Terrorism

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 […]

Climate Change

Does Climate change increase Threat of Terrorism?

contributors

By Manon Flausch | EURACTIV.fr | translated by Samuel White | – – “Poverty and insecurity can be factors in radicalisation.” [Manon Flausch] From South America to the Middle East, the effects of climate change appear to exacerbate the problems of organised crime and terrorism. The UN and German think tank Adelphi have raised the […]

Donald Trump

ISIL Now Controls only 7% of Iraq: What will its Defeat Mean for the Country?

contributors

Peter Bartu | (OpenDemocracy.net) | – – The west has treated ISIL as enemy number one while local actors see it as a sideshow in a political arena stretching from the Mediterranean to Iran. What does the defeat of ISIL in Mosul mean for Iraq? NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA Images. All rights reserved. A general view shows […]

Bashar al-Assad

Russia’s not Leaving: Syria is about old-Fashioned Sphere of Influence, not Oil

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Russia is not going to yield its sphere of influence in Syria to Donald Trump or anyone else. Russia has all but won the Syrian War as we speak. There is no longer any feasible pathway for the rebels to take the capital of Damascus. The […]

Copts

Sharpening Contradictions: ISIL Strikes Egyptian Christians on Palm Sunday

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) claimed responsibility Sunday for two suicide bombings at Christian churches in Lower Egypt on Palm Sunday, which left over 40 dead and over 100 wounded. The death toll would have been higher except that an Egyptian policeman stopped the suicide bomber in Alexandria […]

Bashar al-Assad

Will the US missile strike be the turning point in Syria’s shifting war?

contributors

By Harout Akdedian | (The Conversation) | – – The US has struck the Syrian airbase used to launch a suspected sarin gas attack against Khan Sheikhun that killed more than 80 civilians. US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson cited the chemical attack as the reason for their country’s first direct […]

Iraq

Even once ISIL is defeated, the problem of Manhunts and Reprisals

contributors

Mustafa Habib | (Baghdad) | Niqash.org | – – While Iraqi forces battle the Islamic State in west Mosul, intelligence services work in the east, to hunt down former members of the group. But those detained say the arrests are random and unjust. A few hours after the Iraqi army announced that the eastern side […]