Review of Amin Saikal, “How to Lose a War: The Story of America’s Intervention in Afghanistan” (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2024). Munich, […]
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The Continuing Decline of a Self-styled Jihadi State
Christopher Anzalone writes in a guest editorial for Informed Comment entitled, “The Islamic State of Iraq’s Positions on Iraqi National Elections: The Continuing Decline of […]
Sadrists Pivotal Party, Vows Liberation of Iraq from Foreigners; Tehran attempts to Broker Alliance
Al-Hayat reports in Arabic on the emergence of the Sadr Movement as the largest Shiite party within the Shiite fundamentalist coalition, the Iraqi National Alliance. […]
Iraq: National Unity Government or Return to Sectarianism? 53 Killed in Diyala Bombing
Patrick Martin of the Toronto Globe and Mail gets the diction right when he says that Iyad Allawi’s list won a thin plurality. The official […]
Israel-US Row to Iran’s benefit; Sanctions Regime Watered Down
The far rightwing government of Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu may have a choice between expanding settlements in the West Bank or achieving a global consensus […]
Sadr Emerging as Kingmaker in Iraqi Election; Will Muqtada demand Quicker US Withdrawal
The London pan-Arab daily al-Hayat [Life] reports in Arabic that that the Shiite State of Law coalition and the Shiite Iraqi National Alliance say they […]
Netanyahu Humiliates Obama with another E. Jerusalem Housing Expansion; Israeli Troops allegedly used live Ammo; UK expels Mossad Chief
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sets the tone for Israeli policy– one that is earning him few friends in the West. Three embarrassments broke for […]
Empires Come and Gone in the Middle East
A propos this morning’s posting, a good visual representation of all the empires coming and going in the Mideast: [This map follows the biblical narrative, […]
Top Ten Reasons East Jerusalem does not belong to Jewish-Israelis
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the American Israel Public Affairs Council on Monday that “Jerusalem is not a settlement.” He continued that the historical […]
Maliki calls for Recount, warns of renewed bloodshed; Is Iraq slipping into Semi-Authoritarianism?
I’m all for holding elections. But the US right wing misunderstands elections as equalling democracy, which they do not. In fact, what we have seen […]