Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter’s blunt remarks on Sunday about the Iraqi army not having the will to fight have ruffled feathers in Baghdad and Tehran, and Vice President Joe Biden was constrained to call Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi and reassure him that the US was standing […]

Food Security

Yemen conflict fans food insecurity

contributors

By Peter Salisbury and Louise Redvers | (IRIN) – AMMAN / DUBAI (IRIN) – The conflict in Yemen is worsening the country’s food insecurity, according to a new report, which predicts that the parts of Arab state may enter an emergency phase by the end of the year. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) […]

Apartheid

Israel Confiscates 202 Acres of Palestinian land for Squatter Settlement Garbage Dump

contributors

By Saed Bannoura | (IMEMC) – The Israeli Authorities have decided to confiscate around 820 Dunams (202 acres) of privately owned Palestinian lands to establish new dumping grounds for its illegal colonies, in the central West Bank, in the Ramallah district. Land with village in background (image by Palestine TV) More than 140 Palestinian families, […]

al-Qaeda

Did the US DIA see ISIL as a strategic Ally against al-Assad in 2012?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment)- The answer, in a word, is “no.” Fabius Maximus is right that this is just a clickbait story or an unfounded conspiracy theory. The Defense Intelligence Agency’s correct assessment of where things were going in Syria, done in 2012, doesn’t say that the US created sectarian groups and it […]

Apartheid

Israel, fearing EU Sanctions over Apartheid, backpedals on Segregated Buses for Palestinians

contributors

By Mel Frykberg | — RAMALLAH, West Bank, May 24 2015 (IPS) – A decision by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to segregate buses in the occupied West Bank has backfired after causing an uproar in Israel’s Knesset, or parliament, and political damage on the international stage. This came as Israel faces mounting international criticism […]

Arab World

US Kneejerk support for Israeli Nukes Torpedoes UN Disarmament Talks

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – After four weeks of negotiations, a revised UN treaty on nuclear disarmament has been torpedoed by the United States, leaving the issue of global disarmament dead in the water for the next five years. Non-nuclear states are furious at Washington and also fearful that in the absence of […]

Iraq

Iraq Can’t Get Ramadi back without an Inclusive Policy toward Sunnis

contributors

By David Alpher | (The Conversation) – Last Friday, the city of Ramadi – provincial capital of Iraq’s Anbar Province, and symbolic seat of its Sunni population – fell to an ISIS assault. The loss is devastating, and not only because of the city’s size or symbolic value, or because it’s another reminder that ISIS […]

Israel/ Palestine

Venezuela to Boost Palestine to Full Embassy Status

contributors

By Ben Tavener – IMEMC/PNN – Venezuela will boost its diplomatic representation in Palestine to full embassy status, according to the Venezuelan minister for foreign affairs. “Following instructions from President Nicolás Maduro, we will raise our representation in the heroic Palestinian states to embassy level,” Delcy Rodríguez announced on social media Thursday evening. Venezuela is […]

Featured

Daesh/ ISIL blows up Shiite Mosque in Saudi Arabia, seeking Sectarian Civil War

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – A suicide bomber with a concealed weapon detonated his payload during Friday prayers at the Ali b. Abi Talib Mosque in Qadif, a suburb of the major Shiite city of Qatif in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. It killed 21 and wounded 102, according to the […]