Syria conflict: IS claims wave of bombings that kills dozens
Source: BBC At least 40 people have been killed in bombings in mainly government-held areas of Syria, state media report. Four attacks took place within an hour in Tartous, Homs […]
President Obama and Turkey’s Erdogan Prepare for an Awkward Meeting at the G20
Source: Time By Jared Malsin/Istanbul President Obama is set to hold talks with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China on Sunday, and […]
Saudi Arabia tightens up hajj planning to avoid repeat of 2015 disaster
Source: The Guardian A year after the worst hajj disaster in a generation, Saudi Arabia is issuing pilgrims with electronic bracelets and using more surveillance cameras to avoid a repeat […]
Islamic State: Abu Muhammad al-Adnani ‘killed in Aleppo’
Source: BBC One of the longest-serving and most prominent leaders of so-called Islamic State (IS) has been killed in Syria, IS-affiliated media say. In a statement distributed by the group’s supporters, Amaq News Agency reported that Abu Muhammad al-Adnani died in the province of Aleppo. He was “martyred while surveying […]
Israel quietly legalizes pirate outposts in the West Bank
Source: The New York Times MITZPE DANNY, West Bank — One night in the fall of 1998, a self-professed “outpost entrepreneur” brought three trailers to a rugged hilltop in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and established his first pirate settlement. Dozens of youthful supporters came to cheer on the entrepreneur, Shimon […]
Book Review: Robert Fisk’s Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East
Source: Logos Robert Fisk’s Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf) Reviewed by Matthew Abraham The name “Robert Fisk” has become synonymous […]
Israel Joins Bikini Fray, Ordering Concert Singer to Cover Up
Source: The New York Times By PETER BAKER TEL AVIV — Even as France has started an international debate about whether some women cover up too much on the beach, […]
Uber suspends services in Abu Dhabi
Source: BBC Taxi-hailing company Uber has suspended its service in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Rival service Careem has also put its service there on hold, […]
Turkey’s new position on Syria
Aug 28,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – Amer Al Sabaileh The regional dynamics are creating a new reality in the Syrian crisis, while the military coup in Turkey has created the opportunity for the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to reposition himself and his administration, to take a systematic approach and change […]
In Riyadh and the Riviera, women have to fight for the right to be themselves
Source: The Guardian Police accosting a woman in a burkini on the beach in Nice. Photograph: Vantagenews.com BY Sanam Naraghi Anderlini So, after all the sound and fury, the burkini fiasco est fini. On Friday, the French courts overturned the ban, once again allowing women to wear whatever they want […]
Pentagon Spent Billions Sending Weapons to Iraq, Afghanistan
Source: Time Lauren Chadwick and R. Jeffrey Smith / Center for Public Integrity The Pentagon has spent billions of dollars since 2001 funneling roughly more than a million assault rifles, […]
The reasons why politics feels so tribal in 2016
Source: BBC By Zaria Gorvett 24 August 2016 Imagine you’re in a bar, discussing the upcoming election with your friends. You admit you’re undecided. In fact, you can see both […]
Syrian war: Government regains Darayya after last rebels leave
Source: BBC The Syrian government has retaken control of the town of Darayya, after the last rebels left under a deal ending a four-year siege. Buses containing the final remaining […]
US, Turkey at an impasse over extraditing Muslim cleric
Source: Associated Press By JOSH LEDERMAN and ERIC TUCKER FILE – In this July, 2016 file photo, Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen speaks to members of the media. WASHINGTON (AP) — Turkey says the United States is legally bound by a treaty to immediately hand over Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based Muslim […]
Whether Isis jihadis or government soldiers, speak to fighters in Syria and you will discover infinite sadness
In a military prison in Damascus, a 34-year old Muslim who wanted to be an Islamist fighter breaks down in tears as he tells us how he lied to his wife. Another man tells me his life is so framed by war that his biggest fear is peace Robert Fisk […]
A suggestion for Tehran and Riyadh
Aug 25,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – RAMI G. KHOURI My affection and respect for my good friend and colleague from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with whom I discussed current events in the Middle East over a leisurely Lebanese lunch last week. We had very different analyses of how tensions […]
How reading Shakespeare could help stop conflict in the Middle East
There is a lack of humanist studies in the universities of the Arab world, and an absence of the texts which flourished in the very golden age which Islamists so often proclaim Robert Fisk @indyvoices Thursday 14 July 2016 Two good friends were telling me at dinner a few nights […]
In Israel, women-only beach days allow the religious to relax
Source: RNS TEL AVIV, Israel (RNS) It was Sunday — women’s-only day — at the so-called religious beach in this Israeli city on the Mediterranean, and several hundred women and […]
Turkey vows to cleanse Islamic State from border after wedding attack
Source: Reuters By Orhan Coskun and Daren Butler | ANKARA/ISTANBUL Turkey vowed on Monday to “completely cleanse” Islamic State militants from its border region after a suicide bomber suspected of links to the group killed 54 people, including 22 children, at a Kurdish wedding. Saturday’s attack in the southeastern city […]
The U.S. and NATO Need Turkey
Source: Time By Halil I. Danismaz Danismaz is president of the Turkish Heritage Organization ‘To cast Turkey loose now would forfeit our influence in the region and end a decades-long alliance’ […]