Group items tagged

Islamic State has released a video suggesting it may carry out further attacks in the West, mentioning London, Berlin, and Rome as possible targets. The video features a member of the group stating in English that the recent attacks in Paris and Brussels should be seen as a "cautionary message" to nations fighting Islamic State. This video has video game portrayal of the buildings being destroyed which has Europe on high alert.

This article basically lays out the faults in US intervention in Libya during the fall of Gaddafi and condemns the US officials for their lack of hindsight in their agenda. The US claimed that they could not "turn a blind eye" to atrocities and human right violations in other countries and to intervene in Libya was a matter of upholding "universal values." After the successful ousting of Gaddafi, the US hypocritically turned their back on the country as a whole, leaving them to pick up the pieces and re-build themselves in the midst of socio-political and economic chaos. The US claims that military intervention is sometimes necessary to address human right violations, but in the case of Libya more violations have occurred as a result of a fallen regime rather than because of its reign. The author basically says that the US should have predicted that short-term intervention strategies achieves nothing without years of sustained support for rebuilding the civil institutions. 

Sissi calls for internationals support on fighting Islamic power in Libya.

The Voice of America reported President Sissi's call to the US and Europe to aid the Libyan army in their fight against ISIS, saving the country from requiring intervention on the scale of Iraq and Syria. Egypt has been training anti-Islamist forced on its own soil and sending them out to fight in Libya, but they have yet to intervene directly. He calls on the international community to help prevent further Islamic insurgency for the sake of stability throughout the region as a whole. 

Millions of dollars of US provided military equipment has been destroyed by saudi airstrikes against the Houthi rebels. The power vacuum in the area has allowed AQAP to rebuild itself. U.S. officials said that the CIA's armed drones are still flying over Yemen, prepared to launch strikes against AQAP members.

Millions of dollars of US provided military equipment has been destroyed by saudi airstrikes against the Houthi rebels. The power vacuum in the area has allowed AQAP to rebuild itself. U.S. officials said that the CIA's armed drones are still flying over Yemen, prepared to launch strikes against AQAP members.

United Nations human rights investigators recently leveled accusations of genocide and war crimes at the Islamic State, citing evidence that the extremist group's fighters had sought to wipe out the Yazidi minority in Iraq.

This piece is about the education reform K-12 in Qatar. The program has started to use local education supplies to create a better community attitude toward education. Their have been efforts to create a universal curriculum and higher evaluation and testing. 

The US pardoned a suspected Iranian hacker and a few other Iran nationals for US citizens held prisoner by Iran. This exchange is revealing of the amount of leverage these two nation-states have against one another.

In the early morning hours of 1 November 1954, small units of Algeria Muslims, organized by the Front de Libération National (FLN) attacked police posts, warehouses, communications facilities, and public utilities military installations.

This author gives an analysis of where the Egyptian youth failed and succeeded in their revolution. He applauds their original motivation: overthrowing the oppressive regime and seeking political freedom. However, he criticizes the movement for not having organized goals with practical implications. Their focus was so set on overthrowing Mubarak that they did not have a plan once that was achieved. As a result, the youth allowed the military to become politicized and enforce their political ideas. The author claims this move set a dangerous precedent for the future and took away the attention of the military from places it was needed. The author claims that by endorsing the army to act militarily against the first civilian elected president of the country, the youth is undermining their original goals. He goes on to explain his suggestions for the Egyptian youth to get back on track and follow through in the remaining phases of the revolution.

This article discuss human rights and how the United States misconstrues its main objective from a Iranian journalist and activist, Akbar Ganji's, point of view. He discusses Iran's hunger for democracy and proof that the country is worthy and that the United States is not.

Thsi article explores the state of Christians in Syria. Patriarch Gregorios and Bishop Ibrahim add to this discussion.

Turkey has announced that, along with the US, they will be training some 2,000 Syrian rebels. Tensions have been rising between Syria and Turkey ever since Turkey went into Syria to retrieve a historical figure and relocate him but they are hoping this move will calm the tensions between the two states. 

Another article addressing the recent destruction of Libyan oil fields, the Wall Street Journal points a more direct finger at the Islamic State. This article suggests that militant groups do not have the expertise to take advantage of the oil fields themselves,; therefore, they destroy the oil fields in an attempt to keep rival political factions from using the oil fields to their advantage.

Conflict broke out in the Libyan capital Tripoli forcing Mitiga airport, primary airport since Tripoli International was closed due to damages, to close down worsening the bloody proxy war thus escalating the crisis. Egypt and UAE have been aiding the Islamic opposition, helping to fight against the Islamic militants backed by Turkey and Qatar. Apparently Qatar's involvement in Libya goes back to the revolution that ousted Gaddafi, contributing $2 billion in support of the Islamic movements as a part of its vision to establish an Arab regime ruling through Sharia Law. As of now, no players are willing to compromise in this "state of war." 

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. 

A somewhat in-depth interview with Assad concerning Syria's present state, answers to questions of bombing Syrian cities, and Syria's foreign relations. Interview taken 1 week ago

In this Wall Street Journal opinion article, the authors tackle a controversial law that Netanyahu proposed. The law would officially declare Israel as a Jewish state and de-list arabic as the official language. As the authors declare, they are very much pro-Israel, but are ashamed of the law.

The Tripoli based anti-Islamist militia government has fired its Prime Minister for incompetence.

ISIS is not only a threat to Iran, but a threat to the United States as well. Here the NY Times discusses more about why the two nations should work together against ISIS.

If the United States is serious about thoroughly defeating ISIS, it must somehow, some way go through Syria. But how? And in what way? Those are the big questions now, as President Barack Obama weighs what to do inside the war-ravaged nation where ISIS leaders are based and where the Islamist terror group rose to prominence.