War

AJ+ “The Peshmerga are seen as one of the only forces who can defeat the Islamic State group, formerly known as ISIS or ISIL. But who are the Peshmerga and what are they fighting for?” AJ+ The Peshmerga of Iraqi Kurdistan

Featured

ISIS to US: We’ll drown you in Blood; beheads US Journalist, Holds Tikrit

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The Iraqi military made a push on Tikrit north of Baghdad on Tuesday, but had to call off their campaign when they ran into minefields, booby-trapped buildings, sniping and artillery and mortar fire on the part of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which now styles itself the “Islamic State” […]

Iraq

Iraq Intervention? More like Ceaseless Escalation

contributors

By Elliott Colla, author of Baghdad Central While visiting Baghdad last year, I was struck by what Iraqis said every time I tried to apologize for the 2003 invasion: “Don’t apologize for that. We needed an invasion to get rid of Saddam Hussein.” And then they would add, “But you do need to apologize for […]

Apartheid

Unlike Iraq, Iran, Libya, N. Korea, Israel has Impunity from Defying UNSC (Gaza Ceasefire)

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The United Nations Security Council is theoretically a sort of sovereign in international law. If it designates a regime like that of Gaddafi in Libya as a threat to international peace, it can deputize the nations of the world to remove it. One major exception to UNSC authority is Israel, which routinely […]

Featured

Night of Destiny in Palestine: A Third Uprising?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole A new element entered the current Gaza war on Thursday, as Israel shelled a UN school full of displaced persons taking refuge there and large protests broke out in the Palestinian West Bank. The shelling of the UNRWA school, which killed 15 and injured 200, was a war crime. The UN had […]

Apartheid

The World Asks: Is Israel Targeting Civilians in Gaza?

contributors

By Luisa Gandolfo via The Conversation When the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accused Hamas of using “telegenically dead Palestinians for their cause”, he overlooked an element of the conflict that could not be skewed for the viewing public: the damage to Gaza’s infrastructure. Since the start of Operation Protective Edge 15 days ago, approximately […]

Apartheid

Gaza: Inside Israel’s massacre at al-Shujayeh: “I can’t Believe I Survived”

contributors

By Mohammed Suliman via al-Akhbar “A massacre, a massacre!” were the words my brother, who works as a doctor at Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, said as he yelled over the phone urging me to come to Gaza’s main hospital immediately. “Come witness the massacre,” he said. At first light, as I readied myself to go to […]

Apartheid

Gaza: The Israeli Army’s Unlawful Targeting Practices are bad for Children

contributors

By Bill Van Esveld, Human Rights Watch The Israel Defense Force has an answer to the shelling yesterday that killed four children near the Gaza City port. At a media briefing yesterday, an IDF official reportedly said the attack had targeted an “identified Hamas structure,” and that Israeli forces had misidentified the boys as “fleeing […]

Apartheid

Gaza: Families destroyed by Israel’s bombs

contributors

By: Orouba Othman His whole life passed before his eyes like a film uncut by memory. He dived into the rubble of his home, hoping to find something to defeat the idea of his family’s death. But death is always stronger and here, the smell of blood fills the air. Gaza – He calls them […]