Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The extensive Russian bombing campaign in support of the Syrian Arab Army of the Bashar al-Assad regime has yielded fewer victories than Moscow had hoped, and some of them have been reversed by al-Qaeda, ISIL or other fighters. But on Wednesday it was reported that the […]

Featured

With Ahmad Chalabi’s Death, Passing of an Age of Lies

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Ahmad Chalabi (1944-2015) died of a heart attack in Iraq on Tuesday. Clarence Darrow, the great trial lawyer and orator, said, “I’ve never killed anyone, but I frequently get satisfaction reading the obituary notices.” I don’t get any satisfaction from this obituary. In the first Star […]

Israel/ Palestine

Defending Gaza Using Social Media’s Double-Edged Sword

contributors

By Omar Ghraieb | (Global Voices Online) | – – To say that both technology and communication have been experiencing a steady advancement until the past few years is something of an understatement. The world went from slowly becoming one village, thanks to the World Wide Web, to becoming one home, thanks to social media. […]

Featured

Shimon Peres doubts Israel can win Permanent war or Survive Annexation of West Bank

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Former Israeli president Shimon Peres, 92, gave an interview with the Associated Press Monday in which he spoke bluntly about the mistakes of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, without naming him. Of the Greater Israel project of the country’s right wing, which aims at annexing the Palestinian […]

Jabhat al-Nusra

Syria: al-Qaeda, Army of Islam Cage Hostages in Street as Human Shields

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (New York) – Syrian armed groups are endangering civilians, including women, and detaining soldiers by placing them in metal cages throughout Eastern Ghouta. The armed groups say they are doing that to deter indiscriminate government attacks on the area. Expand Still from video showing caged civilians in Eastern Ghouta, […]

Iraq War

An American Citizen Apologizes to the Iraqi People

contributors

By Jeffrey Ruoff | (Huffington Post) | – – "In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight road was lost." – Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy Dear Iraqi people, I write to apologize for the illegal 2003 U.S. invasion of your country. Presidential candidate […]

Featured

Al-Zawahiri Calls for al-Qaeda- ISIL Axis against Russia & US

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – al-Hayat [Life] reports that on Sunday, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, called for unity between al-Qaeda and Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) in the face of American, Russian and Shiite forces in Syria. Al-Zawahiri, a mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the US, succeeded Usama Bin Laden when […]

Egypt

Who are the ISIL Fighters in Egypt’s Sinai, claiming to down Plane?

contributors

By Joanna Paraszczuk | ( RFE/RL ) | – – A [so-called] Islamic State [group] (IS) affiliate in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula has claimed that it downed a Russian charter plane that crashed in a mountainous area of the Sinai Peninsula on October 31. Russia’s transport minister has denied the claims. The Airbus A321 — carrying […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israeli Forces shot 2600 Palestinians with live, rubber Bullets in October: Red Crescent

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces shot and wounded at least 2,617 Palestinians with live and rubber-coated steel bullets through October, the Palestinian Red Cross said Sunday, as clashes carried on into the new month. A Red Crescent spokesperson told Ma’an that at least 760 Palestinians were shot with live […]