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Kurdish soldiers recovered images of ISIL picking a baby girl down with a knife near her throat. It is unclear what happen to the child. Many other images were found in the phone like the terrorist group playing football with heads.

This is an article about Yugoslavia which doesn't want the interference of NATO in their lives any more. NATO and Yugoslavia gets into details about foreign policy 

In the following link there are multiple images as well as informative texts. Olivia Arthur, and photographer, traveled to Saudi Arabia to teach a photography class. The images seen are a few of the pictures she took while there. Arthur discusses the difficulties she faced, many of the women did not want to be photographed or have their faces showing, Arthur had to get creative with her pictures. She also states that there is a discrepancy with women's rights when it comes to what economic class you are in.

The beheading of James Foley by the Islamic State triggered debate. David Greene talks to Robert Hernandez, assistant professor at USC Annenberg, about censorship with new tech platforms like Twitter.

The beheading of James Foley by the Islamic State triggered debate. David Greene talks to Robert Hernandez, assistant professor at USC Annenberg, about censorship with new tech platforms like Twitter.

The beheading of James Foley by the Islamic State triggered debate. David Greene talks to Robert Hernandez, assistant professor at USC Annenberg, about censorship with new tech platforms like Twitter.

This article is a reflection of the events at Cairo's Tahrir Square. By showing videos and photos of the revolution it really solidifies the image of what the conditions were like at this time, even after the protests have ended.

This article is a reflection of the events at Cairo's Tahrir Square. By showing videos and photos of the revolution it really solidifies the image of what the conditions were like at this time, even after the protests have ended.

This piece is talking about the efforts of Lebanon to support the education of Syrian children. The refugee students have been out of school for years which hinders their future quality of life. Only about half of the refugee children are attending some sort of school program. 

This is an image of the resources avaliable to the US near Syria as well as different facilities and bases in Syria controlled by the assad regime.

Both the current Egyptian authorities and the Muslim Brotherhood have failed to attract the support of the youth, while women participated in the recent referendum to support stability. The youth see the remnants of Mubarak's administration through the government structure. The revolution wouldn't be important without changes to the government. Many political groups are trying to coax the youth to being on "their side," and meanwhile, the Egyptian youth are struggling to find any positives. Gaining the vote of the youth generally means a win or loss for the politicians.

Both the current Egyptian authorities and the Muslim Brotherhood have failed to attract the support of the youth, while women participated in the recent referendum to support stability. The youth see the remnants of Mubarak's administration through the government structure. The revolution wouldn't be important without changes to the government. Many political groups are trying to coax the youth to being on "their side," and meanwhile, the Egyptian youth are struggling to find any positives. Gaining the vote of the youth generally means a win or loss for the politicians.

Activists who led the 2011 revolt reflect on growing disillusionment with prospects for positive social change. A vast majority of the youth have become apathetic toward any political policies. In the vote for the constitutional referendum, the youth mainly acted in boycott and did not participate in the voting. In addition, the Egyptian media outlets have been accused of participating in a smear campaign against the activists that led the 2011 revolution. Wael Ghonim, for example, has had to handle his public image as he has been accused of benefiting from the revolt that he helped to orchestrate. A blogger, who goes by the name "Sandmonkey" accused the older generations of resisting change. He claims they act on their own accord even when they have no plausible or other alternative solutions. He points out that the youth represents 70% of the population but receives no official representation and only pity from the older generation who continues to make decisions on their behalf.

This link is to a YouTube video of an interview with Rania al-Baz. Rana al-Baz was a female news caster that was beaten almost to death by her husband. She went public with her story and posted images of her badly beaten face. She doesn't recall the beating, but she does remember being strangled prior to.

This is a tweet of a drawing by Sazan Slemani, a Kurdish woman who is very active on Twitter in support of the female fighters of the YPG, a branch of the PKK. In the drawing, a female PKK soldier is depicted putting her hair up in a ponytail, as if in preparation for a battle, and as her hair flows down from her hands, it changes into the shape of a gun. While art critique is not exactly my forte, I found this image to be really moving. I thought it was particularly interesting how long hair, which typically symbolizes femininity, was paired with something traditionally masculine like assault rifles and war.

This article highlights the Egyptian Revolution and its ties to social media. We have discussed Khaled Said in class and this article talks about the image of his dead beaten body appearing on Facebook and how it inspired Wael Ghonim, born in Egypt, living in Dubai, and many others to become activists in the revolution.

The article states that ISIS, Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood are all "terrorist organizations"  that are being ignored and should be recognized as a threat. The article does not state what the intentions of the Muslim Brotherhood are, but does state the objectives "ISIS to create a caliphate empire, and Hamas to eliminate the State of Israel."  The article also mentions the images that have been given to portray the situations in Gaza. 

This article is partly a news report and partly a discussion of gender equality in the PKK. On October 27, rumors began to spread on social media that a Kurdish female fighter known by the pseudonym Rehana may have been beheaded by Islamic State militants in Kobani. Rehana became the face of the PKK's female fighters after a picture of her making the victory sign was retweeted hundreds of times on Twitter. An image of a beheaded woman whom IS fighters claim to be Rehana was posted on pro-IS social media sites on the 27th, but it is impossible to verify whether the photo is genuine. The author goes on to discuss the complicated history of gender equality in the PKK. Currently, the group has the largest female militia in the world, and has a history of feminism rooted in it's founder Abdullah Ocalan's ideology. However, the author cites claims made by Berfu Kiziltan about how while the PKK has historically recruited women as well as men, in its early days, recruitment was sometimes by force. The author also mentions the PKK's history of female suicide bombers, as well as a recent suicide bombing in Kobani carried out by a female PKK soldier.

This is a repost to learn how this works.

Like many in Beirut this summer, I found out about one of the recent bombings from a WhatsApp message on my mobile phone. I received a single word text from a friend: infijar (explosion). A second later the image below popped up on my phone screen. ...