CULF 3331: "Middle Eastern Revolutions"

Irbil, Iraq (CNN) -- Shortly after ISIS claimed to have carried out attacks within miles of Baghdad, police officials confirmed Tuesday that the ISIS militants had struck Iraqi military checkpoints on the southern outskirts of the capital during the weekend.

This article talks about recent finding of Egyptian women buried with extensions. There is evidence that the women dyed their hair as well. 

TEHRAN, Iran - A top Iranian general and 70 of his forces were on the ground in Iraq this summer, helping Kurdish fighters defend the regional capital Irbil against Islamic State militants, a senior commander from Iran's Revolutionary Guard said Wednesday.

This article follows a cartoonist from Al-Masry Al-Youm a private newspaper in Egypt 

This article begins by illuminating the regional democracy assistance cuts that are dropping from $459.2 million to $298.3 million It explains that the Bush Administration began the quest for democracy in the Middle East, and the Obama administration has only continued in his footsteps. The author presents the viewpoint that the U.S. approach to Arab democratization has been in the form of "ad-hoc crisis management" rather than "large scale reform initiatives." Promoting democracy in the form of democratic politics are insufficient, elections and political parties have consistently proved to weather away and fester further civil strife. Consequently, the article proposes a new approach to the region conflict. This approach calls for "systematic reforms" focusing on basic institutions such as the civil service sector, justice and law enforcement, and the military's role in governance. The idea is that addressing these lacking departments in the arab world will eventually pave the way to a smoother democratic transition. 

In the week leading up to 9/28/14 the Egyptian army has killed 26 terrorists and arrested 84 others. The operations took place mainly in and around the Sinai peninsula and include the destruction of 18 cross border tunnels between Egypt and Gaza and thwarting illegal immigration of 148 people. This was part of a larger ongoing operation against unknown militants in Sinai that rose up after the ousting of Mohamed Morsi last summer.

Several political parties and journalists have began hunger strikes in protest of prisoners locked up under the draconian anti-protest law enacted after Morsi was deposed by the military. The law has drawn international criticism and the post Morsi period saw violent crackdowns, torture, and executions that some say rival the darkest days of the Mubarak presidency.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is on a tour of the Middle East rallying support for the fight against the IS. Egypt is part of a 10 state Middle Eastern coalition dedicated to eradicating the IS. Kerry said Egypt has a, "Key role," in defeating the IS due to their success in dealing with Sinai jihadists, he also acknowledged that Egypt is the cultural and intellectual capitol of the Middle East implying that they can resist IS's influence.

General Al-Sisi, who took over Egypt after a coup against the Muslim Brotherhood is set to address the UN General Assembly on September 25th. His first 100 days in office has seen economic growth and increasing political stability. His government has increased fuel prices to curb the deficit and set out on a project to double the capacity of the Suez canal. With rising turmoil in the Middle East, Egypt has made its return as a moderating force. However the general's reliance on heavy-handed police forces to quell uprising and the continued holding of political prisoners continues to draw ire. To counter this he has released high profile prisoners and may revisit the anti-protest law.

Denial, elimination, mass murder, and ethnocide have constituted the main policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran in dealing with the national groups in this country. Totalitarian tendencies coupled with the lack of toleration of national and cultural pluralities inherent in the Iranian geographic order, with the Kurdish nation presenting itself at the top, was made manifest in the ominous duality of prison and execution, of which the Kurdish nation received a lion share.

The latest Tweets from PJAK (@EuPJAK). Free Life Party of Kurdistan

Iranian military troops have killed a number of terrorists from the so-called Party for Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) group seeking to cross the western borders into the country, a senior Iranian commander says.

Mariam al- Mansouri took part in an air strike against ISIS. She was the first women to lead an air strike in the country. In the UEA women do have hight positions in government minister, police officers, and as executives, but it's still a men dominated country.

This article/video is about how a woman in Raqqa risked her own life to video tape what happens in the everyday life of the Islamic State. This woman gave us an insight to what is happening in cities that ISIL has taken over. We see how women in general are forced to wear the niqab and how they are told by men what to do. Another aspect that we see in the video is how many foreign women have actually go to these places to join the fight. The video states that around 150 french women have joined the Islamic State.