebron area, in the southern part of the West Bank. The Israeli court prosecutor […]

Fossil Fuels

The Collapse of the Old Oil Order

contributors

By Michael T. Klare | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Sunday, April 17th was the designated moment. The world’s leading oil producers were expected to bring fresh discipline to the chaotic petroleum market and spark a return to high prices. Meeting in Doha, the glittering capital of petroleum-rich Qatar, the oil ministers of the Organization […]

censorship

Egypt arrests Hundreds to Stop Protest, including Journalists, Lawyers

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (Beirut) – Egyptian security forces arrested at least 382 people in the days leading up to and during the dispersal of mostly peaceful protests on April 25, 2016. The protests followed a rare mass demonstration against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on April 15. Police arrested lawyers and […]

Kurds

Syrian Kurds: True Revolution must Liberate Women

contributors

By Rahila Gupta | ( OpenDemocracy ) In less than four years, the women’s umbrella organisation, Kongira Star, has set up an autonomous, grassroots, democratic structure which has resulted in shifting patriarchal mindsets and reversing gender discriminatory laws . . . On day three of my trip to Rojava, Nuvin and Essam from the media […]

Israel/ Palestine

Majority of Palestinian Youth support Violent Resistance to Israeli Occupation, despair of state of their own

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Palestinian youth in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank have widely disparate opinions on the ongoing wave of attacks by Palestinians, while all showed a dwindling of support for the two-states solution as a majority of youth continued to view political negotiations as an […]

Featured

Reinventing Saudi Arabia after Oil: The Prince’s $2 Trillion Gamble

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, 30, the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia laid out his vision for Saudi Arabia on Monday in a plan called “Vision 2030.” He wants to get Saudi Arabia off its oil dependence in only 4 years, by 2020, and wants to […]