Terrorism

TheLipTV | — “A U.S. citizen has been indicted by the state of Israel for planning terror attacks on Muslim holy sites. The man, 30-year-old Texas native Adam Everett Livvix, was arrested in November on suspicion of possessing illegal weapons and planning a terror attack. However, this isn’t the first time Livvix has been under […]

Apartheid

Ferguson on the Jordan: Israeli Soldier Beats Palestinian Cabinet Minister to Death at Tree Planting Ceremony

contributors

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The head of the Palestinian Authority committee against the separation wall and settlements died Wednesday after Israeli soldiers assaulted him in a village near Ramallah, committee sources said. Ziad Abu Ein, 55, died after an Israeli soldier beat him on the chest with his helmet in the village of Turmsayya in the […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

Climate Change and Yemen’s Agony

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (The Nation) — From “Why Is Yemen So Violent? Because It Is So Poor and Thirsty” . Answer: “Yemen’s troubles are only beginning, and one worries that much of the population will end up displaced, as has already happened to Syria. That vast further social disruption would not exactly tamp down […]

Bashar al-Assad

Iran eager to take leading role against extremism (Iraq, Syria FMs in Tehran)

contributors

By Maysam Bizar | (Your Middle East) — As the US-led campaign against the extremist ISIL militants in Iraq and Syria goes on, Iran, which has not taken part in the coalition, is gearing up for the Rouhani-proposed international conference ‘World Against Violence and Extremism’ (WAVE) on December 9-10 in Tehran. Maysam Bizar reports. Referring […]

Internet

Silent Mosul: Surprising Reasons Daesh/ ISIL cut Cellphone Services

contributors

By Nawzat Shamdeen | Mosul | (Niqash.org) Mobile phones are no use in Mosul any more. The extremist group controlling Mosul in northern Iraq has decided to shut down most mobile telecommunications inside the city. Rumours are flying as to why. Have they done it because they can no longer profit from the phone companies […]

Featured

Over 100 ISIL/Daesh Fighters Killed in US Airstrikes in Iraq; Attack on Syria Base Repelled

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — The US war on Daesh (ISIL) in Iraq and Syria takes up less and less space in the MSM. The group and its issues haven’t gone away, however. A source in Iraqi security told AFP Arabic that US and allied air strikes had killed about 100 fighters near Mosul on […]

Iraq

Iraq Fail: Shiite Gov’t asks Sunni tribe to fight ISIL, but Sentences Politician from Tribe to Death

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) While members of the Sunni Muslim al-Bu Ulwan tribe were fighting extremists in the Anbar province, alongside the mostly Shiite Muslim military, judges in Baghdad sentenced a politician from the tribe to death. The tribe says it feels like Baghdad has stabbed it in the back. Other Anbar […]

Iraq

Threatened by ISIL/Daesh, Kurds Maneuver between Baghdad and Ankara

contributors

Iraqi Kurds Seek Greater Balance between Ankara and Baghdad By Mohammed A. Salih ERBIL, Dec 4 2014 (IPS) – After a period of frostiness, Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Turkey seem intent on mending ties, as each of the parties show signs of needing the other. But the Kurds appear more cautious this time […]

Bashar al-Assad

Could Years more of Syrian Civil War be Avoided by Comprehensive Talks with Iran?

contributors

By James L. Gelvin, University of California, Los Angeles The most serious attempt to bring the Syrian regime and representatives of the opposition together around a negotiating table together took place at the 2014 Geneva II peace talks. The talks were based on the Geneva Communiqué which had been signed in 2012 at a meeting […]