Middle East

By Ingvild Bode | (The Conversation) | – – Since 2012, the war in Syria has lurched from one escalation to another. Syrians have been subjected to large-scale military force not only by their own government, but also by an array of rebel groups, Islamic State (IS), a US-led coalition and other states. The results […]

Iran

Can the Nuclear Deal survive the Iranian and American Elections?

contributors

By Farhang Jahanpour | (Inter Press Service) | – – OXFORD (IPS) – Although the implementation of Iranian nuclear deal has been welcomed by all those who had been involved in the negotiations as part of the P5+1, the deal has had many vociferous opponents. In the United States, the opposition to the Iranian deal […]

Israel/ Palestine

PA: Israel concealed prisoner’s hunger strike for 43 days

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs on Tuesday accused Israel of concealing a 43-day long hunger strike being undertaken by a Palestinian prisoner. Hanan al-Khatib, a lawyer with the committee, said the Israeli authorities had attempted to keep prisoner Muhammad al-Mahr out of the public […]

Banking

The Chinese are Coming: First ‘New Silk Road’ Train reaches Iran’s Capital

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In a sign of China’s increasingly powerful role in Central Asia and the Middle East, on Tuesday a Chinese train arrived in Tehran after a 14-day journey. The freight train just used existing rail links to go from China to Kazakhstan, then to Uzbekistan, then Turkmenistan, […]

Authoritarianism

Turkey: Erdogan’s Domestic War for a Presidential System

contributors

By Rosa Burç and Burak Çopur | TeleSur | – – The current war against the Kurds and oppositional voices is being waged to push an autocratic presidential system. The surprising electoral success of the pro-Kurdish HDP in last year’s June 7 elections denied the ruling AKP a majority for the first time since 2002 […]

Russia

Syria: Instead of a Cease-Fire, have Great Powers unleashed new Proxy Wars?

contributors

By Baher Kamal | (Inter Press Service) | – – MADRID (IPS) – – When 25 million Syrians–half of them refugees abroad or at home and the other half terrorised by daily bombing, learnt that major world leaders in their meeting in Germany launched an unprecedented confrontation threatening with unleashing World War III, instead of […]

Iraq

Confirmed: ISIL used Mustard Gas Against Kurds in Iraq

contributors

TeleSur | – – A chemical weapons investigator confirmed earlier reports that the extremist group used the banned chemical weapon. [ISIL] used chemical weapons against Kurdish militants last year, Reuters reported Monday. The August 2015 attack occurred near Erbil, the capital of autonomous Kurdish Iraq. About 35 Kurdish troops were attacked with mustard gas, according […]

Israel/ Palestine

UK Government to Ban Universities, Public Bodies from BDS of Israel

contributors

By IMEMC | – – On February 14th, 2016, the UK Government announced that it would be setting up guidelines to prevent public bodies from supporting the Palestinian rights through their procurement and investment policies. Hugh Lanning, Chair of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, has condemned this move as ‘a gross attack on our democratic freedoms and […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Why is ISIL still trying to Slaughter and Enslave the ancient Yazidi Minority?

contributors

By Brian Glyn Williams | (Informed Comment) | – – On February 3, the New York Times quoted the desperate plea of a Yazidi, a member of an ethnic-religious group facing communal extermination at the hands of ISIS jihadi terrorists. In simple, but moving terms he summed up the plight of his people, whose ancestral […]