War

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The unusual statement from the “White House” on Monday saying that there were indications that the Syrian regime was preparing to use poison gas has provoked much head-scratching both inside the Trump administration and around the world. Why would the “White House” say this? Is it […]

Donald Trump

Trump May Already Be Blundering into the Next Middle East War

contributors

By Jim Lobe & Giulia McDonnell Nieto Del Rio | ( FPIF) | First published in Lobelog | – – The possibilities for catastrophic miscalculation are skyrocketing in the Middle East, and this administration is proving singularly prone to miscalculation. The Washington elite is waking up to the increasingly real possibility that the Trump administration […]

Displaced and Refugees

If US Wars aren’t on TV, are all those 1000s really Dying?

contributors

Rebecca Gordon | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – The headlines arrive in my inbox day after day: “U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria killed hundreds of civilians, U.N. panel says.” “Pentagon wants to declare more parts of world as temporary battlefields.” “The U.S. was supposed to leave Afghanistan by 2017. Now it might take decades.” There are […]

Chemical Weapons

Can Iran, Turkey and Egypt Cooperate to deliver Mideast from Chaos?

contributors

Farhang Jahanpour | ( Tehran Times | – – TEHRAN – Professor Farhang Jahanpour, part-time tutor on the Middle East in the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Oxford, tells the Tehran Times that Iran, Egypt and Turkey must set aside their differences in order save the the region from “chaos and destruction”. […]

Bashar al-Assad

Trump accuses Syria of Planning Gas attack as Haley attacks Russia, Iran

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Trump administration is making noise about striking Syria, on the grounds that Damascus is planning to use poison gas again. Trump’s Neoconservative ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, tweeted: Any further attacks done to the people of Syria will be blamed on Assad, but […]

Donald Trump

All Signs from Trump Point to a Coming Conflict with Iran

contributors

By John Feffer | Foreign Policy in Focus | – – Behind all of Trump’s boneheaded policies in the Middle East is an unmistakable urge for confrontation with Iran. The Saudi war in Yemen is really directed at…Iran. Donald Trump’s first overseas visit to Saudi Arabia and Israel was specifically targeted at…Iran. The Saudi-led isolation […]

Iraq

1/2 of World’s Civilian War Deaths were in Syria, Iraq & Yemen during past Half-Decade

contributors

By IPS World Desk | (Inter Press Service) | – – ROME/GENEVA (IPS) – Between 2010 and 2015, nearly half of all civilian war deaths worldwide occurred in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, a major independent, neutral organisation ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of war and armed violence informs. According to a new report […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Aerospace Campaign in Syria: Did Putin kill ISIL’s so-called ‘caliph’?

contributors

TeleSur | – – The statement came a day after Russia said it killed several senior leaders, 30 field commanders and up to 300 of their personal guards in an airstrike last month. Russian Aerospace Forces based in Syria have made significant gains in the first half of June, eliminating two Islamic State group field […]

Afghanistan

Trump to Send 4,000 More US Troops to Afghanistan as Mattis admits ‘Not Winning’

Juan Cole

TeleSur | – – The Trump adminstration plans to deploy 4,000 more troops, extending the nearly The official says troops will train Afghan soldiers, and fight Taliban and Islamic State group forces. The Pentagon is planning to send almost 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, an official said anonymously Thursday. There are already around 8,400 U.S. […]