Because, between the PKK, both in-country and in Northern Iraq, the constant headscarf issue, the debate over its European or Islamist future, and debates, both philosophical and legal, over its Islamic-governed present, the last thing Turkey needs is al-Qaeda activity in the country. But there has been a lot of high-level chatter recently that such an event […]
Gregory D Johnsen, despite his snide comment on the marriage post, has an excellent article in the new Sentinel, the journal of the Combating Terrorism Center, out of West Point. It is on Yemen, and provides an excellent overlook of what is happening in Yemen right now, and why. This is as good a piece […]
Self-promotion? No. An educational opportunity. Your author has a new article up on Yemen in the Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Focus. Want a teaser? Why not? Yemen is running out of water. Its economy is one of the weakest in the world. Its second-most powerful and influential political figure, Shaykh Abdullah al-Ahmar, recently died, and Saleh […]
I hate being the guy who only publishes bad stories, and I promise to try and publish some things that are more uplifting, but I came across this story last week and it has bothered me ever since. I suppose there is a bit of inspiration in the story, but the overall arch is wildly […]
The New York Times has a great piece on the dismissal of 1,300 soldiers and policemen in the wake of the Basra offensive. Stephen Farrell writes that there have been revelations “more than 1,000 members of the security forces had laid down their weapons during the fight“. There were a multitude of reasons behind the […]
The Los Angeles Timeshas an excellent blog on the Middle East, Babylon and Beyond, and I am not just saying that because they have added this to their blogroll. I am reasonably sure the Times will do fine without my endorsement. I am linking it because of an interesting article on the death of Hezbollah […]
I’m going to quibble here with an article I really enjoyed and found useful. I hope you don't mind. I don't want to leave the impression that it was a bad article. It is one you should read, if you have the time. And time is the most important thing here. The Carnegie Endowment has […]
Few things in life- first dates, certain church services- have of much ritualized pointlessness as the annual Arab Summit. It is a parade of forced smiles, empty promises, grand, boring speeches, and zero progress on any issues. The summit, controversialy held in Damascus, failed to make any headway on the most pressing issue in the […]
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-296515809464153035″ width=”400″ height=”326″ wmode=”transparent” /] The video I’m posting is of the Iraq Town Hall that was put on by the Foreign Policy Association, last week in New York City. The panelists are Dr. Fred Kagan, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute specializing in defense issues and the US military. He is […]
According to several media reports, the battle of Basra is NOT going well. Just a few hours ago, militants blew up a crude oil pipeline. An act of retaliation, this is part of a tenacious fight that the Sadrists are putting up in the south of the country. The Iraqi and US forces have a […]
An article printed in the Jerusalem Post this past week provides an interesting overview of the rising popularity of victims' families filing lawsuits in Israeli courts against the Palestinian Authority since the start of the second intifadah. The Israeli government has openly admitted that it has not only the right, but the obligation, to protect […]
In Part One, I discussed the likelihood of the British contingent staying on in Basra past their pull-out dates because of continuing instability in the province and city. The big parties that are fighting for dominance are the Fadhila party (a smaller Shi’ite party), the Sadrists, and the followers of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council […]
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