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The New Arab Cold War - 0 views

www.foreignpolicy.com/...r_saudi_arabia_uae_libya_syria leadership proxy wars polarization US Saudi Qatar Turkey UAE politics war
shared by allieggg on 19 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • It stretches from Iraq to Lebanon and reaches into North Africa, taking lives in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt's Western Desert, and now Libya
  • this violence is the result of a nasty fight between regional powers over who will lead the Middle East
  • The recent Egyptian and Emirati airstrikes on Libyan Islamist militias is just one manifestation of this fight for leadership among Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). All these countries have waded into conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Bahrain, and now Libya in order to establish themselves as regional leaders.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Yet these regional contenders for power have rarely achieved their goals. Instead, they have fueled violence, political conflict, and polarization, deepening the endemic problems in the countries they have sought to influence. 
  • Barack Obama's attempt to disentangle the United States from the Middle East's many conflicts has only intensified these rivalries. From a particular perspective, Iraq's chaos, Syria's civil war, Libya's accelerating disintegration, and Hosni Mubarak's fall all represent failures of American leadership.
  • Turkish government has become a leading advocate of regime change in Syria. Unwilling to intervene in the Syrian civil war and unable to coax the United States to do so, Ankara turned a blind eye to extremist groups that used Turkish territory to take up the fight against Assad.
  • Yet the war of words between Ankara and Cairo since then and the support that the Turkish government has extended to the Muslim Brotherhood
  • has only contributed to the political polarization and instability in Egypt
  • Qatar has been less circumspect than others in its support for groups fighting in Syria and Iraq, both offering official funding to Islamist groups in Syria and allowing private contributions to groups including al-Nusra Front, al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate.
  • These conflicts have less to do with Iran and the Sunni-Shiite divide than widely believed. Rather, they represent a fracturing of Washington's Sunni allies in the Middle East. Left to their own devices, the proxy wars the Saudis, Emiratis, Qataris, and Turks are waging among themselves will continue to cause mayhem
  • allieggg on 19 Nov 14
     
    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. 
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isis-air-strikes-undermine-anti-assad-rebels-syria - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...ermine-anti-assad-rebels-syria
shared by lking5 on 11 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • mpatel5 on 11 Nov 14
     
    US-led attacks on the jihadis of the Islamic State (Isis) are the product of a "confused" policy that is turning a "blind eye" to the crimes of President Bashar al-Assad, the leader of Syria's main western-backed opposition group said on Monday.
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ISIS, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood and Western delusions - The Commentator - 0 views

www.thecommentator.com/...therhood_and_western_delusions #ISIS #Hamas #MuslimBrotherhood
shared by kristaf on 11 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • kristaf on 11 Nov 14
     
    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. 
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Band of Brothers: The Muslim Brotherhood's Artistic Side - 1 views

muftah.org/lim-brotherhoods-artistic-side Muslim Brotherhood Art Muftah
shared by zackellogg on 11 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • kristaf on 11 Nov 14
     
    The article mentions the refusal of an opera production to go on as a way of making a statement against Morsi and the brotherhood. The Orchestra conductor named Nayer Nagui addressed the audience and said "We have decided to abstain from putting  on tonight's performance of Aida...until the Minister of Culture is removed." The newly appointed Minister of Culture was given by Morsi to Alaa Abdel Aziz who was altering the message and production of the show. The show according to Aziz was not following appropriate or respectful interpretations of Islam. 
  • zackellogg on 11 Nov 14
     
    Muftah was first launched in May of 2010 as a way of push back against the Western media potrayl of the Middle East. According to the Muftah mission statement, the West has failed to provide diverse viewpoints, and it is things like Muftah that can really make a difference. According to the mission, Muftah focuses on original content by using diverse individuals to tell the story.
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Islamic State executes three of its Chinese militants: China paper | Reuters - 0 views

www.reuters.com/...is-china-idUSKBN0L90T620150205 china syria extremist ISIS war
shared by fcastro2 on 13 Feb 15 - No Cached
    • fcastro2
      fcastro2 on 13 Feb 15
       
      China is concerned with rise of Islamic State. May pose threat to its farthest region. 
  • ign of wa
  • But Beijing has also shown no sign of wanting to take part in the U.S.-led coalition's efforts to use military force against the militant group
    • fcastro2
      fcastro2 on 13 Feb 15
       
      China does not want to join efforts to stop ISIS
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • Around 300 Chinese extremists were fighting with the Islamic State after traveling to Turkey
  • Chinese man was "arrested, tried and shot dead" in Syria in late September by the Islamic State after he became disillusioned with jihad and attempted to return to Turkey to attend university
    • fcastro2
      fcastro2 on 13 Feb 15
       
      1st Chinese extremist shot dead for attempting to flee.
  • "Another two Chinese militants were beheaded in late December in Iraq, along with 11 others from six countries. The Islamic State charged them with treason and accused them of trying to escape
    • fcastro2
      fcastro2 on 13 Feb 15
       
      Many others who were fighting with ISIS killed for "treason"
  • Islamic State, which has seized parts of northern and eastern Syria
  • killed hundreds off the battlefield since the end of June, when it declared a caliphate.
  • Chinese officials blame separatists from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) for carrying out attacks in Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur people. But they are vague about how many people from China are fighting in the Middle Eas
  • China was opposed to "all forms of terrorism"
  • "China is willing to work with the international community to combat terrorist forces, including ETIM, and safeguard global peace, security and stability," Hong said.
  • Human rights advocates say economic marginalization of Uighurs and curbs on their culture and religion are the main causes of ethnic violence in Xinjiang and around China that has killed hundreds of people in recent years. China denies these assertions.
  • hina has criticized the Turkish government for offering shelter to Uighur refugees who have fled through southeast Asia, saying it creates a global security risk.
  • The Islamic State has killed three Chinese militants who joined its ranks in Syria and Iraq and later attempted to flee
  • China has expressed concern about the rise of the Islamic State, nervous about the effect it could have on its Xinjiang region, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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Houthis refuse to cede power in Yemen - Al Arabiya News - 1 views

english.alarabiya.net/...s-to-step-aside-in-Yemen-.html drone strikes yemen
shared by tdford333 on 15 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • Shiite militia that seized power in Sanaa said Sunday it would not cave in to "threats" after Yemen's Gulf neighbours urged the U.N. to act forcefully against its takeover.
  • The United Nations Security Council is expected to adopt a resolution on Sunday urging the Houthis to step aside, release government officials and begin U.N.-brokered negotiations, diplomats said.
  • prompting Western-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to tender his resignation.
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The Debate - Iran Nuclear Deal (P.1)(8.2.2015) - YouTube - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch debate iran deal youtube nuclear program political P5+1
shared by jordanbrown16 on 09 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • jordanbrown16 on 09 Feb 15
     
    Ayat. Seyyed Ali Khamenei, leader of Iran's Islamic revolution, speaks on nuclear negotiations, regarding western dispute over Iran's nuclear program. He says " No deal is better than a deal which contradicts national interests." Other issues concern Iran's purposes for the nuclear program and political decisions for sanctions to be lifted.
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SNC chief reassures minorities on post-Assad Syria - Your Middle East - 0 views

www.yourmiddleeast.com/...rities-on-postassad-syria_8251 syria post-assad minorities 2012
shared by alarsso on 09 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • "A future Syria will be pluralist, middle-class and democratic," Abdel Basset Sayda told German radio and television network Deutsche Welle.
  • We want to reassure all people,"
  • We see this as a national necessity."
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Syria's Muslim Brotherhood, a key opponent of Assad's
  • regime
  • "There will be no room for ideological, nationalist or religious extremism."
  • vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria
  • Western nations calling for sanctions against Assad,
  • The Syrian National Council
  • "We have a concrete plan and keep contact with all opposition groups inside and outside Syria.
  • Syrian forces launched an all-out assault on opposition strongholds in Damascus Friday, a day after rebels seized crossings on the Iraqi and Turkish borders on the 16-month conflict's deadliest day so far.
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Yemen ex-ruler flees to Aden after house arrest | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR - 0 views

www.dailystar.com.lb/...eleased-from-house-arrest.ashx
shared by tdford333 on 22 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • Yemen's former president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi escaped weeks of house arrest by the Houthi militia at his
  • Houthi militiamen opened fire on protesters in the central city of Ibb, killing one person and wounding another, activists said. The crowd had gathered in a square to demonstrate against the Houthis' role in overturning the government last month.
  • Western countries are worried that unrest in Yemen could create opportunities for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to plot more attacks against international targets.
  • tdford333 on 22 Feb 15
     
    Yemen's ousted ruler flees house the arrest that was forced upon him by the Houthi Rebels that took power in Yemen's capitol. The unrest in Yemen leaves the opportunity for terrorist groups to gain power.
1More

What ISIS Really Wants - 3 views

www.theatlantic.com/...384980 ISIS Syria Iraq war politics revolution Libya
shared by cramos8 on 22 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • cramos8 on 22 Feb 15
     
    Where did it come from, and what are its intentions? The simplicity of these questions can be deceiving, and few Western leaders seem to know the answers. In December, The New York Times published confidential comments by Major General Michael K.
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A daring plan to rebuild Syria - no matter who wins the war - Ideas - The Boston Globe - 0 views

www.bostonglobe.com/...story.html syria plan war politics china russia the west
shared by fcastro2 on 23 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • The first year of Syria’s uprising, 2011, largely spared Aleppo, the country’s economic engine, largest city, and home of its most prized heritage sites. Fighting engulfed Aleppo in 2012 and has never let up since, making the city a symbol of the civil war’s grinding destruction
  • Rebels captured the eastern side of the city while the government held the wes
  • , residents say the city is virtually uninhabitable; most who remain have nowhere else to go
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  • In terms of sheer devastation, Syria today is worse off than Germany at the end of World War II
  • ven as the fighting continues, a movement is brewing among planners, activists and bureaucrats—some still in Aleppo, others in Damascus, Turkey, and Lebanon—to prepare, right now, for the reconstruction effort that will come whenever peace finally arrives.
  • In a glass tower belonging to the United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, a project called the National Agenda for the Future of Syria has brought together teams of engineers, architects, water experts, conservationists, and development experts to grapple with seemingly impossible technical problems
  • It is good to do the planning now, because on day one we will be ready,”
  • The team planning the country’s future is a diverse one. Some are employed by the government of Syria, others by the rebels’ rival provisional government. Still others work for the UN, private construction companies, or nongovernmental organizations involved in conservation, like the World Monuments Fund
  • As the group’s members outline a path toward renewal, they’re considering everything from corruption and constitutional reform to power grids, antiquities, and health care systems.
  • Aleppo is split between a regime side with vestiges of basic services, and a mostly depopulated rebel-controlled zone, into which the Islamic State and the Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front have made inroads over the last year
  • The population exodus has claimed most of the city’s craftsmen, medical personnel, academics, and industrialists
  • It took decades to clear the moonscapes of rubble and to rebuild, in famous targets like Dresden and Hiroshima but in countless other places as well, from Coventry to Nanking. Some places never recovered their vitality.
  • Of course, Syrian planners cannot help but pay attention to the model closest to home: Beirut, a city almost synonymous with civil war and flawed reconstructio
  • We don’t want to end up like Beirut,” one of the Syrian planners says, referring to the physical problems but also to a postwar process in which militia leaders turned to corrupt reconstruction ventures as a new source of funds and power
  • Syria’s national recovery will depend in large part on whether its industrial powerhouse Aleppo can bounce back
  • The city’s workshops, famed above all for their fine textiles, export millions of dollars’ worth of goods every week even now, and the economy has expanded to include modern industry as well.
  • Today, however, the city’s water and power supply are under the control of the Islamic State
  • Across Syria, more than one-third of the population is displaced.
  • A river of rubble marks the no-man’s land separating the two sides. The only way to cross is to leave the city, follow a wide arc, and reenter from the far side.
  • Parts of the old city won’t be inhabitable for years, he told me by Skype, because the ground has literally shifted as a result of bombing and shelling
  • The first and more obvious is creating realistic options to fix the country after the war—in some cases literal plans for building infrastructure systems and positioning construction equipment, in other cases guidelines for shaping governanc
  • They’re familiar with global “best practices,” but also with how things work in Syria, so they’re not going to propose pie-in-the-sky idea
  • If some version of the current regime remains in charge, it will probably direct massive contracts toward patrons in Russia, China, or Iran. The opposition, by contrast, would lean toward firms from the West, Turkey, and the Gulf.
  • At the current level of destruction, the project planners estimate the reconstruction will cost at least $100 billion
  • Recently a panel of architects and heritage experts from Sweden, Bosnia, Syria, and Lebanon convened in Beirut to discuss lessons for Syria’s reconstruction—one of the many distinct initiatives parallel to the Future of Syria project.
  • “You should never rebuild the way it was,” said Arna Mackic, an architect from Mostar. That Bosnian city was divided during the 1990s civil war into Muslim and Catholic sides, destroying the city center and the famous Stari Most bridge over the Neretva River. “The war changes us. You should show that in rebuilding.”
  • Instead, Mackik says, the sectarian communities keep to their own enclaves. Bereft of any common symbols, the city took a poll to figure out what kind of statue to erect in the city center. All the local figures were too polarizing. In the end they settled on a gold-colored statue of the martial arts star Bruce Lee
  • “It belongs to no one,” Mackic says. “What does Bruce Lee mean to me?
  • is that it could offer the city’s people a form of participatory democracy that has so far eluded the Syrian regime and sadly, the opposition as well.
  • “You are being democratic without the consequences of all the hullabaloo of formal democratization
  • A great deal of money has been invested in Syria’s destruction— by the regime, the local parties to the conflict, and many foreign powers. A great deal of money will be made in the aftermath, in a reconstruction project that stands to dwarf anything seen since after World War II.
  • fcastro2 on 23 Feb 15
     
    While it is still unclear as to who will win the Syrian conflict, there are people who are already looking towards the future and a better Syria. Plans are being made but, of course, these plans will entirely depend on who wins the war. 
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Syria talks in Moscow to focus on humanitarian issues | Reuters - 0 views

www.reuters.com/...ia-talks-idUSKBN0MW08W20150405 syria talks moscow humanitarian ISIS
shared by fcastro2 on 06 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • (Reuters) - The Syrian government and some opposition figures will start a second round of talks in Moscow on Monday focusing on humanitarian issues, although a broader agreement is unlikely as Syria's main opposition group continues to boycott the talks.
  • do not expect any big breakthrough towards ending a conflict
  • January's unproductive first round of consultations in Moscow was shunned by the main political opposition group, the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • take part only if the talks were to lead to the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Russia
  • Russia says fighting terrorism in Syria should be the top priority now and has called on the opposition to work with Assad to that end
  • Randa Kassis, a former SNC member who now favors talking to Damascus because of the rise of radical Islamists in Syri
  • focus on confidence-building measures including ensuring access for humanitarian aid
  • Moscow has not said which opposition figures will attend. But the line-up is likely to be similar to January, when more than 30 representatives of various groups attended, most from groups tolerated by Assad or who agree that working with Damascus is necessary to combat the rise of Islamic Stat
  • released 650 prisoners from at least three prisons in Damascus on March 25-27, including women, children, political prisoners and fighter
  • release of these people to the talks would be "just an ac
  • fcastro2 on 06 Apr 15
     
    A second round of talks will be held in Moscow. These talks are said to focus on humanitarian issues in Syria. 
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Syrian aircraft bomb area near captured Jordan crossing | Reuters - 0 views

www.reuters.com/...a-jordan-idUSKBN0MT0RY20150402 jordan crossing ISIS syria war
shared by fcastro2 on 06 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • Syrian military aircraft bombed areas close to its main crossing into Jordan on Thursday, witnesses and a group monitoring the conflict said, hours after insurgents had captured the border post
  • Insurgents fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad said they had seized the Nasib crossing in southern Syria late on Wednesday, putting most of 370-km (230-mile) border area stretching up to Israel in the hands of the rebels
  • weaken the regime's hold in the south and to increase the areas under our control
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • he al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front also said it had captured the crossing but rival rebels denied this and accused them of looting after the crossing fell into rebel hands.
  • Jordan closed its side of the crossing on Wednesday. A Jordanian source said on Thursday the kingdom had stepped up security and redeployed some troops to the border
  • The Syrian army, which accuses the staunch U.S. ally of harboring rebels on its soil, said the kingdom had deployed its troops inside the crossing after the rebels took control. Amman denies providing training and arms for the insurgents
  • ordan has pressured rebels in the past not to overrun the Nasib crossing so the highway could stay open to trade and traffic with Damascus
  • Nasib, one of Syria's last official border crossings, is now crucial for importing goods into a country hit hard by Western sanctions
  • fcastro2 on 06 Apr 15
     
    Tensions are rising even higher as the Syrian government take actions to regain the crossing to Jordan. This crossing was lost to the rebels not long ago and has closed an important crossing. 
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Is Libya on the brink of a new civil war? - Al Jazeera English - 0 views

www.aljazeera.com/...l-war-2013102183055736865.html
shared by wmulnea on 11 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • former rebel fighters who helped to oust Gaddafi are now jostling among themselves for power
  • The country is flooded with weapons
  • In the past year alone, more than 80 people, many of them high-ranking military and police figures, have been killed in eastern Libya.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan
  • The country's prime minister recently called on western powers to help him stop the spread of what he calls 'militancy' in his country.
  • There are more than 225,000 Libyans registered in militias. They receive state salaries but often act outisde of government control, taking orders from local or political commanders.
  • Groups in Libya's eastern Cyrenaica region and in the southern Fezzan region have called for independence
  • In Cyrenaica, former rebel leader Ibrahim al-Jathran and his 20,000 men strong militia say they now run local affairs, with Jathran and his men controlling facilities that account for 60 percent of Libya's oil wealth.
1More

Syria conflict: Major rebel town 'seized' in boost for Assad - BBC News - 1 views

www.bbc.com/...world-middle-east-35395328 Syria Russia Airstrikes Rebels Latakia
shared by joepouttu on 25 Jan 16 - No Cached
  • joepouttu on 25 Jan 16
     
    Syrian government forces say they have seized the last major town held by rebels in western Latakia province. Russian air strikes were crucial in the recapture of Rabia.
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The Guardian view on Libya: yet another messy frontier in the war on Isis | Editorial - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...sy-frontier-in-the-war-on-isis ISIS Libya politics war
shared by blantonjack on 24 Feb 16 - No Cached
  • blantonjack on 24 Feb 16
     
    Five years after the start of the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is fast becoming the new frontier of the western war against Islamic State. The US and its allies have grown increasingly worried about the expansion of Isis in Libya, where the insurgency has an estimated force of 6,500 fighters. With this threat in place America is set to have a new bombing campaign in Libya in order to cease the threat of the Islamic state in Libya.
1More

NSA Claims Iran Learned from Western Cyberattacks - 0 views

theintercept.com/...cyber-attacks-learning-attacks Politics war Iran US cyber warefare NSA
shared by mportie on 10 Feb 16 - No Cached
  • mportie on 10 Feb 16
     
    The article cites leaked documents provided by whistle-blower Edward Snowden that reveal US initiatives that launched cyber warfare on Iran. The document gives analysis of Iran's quickness to learn from US cyber attacks evidenced by the attacks by Iran on Saudia Arabia.
1More

'5 horrible years': Libya marks 5th anniversary of Western-backed uprising to oust Gaddafi - 1 views

www.rt.com/...332741-libya-five-years-unrest Libya ISIS war revolution
shared by cthomase on 18 Feb 16 - No Cached
  • cthomase on 18 Feb 16
     
    Libya's popular uprising officially began on February 17, 2011, resulting in the toppling of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Since then, the oil-rich nation has been plunged into political chaos amid the growing threat of Islamic State.
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