By Gerry Simpson | ( Human Rights Watch ) | – – There are two walls on the Turkey-Syria border. One is manned by Turkish border guards enforcing Turkey’s 15 month-old border closure who, according to witnesses, have at times shot at and assaulted Syrian asylum seekers as they try to reach safety in Turkey […]
- Africa (248)
- Asia (1,246)
- Australasia (35)
- Authoritarianism (384)
- Canada (7)
- Culture (564)
- Economy (1,051)
- Agriculture (3)
- Banking (67)
- Carbon Footprint (6)
- Corporations (52)
- Cryptocurrency (2)
- Debt (21)
- Degrowth (1)
- Democratic Socialism (20)
- Demographic Decline (1)
- Development (26)
- Downward Mobility (1)
- Employment (118)
- Food Insecurity (21)
- Homelessness (16)
- Industry (5)
- Inequality (425)
- Inflation (5)
- infrastructure (10)
- Insurance (1)
- Investment (92)
- Market Crash (10)
- Middle Class (61)
- Monopolies (8)
- Neoliberalism (203)
- Plutocracy (621)
- Poverty (206)
- Poverty (13)
- Regulation (3)
- Retirement (1)
- Sanctions (4)
- Taxes (37)
- Technology (3)
- Trade (114)
- Weapons sales (7)
- Education (174)
- Energy (1,735)
- Batteries (52)
- Coal (139)
- Electricity Cost (2)
- Fossil Fuels (326)
- Fracking (50)
- Geothermal (7)
- Green ammonia (5)
- Green Energy (416)
- Green Hydrogen (8)
- Heat Pumps (6)
- Hydroelectric (15)
- Mining (1)
- Natural Gas (107)
- Nuclear Energy (158)
- Petroleum (300)
- Power Grid (12)
- Pumped Hydro (6)
- Solar Energy (414)
- Tar Sands (13)
- Wave Energy (9)
- wind energy (340)
- Environment (2,681)
- Climate Change (1,656)
- Acidification of Oceans (54)
- Agriculture (26)
- Biodiversity (12)
- Climate Refugees (3)
- CO2 (127)
- Dehydration (5)
- Denialism (147)
- Desalinization (4)
- Desertification (160)
- Divestment (2)
- Dust Storms (6)
- Environmental Investment (1)
- Extreme Heat (392)
- Extreme Weather (297)
- Flooding (138)
- Food Supply (3)
- Forests (18)
- Green New Deal (41)
- Green Recycling (2)
- Greenwashing (3)
- Mass Extinction (62)
- Methane (20)
- Net Carbon Zerio (8)
- Nitrous Oxide (2)
- Rainforests (19)
- Rivers (11)
- Sea Level (338)
- Soil Carbon Release (14)
- Super Storms (265)
- wildfires (240)
- Wood Buildings (1)
- Climate Crisis (1,321)
- Drought (295)
- Ecology (1)
- Ecology (10)
- Environmentalism (393)
- Green Transportation (252)
- Ice Melt (135)
- Invasive Species (2)
- Islands (1)
- Oceans (103)
- Oil Spills (8)
- Pollution (233)
- Water (95)
- wildlife (21)
- Climate Change (1,656)
- Europe (1,374)
- Featured (4,143)
- Haiti (1)
- Health (699)
- History (356)
- Human Rights (1,598)
- Apartheid (263)
- censorship (306)
- Death Penalty (30)
- Disappeared (3)
- Displaced and Refugees (579)
- Food Insecurity (29)
- Gay rights (29)
- Genocide (59)
- Human Rights Watch (90)
- Indigenous Rights (1)
- Migrants (4)
- privacy (21)
- Rights (89)
- Slavery and Trafficking (16)
- Starvation (4)
- Torture (102)
- Trans Rights (3)
- Transgender Rights (4)
- Unlawful Imprisonment (103)
- Unlwful Killing (80)
- War Crimes (416)
- War Rape (9)
- International Politics and Economy (2,107)
- Arms Sales (73)
- BRICS (3)
- Corruption (265)
- Crime (131)
- Democracy (331)
- Dissent (439)
- Domestic Terrorism (15)
- Drones (113)
- G20 (1)
- Guns (9)
- Hacking (8)
- Immigration (21)
- Immigration (4)
- Islamophobia (383)
- Migrants (2)
- military (125)
- nationalism (117)
- NATO (37)
- Neocolonialism (1)
- Peace (142)
- Policing (2)
- Politics (306)
- Politics&Culture (21)
- Propaganda (13)
- Smuggling (1)
- Juan Cole (270)
- Latin America (102)
- media (484)
- Middle East (9,842)
- Arab World (5,265)
- Iran (1,332)
- Israel (944)
- Israel/ Palestine (3,538)
- Israel/Palestine (9)
- Kurds (293)
- Turkey (597)
- Turkiye (124)
- Patriarchy (10)
- racism (468)
- religion (1,504)
- robots (3)
- Romance (1)
- science (171)
- Secular (West) (9)
- Secularism (30)
- Spirituality (22)
- Statelessness (15)
- Stranded Assets (1)
- Surveillance (280)
- Terrorism (1,096)
- Tolerance (6)
- Uncategorized (8,082)
- United Nations (175)
- Urbanization (4)
- US Foreign Policy (1,352)
- US politics (5,376)
- Anti-War Movement (13)
- Campaign Finance (31)
- Censors (22)
- Central Intelligence Agency (63)
- Charity (1)
- Civil Rights (96)
- Congress (80)
- Conspiracy Theories (23)
- Constitution (401)
- Courts (15)
- crime (12)
- Democratic Party (973)
- Democratic Socialists of America (22)
- Domestic Terrorism (20)
- Drone Warfare (27)
- Espionage (124)
- Ethnicities (389)
- Far Right (392)
- FBI (48)
- Foreign Policy (204)
- Gay Rights (17)
- Guns (97)
- Immigration (240)
- Israel Lobbies (130)
- Marijuana (4)
- Militarization (274)
- National Security State (476)
- Native Americans (40)
- Nuclear arsenal (7)
- penitentiaries (6)
- Pentagon (568)
- Police (43)
- prison reform (9)
- Private Prisons (2)
- Progressive Politics (13)
- Puerto Rico (30)
- Religious Right (15)
- Reproductive Choice (68)
- Republican Party (3,000)
- Supreme Court (133)
- Voter suppression (36)
- Whistleblowers (7)
- Xenophobia (9)
- Veterans (35)
- Voting Rights (16)
- War (614)
- White Supremacists (230)
- wikileaks (8)
- women (561)
- workers (232)
- Writing (5)
- Youth (215)
Terrorism
Iraq’s Fallujah: Grand Ayatollah Sistani Calls on Shiite Forces to protect Civilians
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani on Wednesday called on both regular Iraqi army forces and the popular mobilization units (Shiite militias) to avoid killing innocent noncombatants as they close in on Fallujah. An hour west of Baghdad and largely peopled by the Sunni Arab Dulaym tribe, Fallujah […]
US-Backed Kurds begin Campaign against ISIL in Northern Syria
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The left-leaning Beirut daily al-Safir (The Ambassador) discusses the beginning of a new campaign by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) in the northern half of al-Raqqa Province. The south of the province and its capital, also named al-Raqqa, are a base […]
Why total Victory for Russia and Assad is a Pipedream: ISIL strikes in deep in Regime Territory
By Scott Lucas | (The Conversation) | – – Months after Russia spectacularly entered the Syrian conflict, [the so-called] Islamic State (IS) is still thumbing its nose at both Moscow and the Assad regime in murderous fashion. On May 23, the group detonated between seven and nine car and suicide bombs in the coastal cities […]
ISIL hits Syrian Regime in Shiite northwest, killing 150
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The leftist Beirut daily al-Safir reports that security in Syria broke down dramatically on Monday, as seven bombs timed to go off simultaneously hit soft targets in the Syrian Mediterranean cities of Jebleh and Tartus, killing some 150 persons and wounding 225 , the vast majority […]
Al-Qaeda’s Al-Zawahiri, 9/11 Mastermind, Plays Syrian Politics
By Sam Heller | ( RFE/RL ) | – – When the self-proclaimed Islamic State declared the establishment of a global Muslim “caliphate” in 2014, the move accelerated a race for legitimacy within the international jihadist movement. IS’s rival Al-Qaeda — which had long held out a righteous Islamic state as a far-off ideal, not […]
Marketing & Terrorism: Is ISIL’s vaunted ‘brand’ actually weak and vulnerable?
By Brendan Canavan | (The Conversation) | – – [The so-called] Islamic State (IS) is the most notorious terror group in the world. Its name and values are known and feared globally, and it provokes, inspires and incenses to an extent most terrorist groups can only dream about. It owes a lot of that power […]
Americans may see ISIL as No. 1 Threat, but Turkey & the Kurds have other Priorities
By Abbas Djavadi | ( RFE/RL | – – For a long time the Turkish government was accused of assisting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) group. These accusations were heard especially since the battle Syrian Kurds fought with ISIS over the town of Kobani on the Syrian-Turkish border almost a year ago. […]
Top Hizbullah Commander in Syria killed in Explosion; Radical Salafis blamed
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Mustafa Badreddine, the Hizbullah commander responsible for Syria, was killed Friday in an explosion near Damascus. It wasn’t clear whether he was hit by artillery fire or what. The US now has a tacit alliance of convenience with Lebanon’s Hizbullah against Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), but continues […]