Middle East

By Hakim Khatib | ( Your Middle East ) – – War in Syria The Syrian upheaval has, increasingly, been fixed in a religious framework – Sunnis against the rest, writes Hakim Khatib. “Non-religious books were substituted by religious or religiously coloured ones” When the crowds of the Iranian revolution initially rose up against Muhammad […]

Apartheid

Israeli troops Suppress Demo for Hunger-Striker Allan, in Coma

contributors

By Saed Bannoura – (IMEMC News) Dozens of Palestinians suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation, Saturday, after Israeli soldiers assaulted hundreds of residents marching in solidarity with hunger striking detainee Mohammad ‘Allan, in Kufur Qaddoum, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia. Morad Eshteiwy, coordinator of the Popular Struggle Committee, said hundreds of […]

Iraq

Turkey Hit by Wave of Attacks as It Continues Mideast Military Strikes

contributors

By Anne Koopman | ( Global Voices Online) | – – At least nine people fell victim to a spate of attacks in the Turkey's largest city Istanbul and the south-eastern province Sirnak on August 10. As the country gets knee-deep in the Middle East crisis, the fear of more attacks is pervasive. Ever since […]

Apartheid

Israeli Lawmaker: Palestinians ‘preventing expansion’ of settlements

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — An Israeli Knesset member this week convened a meeting to stop Palestinians from “preventing the expansion” of Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s Subcommittee on Judea and Samaria — the biblical term used by the Israeli government for the […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Syria: Kurdish YPG Expels “bloodthirsty” ISIL “gangs” from Hasaka (VICE News)

contributors

VICE News | (Video Report) | – – “The northeastern city of Hasakah is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse in Syria. Its population of Kurds, Sunni Arabs, and Christians was until recently politically divided between equal zones of Kurdish and Assad regime control. Immediately following the fall of the strategic border town […]

Bashar al-Assad

Putin pitches Grand Alliance against Daesh/ ISIL, but Syria Rebels want al-Assad Gone

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Russian Federation is a key player in Syria, and backer of the dictatorial government of Bashar al-Assad. Moscow on Wednesday and Thursday attempted some diplomacy, however, welcoming a delegation of Syrian rebels against the authoritarian al-Assad in Damascus. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said just […]

Apartheid

Settlement Expansion Largely Responsible for Violence in Occupied West Bank

contributors

By Kanya D’Almeida | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Just weeks after an 18-month-old baby was killed in an arson attack in the Palestinian village of Duma, located south of Nablus city in the Occupied West Bank, a United Nations special committee has blasted Israel’s policy of settlement expansion, saying […]

Iran

Did Ayatollah Sistani just save Iraq from Iran-backed militias by pushing Gov’t Reforms?

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org)| – – During last week’s protests, secret plans were made to use demonstrations to topple the government. But a senior Shiite spiritual leader seems to have stepped in at the last minute to save the country from chaos. At the end of July thousands of locals took to the […]

Featured

Why Partitioning Iraq is a Terrible Idea

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – I think the remarks of outgoing US Army chief Gen. Ray Odierno on the possible partition of Iraq have been reported in a sensationalist way. He just said that Sunni-Shiite relations in Iraq are at a nadir and that the country could look different in the […]