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A huge attack was planned against ISIS but America was not involved but Iran was involved in this attack against ISIS.

A huge attack was planned against ISIS but America was not involved but Iran was involved in this attack against ISIS.

Putin has decided to withdraw the bulk of Russian forces from Syria. This comes as a surprise, but he claims that Russia's military objective in Syria have been completed.

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.

The following link discusses vaguely and in general what life is like in Saudi Arabia including what entertainment is like, the limitations on women, societal norms, and culture. I was surprised to read that human activity is not allowed to be depicted in art.

Caucasus Emirate is another al Qaeda-linked group that is fighting in Syria, Aleppo more specifically. I was surprised by how much detail was divulged by the group about their role in the fighting.

Article goes over why Syria and Iran have remained very close. Surprising alliance given that Syria is Arab and Iran is Islam which tend to be at odds with one another. Alliance against Iraq strengthened them as well.

THERE is nothing Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, likes more than taking everyone by surprise. Except, perhaps, demonstrating that his country is an independent actor on the world stage that has to be taken seriously. Thus, the announcement from the Kremlin on March 14th that Russia was partially withdrawing its forces in Syria was vintage Putin.

This article discusses Qatar's reasons for asking the Muslim Brotherhood to leave the country. According to this article, many leaders of the Brotherhood have agreed to leave the Gulf state for the time being.

That is a huge surprise, as Qatar become something like a foreign sponsor for Morsi's presidency and floated a lot of loan offers to Egypt to ensure the success of his administration. (It didn't work, but that's another story.)

This is an article for Hurriyet Daily News, an online newspaper based in Istanbul.On October 5, many neighborhoods on Turkey's border with Syria were evacuated. I thought this news article was interesting because it quotes a speech by Turkey's president in which he addresses his viewpoint on the PKK. The organization has been banned in Turkey and is considered a terrorist organization. He says that ISIS/ISIL and the PKK are equivalent groups, and that the PKK is using the current conflict with ISIS to manipulate public opinion.

This is an article for Hurriyet Daily News, an online newspaper based in Istanbul.On October 5, many neighborhoods on Turkey's border with Syria were evacuated. I thought this news article was interesting because it quotes a speech by Turkey's president in which he addresses his viewpoint on the PKK. The organization has been banned in Turkey and is considered a terrorist organization. He says that ISIS/ISIL and the PKK are equivalent groups, and that the PKK is using the current conflict with ISIS to manipulate public opinion.

The news today says that ISIS has all but taken a Syrian Kurdish border city with Turkey, called Kobane. Not surprised that Erdogan would conflate the two groups, while the US is trying to activate Kurdish militants to resist ISIS. I was chatting with another student in my office today and we were wondering if the duty and suffering that have devolved onto the Kurds in this crisis might reinvigorate their push for a nation-state of their own.

Abdul-Rahman Kassig was an American aid worker that was kidnapped in Syria By ISIS. To many people's surprise, the American converted to Islam after being captured.

After the heated argument Ben Affleck had with Real Time host Bill Maher, people are still debating the topic of Islam in the world. A Muslim woman named Eiynah has entered the discussion, and directed her opinion of the often archaic nature of Islam in an open letter to Affleck, which was posted on Pakistan Today : Dear Ben, I am writing to you today as a woman who was born and raised in Islam. This topic is interesting because liberals in the West are so annoyed by the rhetoric that comes from bigoted sources; while Affleck was standing up for what he believes in, the writer suggests he should have gone about it in a different way. It's just also unfortunate that many are quick to judge and condemn a faith even though other faiths have had just as many problems (and have supported immoral practices) throughout history. However its still important to bring up and try to make solutions for human rights crisis that take place based on Sharia law.

After the heated argument Ben Affleck had with Real Time host Bill Maher, people are still debating the topic of Islam in the world. A Muslim woman named Eiynah has entered the discussion, and directed her opinion of the often archaic nature of Islam in an open letter to Affleck, which was posted on Pakistan Today : Dear Ben, I am writing to you today as a woman who was born and raised in Islam. This topic was interesting because liberals in America have to deal with bigoted rhetoric all the time and its frustrating. While the author of the letter was proud of Affleck for standing up for Islamic people and what he believes is right, she suggests he just go about it in a different way because discussions of human right violations in the Middle East should still be called out.

This Iranian-American writer and scholar, Reza Aslan, points out how dumb the media has been covering stories about Islam, and how they are using bigotry to sum up all Muslim countries together.

Did you see the follow up on CNN? The anchor (I guess that's what you'd call him) said that Aslan's *tone* reinforced the idea that Muslims are hostile people. I also recommend watching Ben Affleck's visit to Maher's show if you haven't seen that too. Coincidentally, a Palestinian-American scholar lost his tenured job at University of Illinois again for the "uncivil tone" of his Twitter account.

Wow that's truly awful that'd they'd follow up like that but it's not surprising coming from a fear-mongering giant like CNN lol. It's sad that that's the only way they could wrap out how he basically schooled them in their knowledge of violence worldwide. And yes i've seen that interview too

None of this should surprise. After all, it's a presidential election year, and it would be downright un-American not to blame or criticize someone. But who or what is actually responsible for the unhappy state of affairs in the muddled Middle East? Here are some plausible possibilities.

Russian warplanes are conducting airstrikes now in Syria, according to a slew of news reports. The move follows authorization by a vote in Russian parliament as well as weeks of Kremlin messaging about the importance of bolstering the Syrian regime to combat the Islamic State. These Russian airstrikes, although effective, have put United States in a bit of worry because they are unsure of who is calling in the airstrikes. Russia is known to support Assad so any chance they have they will use the strikes to help strengthen Assad, which is not what the U.S. wants. These actions were not surprising to the United States, who believe Russia is saying that they will attack terrorists when they really just want Assad to stay in power.

One of the ways terrorism is flourishing is through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in an online world where 196 countries are connected to the Internet. It should not be surprising that terrorists use ICT, because firstly it is difficult to track and trace cyber communications, and secondly there is a lack of a globally accepted legal framework that would improve information security.

Russian President Putin surprised the world by abruptly declaring on March 15 that Russia was withdrawing its forces from Syria in the wake of a partial ceasefire deal between regime forces and certain moderate opposition groups.