Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masoud Barzani, has called for an immediate non-binding referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan over whether its people want to secede from Iraq and form an independent Kurdish state. A delegation from the KRG visited Baghdad yesterday, as well, headed by […]

Russia

Could Saudi Arabia’s grip on oil prices bring Russia to its knees?

contributors

James Henderson | (The Conversation) | – – When Saudi Arabia led an OPEC decision to end a restraint put on oil production in November 2014, it marked the beginning of a new era in oil economics. It has given us a tumbling oil price, prompted huge losses and job cuts at oil firms like […]

Climate Change

“Ai Weiwei Will Not Let You Forget About Europe’s Refugee Crisis (AJ+)”

Nicholas Kolenda

Al Jazeera+ reminds the world about the ongoing refugee crisis sparked by a mass exodus of peoples from Syria…

Israel/ Palestine

Palestinians Need a Strategy & it must Achieve their Rights

contributors

By: Amal Ahmad | al-Shabaka | Ma’an News Agency | – – The Palestinian people began the New Year facing a bleak political situation, with a weak and compromised leadership, a geographically and administratively fragmented people, and a civil society increasingly marked by individualism and loss of political anchor. The state-building project that promised so […]

Afghanistan

Iran Dragooning Thousands of Undocumented Afghans as Cannon Fodder in Syria

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (New York) – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has recruited thousands of undocumented Afghans living there to fight in Syria since at least November 2013, Human Rights Watch said today, and a few have reported that Iranian authorities coerced them. Iran has urged the Afghans to defend Shia sacred […]

Human Rights

After Prisoner Deal, Iranian Nobelist Calls on Tehran to ‘Make Peace With Its Own People’

contributors

Global Voices Online/ International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran | – – While expressing joy at Iran’s recent release of four imprisoned Iranian-Americans, Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi has called on the Iranian government to “make peace with its own people,” now that it has shown the ability to negotiate and compromise with its […]

Featured

ISIL kills 70 in bombing of Shiite Area, Damascus, in bid to derail Talks

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) claimed responsibility Sunday for bomb attacks in the Syrian capital of Damascus that seem likely to have aimed at derailing the tentative talks in Geneva. First, a Daesh agent set off a car bomb next to a bus transporting Shiite fighters for the […]

Israel/ Palestine

Every day Life under Occupation: Clashes near Ramallah as Israeli checkpoint strands hundreds

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Clashes broke out on Sunday afternoon between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces in the village of Jabaa near Ramallah City in the West Bank after a checkpoint was closed, keeping hundreds of cars stranded. Witnesses said that that the Jabaa checkpoint, located at one of the […]

Featured

Turkish-Russian Airspace Conflict as Ankara-backed Turkmen flee Syria

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Russia rejected as “propaganda” on Saturday renewed Turkish charges that its fighter jets had crossed Turkish territory. NATO asked Moscow to respect its joint airspace. A promontory of Turkish territory sticks down into northern Latakia, and it would be very difficult to conduct the sort of […]