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A second round of talks will be held in Moscow. These talks are said to focus on humanitarian issues in Syria. 

One of the things I personally didn't know about Al Qaeda was that some of the people involved are very smart people. The way they use their intelligence is different from how we would use them. I found this interesting because being an explosives expert sounds like it involves a lot of skill and knowledge.

This article describes what the Pentagon went through in order to warn the oil tanker drivers of the coming fighter jets that were going to destroy their trucks. This was because the tankers were carrying oil that was bringing in revenue to ISIS.

ISIL's Hacking Division as of late December have tried penetrating the U.S. national electricity grid. Two hackers were caught, having accessed over 1,305 U.S. military personnel's addresses, locations, numbers and family information. Recent ISIL bloggers have discussed crashing passenger jets by hacking into on-board electronics. Other extremists have discussed triggering a lethal radiation release by sending rogue commands to nuclear power plants.

It is crazy to think that as horrible as Osama Bin Laden was, he may not have been as bad as ISIS is right now. The new documents released showed directives from Bin Laden to behave in manners opposite to what ISIS currently does.

"The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) has released a video that shows children being groomed to become its next generation of jihadis at an orphanage in the Iraqi city of Mosul. With a background of Arabic prayer music, the propaganda video portrays ISIS as looking after the children, who they claim have lost their parents to "martyrdom," according to U.S.-based jihadi monitoring group SITE Intelligence."

This report from December 2015, released news from Moscow that uncovered Turkey as ISIS' main destination for smuggling oil. Three main oil routes to Turkey have been discovered. Although ISIS' income from oil smuggling has been significantly reduced from $3 to $1.5 million per day, this still suggests Turkey was not only aware of ISIS' stealing, but aiding and buying.

ISIS has released a video of the looming attack that has been repeatedly threatened by the extremists to be in the near future. The footage calls for infidels to be killed wherever they are found.

The first official report regarding the capture of two American ships was release at the beginning of this year (2016). This is an important concept in relations between two countries and helps see the power that exists with a country's international water line,

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 news release from today reported 12 wounded after rockets fired from Syria into Turkey's Kilis. It is highly suspected that the rocket launchers came from ISIL-controlled Bab region. There have been previous rocket projectiles form Bab on two separate incidents killing 8 people total, hitting a school and neighborhood.

This article, released on February 19th, details Turkey's attack on Kurdish targets post Ankara bombing. Heightened tensions between the Turks and the Kurds after a car bombing in Ankara killed 28 people. The YPG, a Syrian Kurdish group denied the accusations of involvement.

On December 3, officials at Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport prevented Samar Badawi from leaving Saudi Arabia to advocate abroad for the release of her husband, Waleed Abu al-Khair. A lawyer and human rights activist, he is in prison, facing a 15-year term for peacefully criticizing Saudi authorities on Twitter and in television interviews.

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 describes the position and demands of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party of Egypt. The relationship of the youth protesters with the Egyptian Left was solidified when the Left provided the youth with the political power to make their revolution successful. The Socialist Popular Alliance demands a new constitution and a new government structure that is based on democracy, human rights, and freedoms. Their political position and ideal social structure are very similar to typical American ideals, especially those of the American left political parties. However, the Public Alliance seems very angered over Mubarak's previous friendly relations with Israel. This population feels as though they were forced to abandon the Arab people and support Israel instead of Palestine. This is interesting because Egypt's relations with Israel has garnered tremendous political and economic support from the United States. Having an Arab ally has been an advantageous point of negotiation for Israel and the US. With the Popular Alliance in severe opposition to this position of Israeli sympathy, it is a surprise that they seem to embrace "Americanized" ideas. In addition, it is worth noting that the youth finds a great identity with the Arab culture, although not so much with a specific religion.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is suspected to be alive, after reports that he had been injured or dead after an air strike hit the area he was in at the time. The is an audio recording that fit into the accounts that he might be alive.

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.