Terrorism

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Manchester, UK, was hit with the deadliest bomb attack on Monday since a June Saturday morning in 1996, when a massive 3000 lb. Provisional Irish Republican Army blast leveled the city center shopping district to rubble and left 200 wounded. The toll at the Ariana Grande […]

Colonialism

Was/Is there an Islamic Enlightenment? (de Bellaigue)

contributors

William Eichler interviews Christopher de Bellaigue | Informed Comment | – – Eichler: 1. In the conclusion to The Islamic Enlightenment you describe modern jihadists as “miracle-grow Muslims” who have been “incubated in the hothouse of modernity.” You write it is hard to attach the label “Muslim” to them. What is the relationship between today’s […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

After Mosul: The Coming ISIL Apocalypse in al-Anbar Desert

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – While fighting against the Islamic State group drags on in Mosul, tribal and military forces in Anbar are preparing for what will likely be the final battle against the extremists. But this fight will take many months. Many Iraqis and international observers are continuing to […]

Featured

What will new French President Macron do about Syria & ISIL?

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Now that Emmanuel Macron is president of France, it is worthwhile asking what sort of foreign policy he would be likely to pursue. The French presidential system is more centralized than the American. I once did some consulting at the Quai D’Orsay, the French Foreign Ministry, […]

Iraq

Power, Water, Music: Mosul comes back to Life

contributors

Special Correspondent | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – Locals in the parts of Mosul, from which extremists have been pushed out, are celebrating small signs of returning life: For one thing, the chance to pour a glass of water in a well-lit room. Some hope is returning to the locals in Mosul, after several […]

Donald Trump

Trump sends US Troops to Patrol Turkish-Syrian Border as Ankara Threatens US Allies

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Only one fighting force in Syria is practically speaking taking on Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) on the ground, and that is the Syrian Democratic Forces, the bulk of whose fighters are leftist Kurds of the “People’s Protection Units” (YPG). They are joined by some rural Arab clans […]

Far Right

For First Time, a US President backs a Fascist France

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – While she is highly unlikely to win the run-off presidential election on May 7 against the Bill Clinton of France, Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen managed to come in second in the first round on Sunday. She came ahead of the leaders of both major French […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

UK: Labour’s Corbyn Says Could Halt Syria Airstrikes If Elected

contributors

TeleSur | – – Corbyn also said he would have to consider whether he would authorize a drone strike against the leader of Islamic State group to limit civilian deaths. The leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn said on Sunday he could suspend British involvement in airstrikes against Syria if he was […]

Featured

ISIL Terror-Trolls French Election, Supporting far Right; Will French Fall for It?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Thursday’s shooting at the Champs Elysee, left one policeman dead, another gravely injured, a third lightly wounded along with a German tourist shot in the heel. It was carried out by Karim Cheurfi, a French national aged 39, born at Livry-Gargan in Seine-Saint-Denis. He had opened […]