Middle East

Ma’an News Agency | – – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli municipality officials delivered a demolition order Friday to the al-Qaaqaa Mosque, a house, and a studio apartment in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, local sources told Ma’an. Majdi al-Abbasi, from the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan, said that Israeli municipality members delivered […]

Authoritarianism

How Islamic State is moving its Egyptian battle from Sinai to Cairo

contributors

By Natasha Ezrow | (The Conversation) | – – Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for a powerful car bomb detonated outside a state security building in northern Cairo which injured 29 people, including six policemen. The Egyptian ministry claimed that: “A man suddenly stopped his car in front of the state security building, jumped […]

Featured

Barak– Netanyahu was on verge of Attacking Iran 3 Times 2010-12 (Why Listening to him on Iran Diplomacy is Daft)

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In a radio interview, former Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak revealed that the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was on the verge of attacking Iran on 3 separate occasions in 2010-2012, but was consistently blocked by other (even far right wing) cabinet ministers or by […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syria: Impose Arms Embargo on Regime Following Deadly Airstrikes

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (New York) – The United Nations Security Council should impose an arms embargo on the Syrian government following the government’s repeated air attacks on Douma’s popular markets and residential areas on August 16, 2015. The attacks killed at least 112 people, whom witnesses and first responders described as overwhelmingly […]

Democracy

Iran Pres. Rouhani criticizes Hardliners, is slapped down by Revolutionary Guards

contributors

By Golnaz Esfandiari | ( RFE/RL) | – – Iran’s Guardians Council, long accused of being a tool for hard-liners in factional power struggles, is at the center of a new war of words among top state officials. The exchange comes ahead of elections early next year for parliament, which is currently controlled by conservatives […]

Authoritarianism

Crisis in Iraqi Kurdistan: Attacked by ISIL & Turkey; and Now Leaderless

contributors

Honar Hama Rasheed | Erbil | (Niqash.org) | – – As the issue of Iraqi Kurdistan’s vacant presidency heats up, delegations from the US, Turkey and Iran have all visited to have their say. But what do they really want? The current Iraqi Kurdish presidency officially ended yesterday. Massoud Barzani, who heads the Kurdish Democratic […]

Authoritarianism

Huge ISIL Blast at Cairo Security Bldg. Injures 29; Sisi Security Claims in Tatters

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – An enormous explosion damaged a building housing secret police in a northern district of Cairo (Shubra al-Khayma) on Thursday early morning, wounding nearly 30 persons, including 6 police personnel, who were transferred to hospital for treatment. Two different branches of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) claimed responsibility, the […]

BDS Occupied Territories

Israel and the BDS debate: two scholars respectfully agree to differ

contributors

By Ingrid Matthews and James Arvanitakis | (The Conversation) | – – From Australia, we watch Israel at a great distance, safe in the knowledge that the regular and horrific levels of violence in the region are far from our shores. But we still find ourselves, like most of the world, asking: what can we […]

Archaeology

Syria: Daesh/ ISIL Kills aged Archeologist who refused to reveal hidden Palmyra Antiquities

contributors

AJ+ | (Video News Report) | – – “ISIS beheaded 82-year-old Khaled Al-Asaad on August 18, 2015, in the 2,000-year-old city he spent his life restoring. Syria’s most prominent antiquities scholar is the latest victim of the Islamic State group’s war on history.” AJ+: “ISIS Kills 82-Year-Old Scholar In Ancient City Of Palmyra He Helped […]