Islam

In Iraq, it isn’t just about minorities: The “Infidels” attacked by the so-called “Islamic State” include the Sunnis, Too

By Ali A. Olomi The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has declared war on “kafirs.” According to most observers, this term as ISIS uses it refers to Christians, Yazidi, and Shia Muslims. But this is far more than a conflict that pits Muslim versus Yazidi or Christian, or even Sunni vs Shia. To […]

Featured

Israel: Crowd shouts “Death to Arabs” at Jewish-Muslim Wedding

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole An Israeli crowd gathered outside the wedding of a Muslim man and a Jewish woman in Rishon Lezion, shouting “death to Arabs” on Sunday. They were from the far right Lehava group, and make a specialty of harassing couples in mixed marriages. They called Maral Malka, 23, a traitor for converting to […]

Featured

Can al-Abadi win over Iraq’s Moderate Sunnis?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Arguably, the so-called Islamic State (actually a vicious gang of serial killers) could never have taken over northern and Western Iraq if the largely Sunni Arab populations there had not been deeply alienated from the government in Baghdad by the openly sectarian politics of former Shiite prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. Al-Maliki systematically […]

Egypt

Egypt’s Cover-Up: Rabia Massacre One Year Later

contributors

By Sarah Leah Whitson Published in: Open Democracy “Forget about Morsy, forget about Rab`a,” my Egyptian neighbourhood grocer told me the other day, expressing the loyalty to the president, Abel Fattah al-Sisi, shared by many of his countrymen back home. “We are saved from these people.” Yet, one year later, there is no forgetting the […]

Iraq

Sexual violence as a war strategy in Iraq

contributors

By Nazand Begikhani via Your Middle East “These are strategic theories of rape in wartime which have been deliberately practiced by IS jihadists in Syria and now in Iraq,” writes Dr Nazand Begikhani. In the last few days, while the world has been overwhelmed by the flow of information about atrocities committed by Islamic State […]

Featured

The Long Knives Come out in Baghdad

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The coup-like atmosphere created by Nouri al-Maliki’s stationing of his troops at the Green Zone, checkpoints and bridges in Baghdad on late Sunday backfired on him with Iraq’s parliamentarians. Nearly half of the members of his Islamic Da`wa Party (Islamic Call or Mission Party) in parliament defected from him. Most of the […]

Iraq

Nightmare in Iraq

contributors

Joe Stork via Human Rights Watch Fearing for their lives, more than 150,000 Yezidis fled Sinjar and surrounding villages to mountains north of the city on August 3, 2014 when the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attacked the area. Some young and elderly are dying from the harsh conditions. I visited a Yezidi […]

Iraq

The US intervened again in Iraq in Part to Save the Yazidis: Who are They?

contributors

By Petr Kubalek via RFE/RL Islamic militants this week encircled thousands of members of the Yazidi minority in northern Iraq, prompting the Obama administration to carry out humanitarian air drops to the refugees who fled their homes to Mount Sinjar. Here are answers to six questions about the Yazidi people, religion, and history. Who Are […]

History

Gaza and the Struggle for Palestine: Historical Background (Pt. 1, a)

contributors

By William R. Polk Like many observers I am both sick at heart and emotionally drained from watching and reading about the horrible events in Gaza. Is there more to be said about them? Yes, I think there is if we hope to achieve a degree of security and peace. So, at the risk of […]