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This article published today by Al Jazeera reports inhumane treatment of Palestinian inmates interrogated at Shikma. I was an Israel supporter in the complex conflict between Israel and Palestine, also considering Israel is an ally of the U.S., but now I'm beginning to rethink my position. This is almost synonymous with the Turks treatment of the Kurds.

The UN has moved peace talks concerning Syria back to March 9th. This is to let the current cessation of hostilities settle down even more; there is a reduction in violence, but both sides of the conflict are still violating the cease fire.

This article looks at the trial of the Bosnia war criminal. He was persecuted and given 40 years in prison after 20 years of being chased and waiting for trial. The Bosnia war has roots of strife which still exist in the Middle East today. 

"Conventional wisdom that Syria will turn out to be "Hezbollah's mini-Vietnam", and that the Iranian backed Lebanese armed group could encounter its gradual collapse in the conflict, is proving to be misguided three years into its involvement. While Hezbollah is losing manpower and assets in Syria, it is also expanding its foothold and leverage across the country and gaining military expertise."

The conflicting interests of the US in Syria continued. Turkey hates the Kurds, but the US is using them to fight ISIS, despite them being terrorists in the eyes of their ally. This makes it sound like Erdogan is growing defiant and may provoke action by the US.

Even before the Houthi revolt, Yemen has had a history full of conflict. Yemen used to be two separate states that were each separately controlled by the Ottoman Empire and Britain.

This is an article that looks forward at Syria's future and compares it with the past. It talks about how Syria used to be a regional keystone state, and that its stability allowed it to be a refuge for people from wars all around. Now, however, it talks about the destruction that has happened and how much work it would take to rebuild the Syrian economy. It also talks about how even after the conflict, there will be a 10 year period needed to clear the country of warlords and thugs from the war.

In Feb. the United Nations demanded Turkey to open its borders to thousands of Syrian refugees. Erdogan responded "are you mocking us?" and accused the UN for overstepping its powers and to basically back off from the Syrian conflict.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are suspected to go head to head in cyber warfare. Wikileaks revealed information that people put on edge in regards to Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Iran and Saudi Arabia, regional rivals in the Middle East, are involved in a cyber conflict. The nations use cyber attacks to release or leak critical intelligence to affect the outcomes of ongoing military conflicts in the region.

This article begins by illuminating the regional democracy assistance cuts that are dropping from $459.2 million to $298.3 million It explains that the Bush Administration began the quest for democracy in the Middle East, and the Obama administration has only continued in his footsteps. The author presents the viewpoint that the U.S. approach to Arab democratization has been in the form of "ad-hoc crisis management" rather than "large scale reform initiatives." Promoting democracy in the form of democratic politics are insufficient, elections and political parties have consistently proved to weather away and fester further civil strife. Consequently, the article proposes a new approach to the region conflict. This approach calls for "systematic reforms" focusing on basic institutions such as the civil service sector, justice and law enforcement, and the military's role in governance. The idea is that addressing these lacking departments in the arab world will eventually pave the way to a smoother democratic transition. 

This interactive map shows how the territory controlled by the Islamic State (IS) has expanded over the past year. Currently, the group is occupying sections of both Syria and northern Iraq. This map also shows the areas of northern Iraq which have been attacked by American fighter jets and drones. The most strikes have been at Mosul dam; they allowed Kurdish forces to re-take the strategic location.

This interactive map shows how the territory controlled by the Islamic State (IS) has expanded over the past year. Currently, the group is occupying sections of both Syria and northern Iraq. This map also shows the areas of northern Iraq which have been attacked by American fighter jets and drones. The most strikes have been at Mosul dam; they allowed Kurdish forces to re-take the strategic location.

Compiled by faculty members at the German University in Cairo, this working paper series addresses the effect that watsa has on competence and morality in Middle Eastern economics and society. The authors define watsa as, "the intervention of a patron in favor of a client to obtain benefits and/or resources from a third party." In simpler terms it is a system of social networking in Arab culture in which family and social ties play a significant role in the attainment of economic advantages and resources, largely in the hiring process in businesses and organizations. A person applying for a job seeks out watsa to increase their chances of getting hired. Comparable to nepotism and cronyism, but is not restricted to friends and associates, watsa can also involve strangers linked through some social web of people. Watsa runs somewhat parallel to a Chinese concept of guanxi, based on Confucian ethics and focusing on strong collective ties. While guanxi is a part of Chinese ethics it actually defies Muslim ethical values, which advocates hiring the person most capable. In a Jordanian survey, 87% of respondents want watsa eradicated. While we know that unemployment in the Arab region is widespread, we can assume that this motivates people to do anything they can to improve their chances of obtaining a job. However, the practice of watsa as a whole is actually degrading the economic systems in the Arab sates even further. The article explains the linkage between watsa and poor job performance, economic decline, and the festering of injustice and frustration among the masses in Arab countries.

This looks super interesting, but I can't get the link to open. Thanks for writing a thorough summary of it!

This article provides a detailed outline of the battle against ISIS in Iraq and Syria through the use of maps, charts, and photographs to allow readers to visualize areas where fighting is taking place. Several maps provide locations of ISIS controlled territory, locations of airstrikes, and locations of ISIS controlled oil refineries. It was really helpful to see different maps outlining this information because I often hear about this conflict on the radio or television programs and it can be hard to understand the scope of the conflict without any visual aids. I really appreciated the effort to show in detail the specific locations.

This article outlined the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq providing detailed maps, charts, and photos to present a more clear picture of where violence and air strikes are occurring.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt are allies, intervening to support Sunnis against the Houthis. Also Saudi Arabia in indirect conflict with Iran, which imposer the Huthis

A terribly interesting article--these are in many ways the reasons I choose not to focus on Israel and Palestine; it's so, so difficult to negotiate the discourses and feelings tangled up in this conflict.