Group items tagged

This article basically condemns the intentions of US intervention in Libya. Larison conveys that the assumption that US intervention was crucial in Libya to oust Gaddafi was based on attributing "values" that Americans wanted to believe that they had, putting far more significance on the conflict than it truly possessed. US intervention was unpopular in the region because of distrust in the US and resentment to interference regardless of the side Washington chooses to take. The author says this tells us that the US is far too quick to take sides in foreign conflict, and far too eager to throw their weight behind their side to make sure it wins. The US ought to serve as a neutral mediator resolving conflict rather than initiating further bloodshed through their impulse to "do something" immediately. 

This timeline by Al Jazeera details the history of conflict between the PKK and Turkey from 1920 to 2013. I chose this article because I still felt I could use some more background information about Turkey and the PKK's relationship, as it has had a great impact on Turkey's participation in the coalition against ISIS. While I knew about the conflict up until the Gulf War, I did not know that it was still active and ongoing in 2013.

This article details were certain countries, that are most affected by the Syrian conflict, stand within the conflict and how they would like to solve the issue. 

This article basically states that since the US's withdrawal from Middle Eastern affairs, regional actors were left to fight over who will lead the region's future. The fight is baiscally a run off between Turkey, Qatar, Saudi, and the UAE, each country doing their part intervening in conflicts aiding their supported side. Rather than achieving goals, these proxy wars have fueled the violence, chaos, and polarization deepening the problems they originally sought to mend. While the US has succeeded in abstaining from Mid East affairs, the question now is whether or not they should continue this resignation or step in to urge for order and peace. 

This article touches on an array of ideas but for the sake of my research I focused on the "Thirty Years War" section. Douglass Murray from The Spectator conveys the perspective that the Middle East is likely to be going through a similar 17th century European 30 years war, when Protestant and Catholics launched a full fledged war against one another. This means that religious war in the Middle East is so much bigger than just al-Qaeda and similar groups. The conflict will re-align the region, but also the entire religion of Islam. Douglass says the outcome would call for a Treaty of Westphalia-style solution, redrawing boundaries of a region where they've been bursting for decades.  For the time being the drivers of the conflict is a standoff between the two regional powers and their affiliated proxies, Saudi Arabia and Iran. 

This BBC News article covers the recent, summer 2014 conflict between Hamas and Israel. It also touches on previous conflicts, and the issues that started them.

In this news article on the BBC, a PKK commander claims that while the both sides leadership desires to move forward with the peace process, the peace talks with Turkey are in danger of turning into conflict. Cemil Bayik, a PKK commander in the Qandil mountains, says that the Turkish government's treatment of Kobane shows that it still views the PKK and the Kurdish people as a bigger threat than ISIS. Meanwhile, a Turkish government official, Yasin Aktay, vice-chairman of the ruling AK Party, gave a statement saying that the PKK and the Kurds are using current time of instability to try to "upset the status quo", and try to set up a system of self-governance like Iraqi Kurdish groups. This article ends with dire warnings by both sides. Aktay warns that in the coming weeks and months, Turkey will actively try to prevent a "power grab" by the PKK in Kurdish towns. Meanwhile, Cemil Bayik says that unless the Turkish government changes its policies, the conflict between the Kurds and Turkey will continue, asserting that "if necessary the Kurds will fight against the Islamic State and the Turkish army."

A PKK commander tells the BBC that the peace process with Turkey is in danger of turning into conflict.

The UN is pushing for sanctions to put pressure on Libyan factions and militias to take part in political negotiations. These sanctions would target individual groups rather than the foreign backers involved in the proxy war and would freeze their assets and impose travel bans. US officials have introduced the possibility of using their own sanctions separate from the UN for a few reasons: UN sanctions move slowly if not at all, Washington could impose them whenever they wish. The US places more emphasis on the importance on external actors in the conflict than domestic groups, explaining that these countries are actually intensifying the conflict. 

This article talks about to relationship between Middle Eastern conflicts and the actual amount of oil produced. With the result being the same as it was before the conflict.

This article delves into the issues of war crimes, chemical weapons, humanitarian issues, and the rise if islamist groups interventions

This website offers eight steps to understanding the Syrian conflict. The sections include: uprising turns violent, descent into civil war, war crimes, chemical weapons, humanitarian crisis, Syrian refugees in the region, rebels and the rise of the jihadists, peace efforts, & proxy war

More than 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives in four-and-a-half years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war. More than 11 million others have been forced from their homes as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and those opposed to his rule battle each other - as well as jihadist militants from so-called Islamic State.

Russia claims that the arms deal it has with Syrian President Assad was made before the Syrian civil war started and simply just carried out the deal throughout the war. On the other hand, Assad states that they signed agreements at the beginning of the war, maybe a bit earlier. 

A fairly weighted video, this recent production examines the vast history of the issue, touches on some of the more recent conflicts, and examines the two-state solution.

This is a timeline of events that traces the conflict between Israel and Palestine from ancient times through the 2000's.

This is a heavily weighted video attempting to "explain" the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I believe it's important to bookmark as it made quite the rounds on FB not too long ago.

This news report in International Business Times covers quite a bit of information, as a lot has happened during the past week in regards the conflict with ISIS. The US has declared support for the PKK and other Kurdish forces, because they are fighting against ISIS. Meanwhile, Turkey's President Ergodan, has condemned the US for supporting the PKK, as the US and Turkey are long-standing allies, and the PKK and Turkey have been embroiled in a decades-long conflict. Kurdish fighters are currently battling ISIS forces in the Syrian town of Kobani, and Turkey is opposing giving the fighters any weapons, and equating them with the PKK.

This article also talks about the problems Syrian children face regarding education. International laws about "schools remain out of conflict" has gone ignored for a long time. Public Schools are overstretched in neighboring countries due to extra children in schools. The most interesting part of this article is the video which goes into more details about the growth of education in the last four years. 

The US and Russia have announced that a cease fire will take place on February 27 at midnight, excluding IS and other terrorist organizations. Because the first cease fire was a failure, there is a lot of skepticism surrounding this second effort. 

A BBC article talking about the US and Russia brokered truce that is supposed to start this weekend. The article also includes a fantastic map created by the BBC to show the zones of control and where various airstrikes have been taking place. While this doesn't have anything to do with the arms involved in Syrian conflict I think this is too significant to ignore this week and therefore I have dedicated my tags to it.

This article is focused on the failing education in Syria. Syrian children have stopped attending school out of fear for their lives. An almost perfect 100% attendance rate plummeted to 6%. Syrian refugee children are forced to use different school curriculum's which can be difficult and confusing.  

A Russian news report from Zvezda (Star) channel, including interviews with pro-Syrian army militia commanders. The video is all in Russian but includes English subtitles and takes an interesting look at the system of tunnels various groups are using in this conflict. I chose this because it was a another look at the current conflict from a Russian channel but without the extreme propaganda one finds in the Russia Today articles.