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President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Cairo this Saturday (September 13, 2014). He said that the US coalition to defeat the Islamist State should also combat "terrorist hotbeds" across the Middle East and Africa. Egypt, unlike many other countries in the area, has supported the United State's anti-IS military action.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Cairo this Saturday (September 13, 2014). He said that the US coalition to defeat the Islamist State should also combat "terrorist hotbeds" across the Middle East and Africa. Egypt, unlike many other countries in the area, has supported the United State's anti-IS military action.

This is an opinion piece written by Cegniz Aktar, Senior Scholar at the Istanbul Policy Center, a director at the UN, and one of the leading advocates of Turkey's integration into the EU. In this piece, Aktar argues that Turkish politician "fearing the birth of a Kurdish nation-state more than anything but eager on the other hand to assert their regional supremacy, are ending up by alienating all three Kurdish communities" in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. He is referring specifically to President Ankara making a speech comparing the PKK to ISIL, a few days after stating that the PKK should be fighting ISIL rather than Turkey. Even though the Turkish government has been an economic partner of the Iraqi Kurds, they have offered them no military support, and have also preventing Turkish Kurds from joining the fight against ISIL. The Turkish government's fear of a sovereign Kurdish state is leading to extremely poor diplomatic outcomes.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke at the World Economic Forum about the world's lack of assistance in the transition to democracy in the Middle East and how that ultimately facilitated the birth of ISIL. He explains how a number of EU states were able to maneuver into the democratic realm with the assistance and guidance of the EU, illuminating the idea that the Middle East should be no different. Davutoglu condemns the west for abandoning Middle Eastern states in their dire time of need. While countries around the world supported the Arab Spring, they did nothing to support or finance it to success. He says it would be wrong to correlate the birth of ISIL with Islam, explaining how Islamic communities are perfectly capable of embracing democratic systems. However, assistance in its implementation is vital.

In this Guardian editorial, a Palestinian touches on the subject of Israel encroachment, the state of the two-state solution, and proposes hope for a divided future.

Syria's current President Assad states the he wants the U.S. to take action and allow him to be a part of negotiations. U.S. Secretary of state John Kerry also states that Assad should be part of the peace talks but other world leaders such as in France and Turkey oppose this.

This is an article from ahramonline that discusses how newspapers are supporting the government and censoring certain topics. This article briefly illustrates the restrictions on freedom of speech in Egypt. 

This is an article published in The New Republic, an American left-leaning political magazine, in which the author, Bernard Henri-Levy, argues that the PKK should no longer be considered a terrorist organization. He cites four "factors" as evidence. First, that though the PKK committed terrorist acts in the 1970's, the organization renounced violence in 1999, and secondly, that it has transformed since then into an entity that advocates for the Kurdish State with "dialogue and confederation". Henri-Levy also claims that the PKK should not be considered a terrorist group because they have acted so effectively in the coalition against the Islamic State. Lastly, he argues that the organizations Marxist-Leninist roots have made it a strong supporter of moderate Islam, secularism, and gender equality, and that in order to support the spread of those ideals in the Middle East, Western powers should support the PKK.

This is an article published in The New Republic, an American left-leaning political magazine, in which the author, Bernard Henri-Levy, argues that the PKK should no longer be considered a terrorist organization. He cites four "factors" as evidence. First, that though the PKK committed terrorist acts in the 1970's, the organization renounced violence in 1999, and secondly, that it has transformed since then into an entity that advocates for the Kurdish State with "dialogue and confederation". Henri-Levy also claims that the PKK should not be considered a terrorist group because they have acted so effectively in the coalition against the Islamic State. Lastly, he argues that the organizations Marxist-Leninist roots have made it a strong supporter of moderate Islam, secularism, and gender equality, and that in order to support the spread of those ideals in the Middle East, Western powers should support the PKK.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem stated on Monday, February 9, 2015 that they will not allow foreign ground troops on its territory to fight ISIS. While Syria does not want foreign ground troops, they did ask to coordinate with Jordan against ISIS but Jordan did not respond to their request. For now, Jordan and Syria are not coordinating against terrorist attacks by ISIS and Syria will not take aid from other foreign states.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem stated on Monday, February 9, 2015 that they will not allow foreign ground troops on its territory to fight ISIS. While Syria does not want foreign ground troops, they did ask to coordinate with Jordan against ISIS but Jordan did not respond to their request. For now, Jordan and Syria are not coordinating against terrorist attacks by ISIS and Syria will not take aid from other foreign states.

The question asked is, "Does the March 18 Tunis attack signal that Tunisia will be the next Arab Spring state to be swallowed by violence and repression?" The answer is no. The attack was shocking and like I said in the article it has damaged the country's tourism industry which is a huge part of Tunisia's economy. The bigger picture of this article is the neighboring states of Tunisia. Libya is in a worse state where a lot of terrorist attacks are going on or the terrorists are coming from Libya into Tunisia. Tunisia can never have true security until Libya's situation is addressed.

This 2007 article found on the Electronic Intifada discusses the rise of the singl-state solution rhetoric as it announces an upcoming conference in London.

The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement urged Arab states throughout the region to set aside sectarian rivalries to confront the threat posed by the Islamic State.

This Al Jazeera article discusses the recent failed UN proposal presented by the Palestinian Authority calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from recently seized territories. More importantly though, the article discusses the current state of affairs and calls for a single state solution.

The fact that Israel wants to remain a Jewish state keeps Palestine salty about the situation. There are several problems with "two states for two peoples".

US Secretary of State John Kerry is on a tour of the Middle East rallying support for the fight against the IS. Egypt is part of a 10 state Middle Eastern coalition dedicated to eradicating the IS. Kerry said Egypt has a, "Key role," in defeating the IS due to their success in dealing with Sinai jihadists, he also acknowledged that Egypt is the cultural and intellectual capitol of the Middle East implying that they can resist IS's influence.

This article talks about how the number of IS fighters is actually more than what the CIA had anticipated. There are around 20,000 to 31,500, which is 10,000 less than what the CIA had stated. There are approximately 15,000 foreign fighters, so this is concerns to the Western countries in the fact that these foreign fighters can carry attacks in their home countries.

The Council on Foreign Relations published an article about democratization in the middle east and the major obstacles that are present in the process. While most assume Islamists and Islamic embedded institutions are the root of the delayed democratic transition, the problems are much bigger than that. While Islamist regimes do indeed stunt the growth of democratic progress in terms of creating a stable government, Arab countries struggle with economic and social factors as well. The Arab Spring Revolutions have caused economic and social degradation across the region, resulting in a road block of political leadership. Without a reliable and capable government structure, the states are unable to progress economically. However, in order to have a stable government, social and economic institutions must be in place to create this capitalist economy that they strive for. Because most wealth resides in oil, the revenue that the states bring in isn't distributed properly throughout society and is concentrated within few business elites. The article stresses that instead of foreign aid going into the hands of an unstable leader or regime, it should be invested in institutions in order to spur economic growth and eliminate corruption. Rather than focusing on the Islamist-secularist divide, the world should be working towards the strengthening of institutions to create a stable foundation for governance. 

BBC discusses the effect of IS and the current political state of Libya.

This Tufts student created website outlines the basis of the two-state agreement and provides an brief overview of the opposition and support of the solution.

France is continuing to oppose Syrian President Bashar Assad stating that his government will not be the best group to combat terrorism. They continue to side with the Syrian people and their aspiration to forma civil democratic state. 

Both Britain and France have shunned Syrian President Assad in their quest to fight terrorism. They oppose all that the Syrian government stands for and this is why they will continue to dismiss the Syrian government and any ties with them.