Terrorism

By Juan Cole 1. On Sunday evening, BBC reports that Iraqi fighter jets bombed the villages of al-Riyadh and al-Nirab in the vicinity of Hawija, north Iraq, leaving 14 dead and 10 wounded. Hawija is a largely Sunni Arab town near the city of Kirkuk (Kirkuk is controlled now by the Kurdistan Peshmerga paramilitary). The […]

Barack Obama

Can Obama Resist Hawks’ Pressure to Rush to Syria Quagmire?

contributors

By Adam Quinn, University of Birmingham via The Conversation US president Barack Obama has yet to work out exactly what America’s strategy is in confronting Islamic State (IS), and has been foolish enough to say so in public. Cue the foreseeable torrent of point-scoring from opponents. As Vox’s Zack Beauchamp perceptively pointed out, however, a […]

Iran

What You won’t See on US TV: Iranians Sympathetic to US over ISIL Attacks

contributors

Channel 4 News Channel 4 News: “What does Iran make of Islamic State?” Meanwhile, although some Iranian sources deny it, the BBC’s sources say that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader has “authorised his top commander to co-ordinate military operations with the US, Iraqi and Kurdish forces.” Khamenei seems to be preparing the Iranian people […]

Iraq

Paying For The Caliphate: When Extremists Become Bad Bank Managers In Mosul

contributors

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 […]

European Union

Obama & Cameron find little Enthusiasm at NATO for new Iraq War

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The NATO summit in Wales was supposed to be all about getting out of Afghanistan. Instead, two new issues dominated it– the Ukraine and ISIL in Iraq and Syria. British prime minister David Cameron joined Barack Obama in castigating NATO members for paying ransoms to ISIL and for not stepping up to […]

Human Rights

Mosul’s First Death By Stoning: Extremists Distract With Displays of Savage Justice

contributors

By Khales Joumah | Mosul | via Niqash.org Mosul locals were invited to witness the city’s first death by stoning late last week – extremists who had taken over the city in early June had sentenced a man to death for adultery. Eyewitnesses say the event was shocking. And many in Mosul expect more of […]

Bashar al-Assad

Would a US/ NATO war in Syria be Legal in International Law?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Efforts are being made in Congress give to President Barack Obama the formal authority to conduct air strikes in Syria against ISIL. Vice President Joe Biden is now talking, as well, about a concerted and long-term NATO response to the brutal fundamentalist movement, which controls desert territory and some oil resources in […]

Counter-Terrorism

Iraq Flashpoint: Can the Kurds defend themselves from ISIL?

contributors

By Verena Gruber, Talalward, Kurdistan (Special to Informed Comment) There is something incredibly odd about seeing the black flag of the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)” flapping in the wind; particularly when you see it, not on a television screen, but through a pair of binoculars. Today my journey led me […]

Apartheid

Israeli settlers destroy Palestinian grape vines as Israel Steals More Land

contributors

HEBRON (Ma’an) — A group of Israeli settlers chopped down grape vines on Palestinian agricultural property in northern Beit Ummar on Monday, a popular committee spokesman said Monday. Muhammad Awwad said the settlers destroyed seven grape vines in the Wad Abu al-Rish area near the illegal settlement of Beit Ein. The vines belong to Hammad […]