Top 4 Issues Saudi King Salman will discuss in first visit to Obama’s White House
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Saudi King Salman is meeting Friday with…
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Saudi King Salman is meeting Friday with…
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - American corporate news has not devoted the…
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Israel lobbies don't win every fight…
Foreign Policy
Are Turkish Pres. Erdogan’s anti-PKK Campaign, Snap Elections Backfiring?
By Kubilay Yado Arin | (ISLAMiCommentary) | - - Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons) Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan this week called for new elections on November 1, after his…Austrian Truck Tragedy echoes Palestinian Story, reminding us of 7 mn still stateless
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The gruesome discovery of an abandoned truck in eastern Austria with 71 dead refugees in it, 4 of them children, has horrified the…What if it were your kids’ School the Israelis were demolishing?
By: Fadwa Baroud | (Ma'an News Analysis) | - - On July 12, 2015, Israel announced that it would seek to carry out demolition orders of structures in the Palestinian village of…Fighting at Funerals: Turkey plunges back into Conflict
T. Deniz Erkmen | (Informed Comment) | - - It has been a month since the government of Turkey has ended the tenuous peace process with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK),…Egypt’s al-Sisi and Putin Pledge Common Front against Terrorism
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Egypt's president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met Wednesday for the third time in a year with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Putin is…Germany decides to Accept Syrian Refugees, Waives EU Rule
Der Tagesspiegel by Andrea Dernbach translated by Samuel Morgan [NB Germany is expecting 800,000 asylum seekers this year, 40% of the EU total.] Germany has ceased applying the rules of the Dublin…Turkey’s Snap Elections: Erdoğan is forcing his people to take sides
By Bahar Baser and Ahmet Erdi Öztürk | (The Conversation) | - - Ever since the June 2015 elections, which thwarted the proposed presidential system that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has long…Major World Aid Groups & 150,000 people demand end to Israel’s Gaza blockade
Oxfam | (Press Release) - - Oxfam Press Release : More than 150,000 people from around the world have today joined 35 aid, faith, development and human rights organizations in backing an…Water Being Used as Weapon of War in Syrian Conflict, UN Warns
By Lauren McCauley, staff writer. | (Commondreams.org) | - - Compounded by scorching heat wave, Syrians are experiencing 'deliberate' water cut-offs, often for weeks at a time The United Nations on Tuesday…Defending Natalie Portman on Holocaust: Sometimes it can be subverted to fear-mongering
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Actress Natalie Portman has kicked off a controversy with remarks about how to remember the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews, in which the…ISIL’s Assault on History: Blows Up 1st Century Baal Shamin Temple in Palmyra
RFE / RL | - - Gunmen from the Islamic State (IS) militant group have blown up a first century A.D. temple in the ancient city of Palmyra, Syrian government officials and…President of Israel declares Israeli Squatting in Palestinian West Bank a “Right”, key to Zionism
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Monday declared Israeli squatting on the Palestinian West Bank a "right" and as an essential Zionist principle. Reuven,…A CIA Eyewitness blows the Whistle on Bushie Torturers still Justifying Crimes
By John Kiriakou | (Foreign Policy in Focus/ Otherwords.org) | - - They can call it anything they want, but the CIA tortured its prisoners. And that's a crime against humanity. The…Can Iraq’s Shiite Militias save the Country from Sectarian Division? Qais al-Khazali thinks So
By Mohammed al-Zaidi | Najaf | (Niqash.org) | - - NIQASH meets Qais al-Khazali, head of one of Iraq's most feared militias. The cleric and soldier answered critics, talking about what to…Israel: Surge in Unlawful Palestinian Home Demolitions: 126 in West Bank Left Homeless
Human Rights Watch | - - (Jerusalem) – The Israeli military unlawfully demolished at least 39 structures in Bedouin Palestinian communities in the West Bank on August 17 and 18, 2015. The…ISIS Desecrates, Razes Ancient Christian Monastery in Syria
Iraq-Syria News | (Video News Report) | - - "Yet again, ISIS violated the sanctity of Christianity in the Middle East and in Syria in particular. This time, the target was the…Israel’s Illegal blockade of Gaza based on “made-up laws”; resistance outlawed
By Azeezah Kanji | (OpenDemocracy) | - - Israel invokes the privileges of engaging in international armed conflict but denies Palestinians their corresponding entitlements under the same body of law. This is…Is Israeli military using Barak in struggle w/ Netanyahu over Iran Deal?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) - - The revelations from former Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's memoir keep coming. Another excerpt was broadcast by Israel's Channel 2 on Sunday. Barak gave…Youth Revolts are back– Lebanon, Iraq Shaken by demand for Services, end to Corruption
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The master narrative of much Western journalism is that the youth protests of 2011 have been replaced by civil war and terrorism. But…Slovakia Will Only Accept Christian Migrants
Jo Ankier and Jose Marcelino Orti | (TheLipTV Video News) | - - "Slovakia announced Thursday that it will only accept Christians when it takes in refugees fleeing conflict in Syria under…