Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The London pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat reports that the rebel opposition allied with al-Qaeda broke the ceasefire Saturday morning, taking several villages and towns in the southern hinterlands of Aleppo. The attack was launched with suicide car-bombers who detonated their payload, targeting Syrian Arab Army troops and […]

Climate Change

3 Surprising reasons Saudi Arabia may be getting out of the Oil Business

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Saudi crown prince Muhammad bin Salman announced Friday that Saudi Arabia would use its oil assets to back a $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund. The move suggested to many observers that the kingdom is preparing for a likely end of the petroleum business and transitioning to […]

Israel/ Palestine

Palestinian rights group submits Israeli war crimes report to Int’l Criminal Court

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — In ongoing efforts to hold Israel accountable for gross violations of international law, Palestinian legal rights group Badil has published key findings on alleged war crimes during the 2014 Gaza war that the group submitted to the International Criminal Court earlier this month. The report documents […]

Featured

Turkey’s Erdogan exports Press crackdown to US as his guards manhandle Journalists in DC

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Turkish President Erdogan visited Washington DC this week to participate in the deliberations on nuclear weapons. He brought with him some bad habits and some bad actors in his security detail, according to WaPo’s Ishaan Tharoor. Some pro-Kurdish protesters gathered to protest Erdogan’s visit. Then when […]

Iraq

Iraq: Shiite Militias issue threats against US Troops going to Iraq to fight Salafi ISIL

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – Recently US troops started fighting the [so-called] Islamic State in Iraq [ISIL], with ‘boots on the ground’. But is keeping a distance between the US and some old Shiite enemies hampering the fight? Or is it just good tactics? Iraqis found out that just about […]

Israel/ Palestine

Palestine: It’s not the Economy, Stupid

contributors

By Yossi Alpher | ( OpenDemocracy) | – – By all means, give the Palestinians development aid. But let us not delude ourselves that this will facilitate a two-state solution anytime soon. One of the most persistent and constant themes in both the Israeli and the international approach to the Palestinian issue has been the […]

Israel/ Palestine

Americans Must Challenge Congress on its Knee-Jerk Support for Israeli Expansionism

contributors

By Thomas Buonomo | (Informed Comment) | – – With recent reports of a potential last-year attempt by the Obama administration to set the parameters of a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict–which could perhaps include a UN Security Council resolution–it is important to assess the political context in order to estimate the prospects for substantive […]

Featured

Syria Endgame: Are Russia and US Planning overthrow of ISIL in al-Raqqa?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Russian press had been complaining that the West was ignoring its defeat of terrorism in Syria. But now the Russian press is saying that the US and the Russian Federation are jointly planning to liberate the Syrian city of al-Raqqa, the capital of the phony […]

Israel/ Palestine

On Palestinian Land Day, Israel has usurped 90% of Jordan Valley in W. Bank

contributors

By Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics IMEMC | – – The following is a press release by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistic (PCBS), marking the fortieth anniversary of the Palestinian Land . . . . . . Israeli Occupation . . . set up a buffer zone along the border of the Gaza Strip […]