Middle East

Dick Cheney on why the US shouldn’t invade Iraq (1994): “Because if we had gone to Baghdad we would have been all alone. There wouldn’t have been anybody else with us. It would have been a U.S. occupation of Iraq. None of the Arab forces that were willing to fight with us in Kuwait were […]

Featured

Enter the Ayatollah: Sistani calls on Iraqis to enlist in Fight against “Terrorists”

Juan Cole

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, spiritual leader of most Iraqi Shiites, intervened forcefully in Iraqi politics on Thursday and Friday, giving his support to the national army and urging Iraqi men to volunteer to enlist and to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). He termed the hyper-Sunni group, which has taken over the […]

Barack Obama

The Second Iran-Iraq War and the American Switch

Juan Cole

Iran has decided to intervene directly in Iraq and has already sent fighters to the front, according to the Wall Street Journal, based on Iranian sources. It is alleged that Iranian special forces have helped the Iraqi army push back in Tikrit, the birth place of Saddam Hussein that was overrun earlier this week by […]

censorship

Egypt: 15-Yr. Sentence for Hero of Tahrir Revolution, blogger Alaa, 24 others

contributors

By Joe Stork, Human Rights Watch (Beirut) – A Cairo court on June 11, 2014, sentenced the prominent Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah and 24 others to 15 years in prison and LE100,000 fines (US$14,000) on a range of charges stemming from their involvement in a peaceful protest on November 26, 2013, in Cairo. Police […]

Featured

Iraq: Looming War of Shiite, Kurdish, Extremist-Sunni Militias

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] is apparently keeping control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city of 2 million, and advanced to take Tikrit, the birthplace of Saddam Hussein, where they held a huge Sunni prayer session. It has been pointed out by a number of commentators that ISIS (also […]

Afghanistan

US Military Fail: Long Asian Land Wars a Route to Disaster since 1963

contributors

By Tom Engelhardt via Tomdispatch.com The United States has been at war — major boots-on-the-ground conflicts and minor interventions, firefights, air strikes, drone assassination campaigns, occupations, special ops raids, proxy conflicts, and covert actions — nearly nonstop since the Vietnam War began. That’s more than half a century of experience with war, American-style, and yet […]

Barack Obama

And the Walls Come Tumbling Down: Israeli PM Netanyahu on Notice from both Left and Right

contributors

By Carlyn Meyer If there was any doubt about which side came out stronger from the failed Kerry peace initiative, it’s been put to rest by events since. Neither side wanted to be the first to disrupt the talks and be blamed for their demise. Once Netanyahu reneged on releasing the last contingent of Palestinian […]

Democracy

The Fall of Mosul and the False Promises of Modern History

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The fall of Mosul to the radical, extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a set of historical indictments. Mosul is Iraq’s second largest city, population roughly 2 million (think Houston) until today, when much of the population was fleeing. While this would-be al-Qaeda affiliate took part of Falluja and […]

Bashar al-Assad

Right Said Fred: Syria’s Assad a War Criminal (John Oliver Video)

contributors

Right Said Fred (really!) appears on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver to tell Syrian president Bashar al-Assad what a dick he is. It’s going to be especially disappointing to Assad, as they are one of his favorite bands. Lyrics: YOU’RE TOO AWFUL FOR THIS EARTH TOO AWFUL FOR THIS EARTH SO AWFUL IT HURTS […]