US Foreign Policy

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the real power center for the American government, has issued licenses to Airbus and Boeing allowing them to sell commercial airliners to Iran. President Obama ordered the licenses, defying the Republican-controlled Congress, which doesn’t want […]

Russia

Syria: Are Russo-Iranian and US-Saudi interests converging enough for a Ceasefire?

contributors

By Mohammed Nuruzzaman | (Informed Comment) The Syrian civil war is now in its sixth year, with occasional ceasefire deals made and violated by the warring parties being a cyclical process. The latest ceasefire agreement brokered by the U.S. and Russia, which came into effect on September 12, is standing on shaky grounds. The U.S.-led […]

Featured

In Massive Intel Error, US Kills 80 Syrian Troops, Helps ISIL Advance

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In a massive intelligence failure, the US Air Force hit a Syrian military installation in Deir al-Zor that it thought was Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). But it turned out to be the Syrian Arab Army position at Deir al-Zor military airport. The strike killed 80 soldiers and […]

Featured

“Pigs! Crusaders!”: US-Backed Fundamentalist Militias drive US Commandos out of al-Ray, Syria

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – As Raf Sanchez of The Telegraph writes, fundamentalist militiamen of the US-backed Free Syrian Army chased US commandos out of al-Ray in Syria near the Turkish border, cursing them as “pigs” and “crusaders” and asserting that the US is attempting a military occupation of Syria. Full […]

Displaced and Refugees

Busting the Myths about Syrian Refugees in the US

contributors

Jeffrey H. Cohen | (The Conversation) | – – On Sept. 12, a new cease-fire took effect in Syria. With a lull in fighting, some are hopeful for an end to the nation’s ongoing civil war. Yet, even if the war ends soon, rebuilding the country will take time. As many refugees anxiously wait and […]

Barack Obama

Obama has one last Chance to remedy his Colossal Failure on Palestine/Israel

contributors

By Carl Bildt | ( Project Syndicate ) | – – STOCKHOLM – Next year marks the centennial of the Balfour Declaration, the British statement that paved the way for Israel’s founding in 1948, and for the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as the larger Arab world, that continues today. World leaders […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syria Truce holds, despite questions on Humanitarian Aid

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The London pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-`Arabi reports that the truce that began Monday night held during its first twenty-four hours, in the areas designated for a cease-fire by Russia and the United States. The boom of artillery fire faded away at nightfall on Monday. It coincided […]

al-Qaeda

9/11 after 15 years: We’re Still in the Middle of a guerrilla Air War

contributors

By Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – On the morning of September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda launched its four-plane air force against the United States. On board were its precision weapons: 19 suicidal hijackers. One of those planes, thanks to the resistance of its passengers, crashed in a Pennsylvania field. The other three hit their […]

Featured

US and Russia plan Joint Air Command to hit Terrorists in Syria

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Pentagon isn’t going to be happy about this. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced an agreement on a Syria plan between the US and Russia late on Friday, which they said the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad had agreed […]