Middle East

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 […]

Democracy

Turkey election: Erdoğan and the AKP get majority back amid climate of violence and fear

contributors

By Bahar Baser and Ahmet Erdi Öztürk | (The Conversation) | – – Turkey’s president, Recep Tayip Erdoğan, appears to have strengthened his grip on the country after the Justice and Development Party (AKP) won an outright majority in a snap election just five months after an inconclusive poll. It is a result that will […]

Egypt

Why ISIL is a Vast Exaggeration: & No, it can’t Shoot down Planes

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) in the Sinai Peninsula made a big deal of claiming they shot down a Russian airliner Saturday morning. They did not. The plane was at 30,000 feet when it got into trouble. Anti-aircraft weaponry like Manpads can’t reach those altitudes. This kind of […]

Bashar al-Assad

Regime Market Bombing Kills 100: Don’t Syrian Lives Matter?

contributors

Majed Aboali | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – Hospital workers in Syria, barely able to keep up with demand, are desperate to reduce the supply. Their plea: stop the killing. ————————————————————————– Breaking News CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh reports on the aftermath of a missile attack on a market in the Syrian suburb of […]

Democracy

Turkey: Can a pro-Feminist, pro-Kurdish Party get out the Women’s Vote?

contributors

By Mona Tajali | (OpenDemocracy) | – – The Turkish HDP’s egalitarian gender ideology played a key role in the election of a record number of women to parliament in June’s election. Can these gains be sustained in the political turmoil ahead? On June 7th Turkey held parliamentary elections which marked major turning points in […]

Israel/ Palestine

Abbas submits further files on Israeli Crimes to Int’l Criminal Court

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Friday submitted additional files documenting Israeli violations of international law to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, the Palestinian foreign minister said. Riyad Al-Maliki told Fatah-affiliated radio station Mawtini on Saturday that Abbas and his delegation had urged the ICC’s […]

Featured

Syria: US Boots on Ground risks Conflict with Turkey, not Russia

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The White House’s announcement on Friday that the US will keep “less than 50” special ops troops at an HQ of the Kurdish YPG in northeast Syria for the purposes of training and strategic counseling raised concerns in some quarters that Russia might inadvertently bomb US […]

Democracy

Will Turkey’s Elections bring Peace or More Conflict with Kurds?

contributors

By Peter O’Connor | Diyarbakr | (Informed Comment) | – – Tomorrow, on November 1, Turkish voters will return to the polls for the second time in 5 months. At the core of this election is a conflict that’s been eating away at the country’s east: The “Kurdish question”. In Diyarbakir, the unofficial capital of […]