religion

By Khales Joumah | Mosul | via Niqash.org Dinar worries: some Mosul locals fear that extremists will take all of thier money. Up until now, locals in Mosul, the northern city under the control of Sunni Muslim extremists, have not been able to withdraw their money from their bank accounts. That changed last week. However […]

Christians

Duck Dynasty star to Hannity: Convert or kill ISIS (Chris Hayes)

contributors

Chris Hayes, “All In”: “The Duck Dynasty patriarch offers his advice on dealing with ISIS: convert or kill them” “Partial Transcript from Hannity: HANNITY: Welcome back to HANNITY. New video surfaced earlier today showing the brutal execution of captured American journalist Steven Sotloff by ISIS terrorists. Now, this comes just two weeks after the radical […]

Colonialism

In 1948, Jewish Forces in Palestine outnumbered Palestinian and Arab Fighters

contributors

By William R. Polk The General Assembly had issued its verdict [in late 1947 suggesting a partition of Palestine] but it left open the question of how to actually carry out the resolution when no UN-controlled military or police forces were available. Britain’s 84,000 troops were leaving. And they had proved insufficient to maintain law […]

American Jews

The Military Diminishment of Judaism

contributors

By Shalom Goldman In our time, Judaism, in all of its magnificent complexity and subtlety, has been reduced to supporting “team Israel” — whatever its policies or methods. Yes, American Jews, according to the 2013 Pew study, retain a strong sense of distinct identity, despite their distancing themselves from synagogue life and other forms of […]

Featured

Iraq: Is the Battle of Amerli a Turning Point?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The Iraqi military is maintaining that it has successfully relieved the town of Amerli (pop. 15,000) in northern Iraq from a siege by ISIL (the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). If true, this is the first success of the Baghdad military against ISIL since Mosul fell in early June. […]

Iraq

Iraq Crisis: Will Sunni Tribes of Besieged Falluja Turn on IS There?

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Fallujah | via Niqash.org Recently most of the attention has been on northern Iraq. But military action in western Iraq has been going on for months, after areas came under control of Sunni Muslim extremists and other anti-government groups. Some, like the city of Fallujah, have been under constant attack from […]

Bashar al-Assad

Obama, al-Assad and ISIL update FB Status: It’s Complicated

contributors

AJ+ AJ+ Will The US Bomb IS Group (AKA ISIS) In Syria?

Iraq

As Int’l Powers focus on Kurds and Sunni Arabs, have Shiite Politicians lost Iraq Forever?

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | via Niqash.org In Baghdad [last] week, Iraq’s most senior Shiite Muslim politicians are lamenting their increasing isolation from the international community. The EU and the US are bypassing Baghdad to support Iraq’s Kurdish forces militarily; they’re also holding meetings with Iraq’s Sunni Muslim leaders and have apparently promised to support […]

Iraq

Why Would They Stay? Making Sense of ISIS and Iraqi Sunnis

contributors

By Nathan Spannaus ISIS’s meteoric rise to prominence has brought renewed attention on Iraq’s Sunni population and their relationship with radical forms of extremism. Outside of Iraq, the condemnations of ISIS have been frequent. In light of its recent media notoriety, dozens of governments and institutions within the Islamic world have spoken out against the […]