Iraq: 25,000 Shiite Militiamen gather for Battle of Ramadi
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | -- Al-Zaman (The Times of Baghdad) reports that Iraqi…
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | -- Al-Zaman (The Times of Baghdad) reports that Iraqi…
By Juan Cole | (Informed Commen) | -- Baghdad was shaken by the news that the…
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - Far right Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu commemorated…
Foreign Policy
Iraq: 25,000 Shiite Militiamen gather for Battle of Ramadi
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | -- Al-Zaman (The Times of Baghdad) reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi met Tuesday with leaders of the Shiite militias to plan the retaking…Vatican recognition of saints symbolic victory for Palestinians
By: Charlie Hoyle BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The grounds of the Carmel Convent in Bethlehem, home to blue-shuttered stone buildings on a hilltop facing the Nativity Church, are adorned with the image of…2007: Progress Continues in Ramadi, Mullen Notes During Visit
Just to show Iraq's ups and downs, here is a celebratory article from the US Department of Defense about the apparent rollback in Ramadi of al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia (the parent organization of…Why does the Iraqi Army Keep Running Away from ISIL?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Commen) | -- Baghdad was shaken by the news that the Iraq army and police in Ramadi ran away from the advancing forces of Daesh (ISIL, ISIS).…After fall of Ramadi to ISIL, does Iraq have a future?
By Brian M Downing | (Informed Comment) | - Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, has fallen to forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. ISIL has now reversed…Israel Pushes Negev Bedouin Palestinians into a Corner
By Ari Heistein | (Informed Comment) | - Israel’s latest move to demolish a Bedouin village and replace it with homes for Jewish citizens is no surprise to anyone familiar with…Who does Jerusalem belong To?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - Far right Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu commemorated Israel's "Jerusalem Day" with a speech in which he said, "Jerusalem was always the capital of…As ISIL takes Ramadi: America’s Hydra Problem in the Middle East
By Inge Fryklund | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | -- In the Greek myth, Heracles battles the Hydra — a multi-headed reptilian monster that was terrorizing the Greek countryside. However, every time…Illegal Israeli Squatters uproot hundreds of Palestinian olive trees near Hebron
HEBRON (Ma'an) - Israeli settlers destroyed and uprooted hundreds of olive saplings in the Palestinian town of al-Shuyoukh northeast of Hebron in the southern West Bank. Local activist Ahmad al-Halayqa told Ma'an…Death Sentence for Morsi: Egypt’s Junta takes another step toward being N. Korea
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - That the only freely elected president Egypt has ever known has been sentenced to death is only to be expected from the current military…Floating Graveyard: 6000 Migrants, incl. Rohingya Muslims, Marooned in SE Asia Seas
By Kanya D'Almeida | -- UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - On Thursday, May 14, a group of journalists rented a boat from Ko Lipe, a small island in Thailand’s southwest Satun Province, and…Palestinian Christians, under Pressure, Honored by Pres. Abbas as they welcome New Saints
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- In the run up to Pope Francis' canonization of two Palestinian nuns, President Mahmoud Abbas praises Palestinian Christians for the "distinctive dimension" their community and history gives to the…Syria: Roman Palmyra Monuments in danger as ISIL Fighters Near
BBC News | Video | - "Islamic State militants move to within a few miles of one of the world's oldest and most important archaeological cities, Palmyra, in the latest stage of…Cole: Iraq’s Ramadi falls to ISIL as Shiite Gov’t refuses to Arm Sunni Tribes
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) The Times of Baghdad (al-Zaman) reports that fighters of the Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) terrorist group raised their black flags over the central government building in Ramadi…Was that a White House- Gulf Arab Summit or an Arms Bazaar?
By Thalif Deen | (Inter Press Service) | - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry chats with Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia on Mar. 5, 2015, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,…Palestinian Catastrophe Day: Injuries as Israeli Soldiers Attack Peaceful Nil’in Protest
By Saed Bannoura | (IMEMC News) | - More than 1,200 Palestinians, accompanied by Israeli and international peace activists, marched in the weekly protest in Ni’lin village on Friday, near the central…Obama: No Mideast NATO, but US committed to Security of Arab Gulf States
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council came to meet President Barack Obama at Camp David in search of a renewed, formalized US commitment…Why Obama is bucking Saudis, Israel on Iran: Deal would much Strengthen US Security
By Brian M Downing | (Informed Comment) | - The dialog between the US and Iran moves ahead, albeit haltingly. Opposition comes from important groups in both Tehran and Washington – as…Iraq’s Shiite Militias turn on their Shiite Prime Minister
By Mustafa Habib | (Niqash.org) | - (Baghdad) - Iraq's relatively new Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, has been performing a tricky balancing act for the past few months, carefully keeping the various…United Nations: “No confidence vote” on America’s Post-9/11 Human Rights Record
By Gustavo Capdevila | (Inter Press Service) | - GENEVA (IPS) - Without the emperor’s clothes, like in the Hans Christian Andersen story, the United States was forced to submit its human…