CULF 3331: "Middle Eastern Revolutions"

This article approaches understanding ISIS by looking at it from the root cause rather than trying to understand based on their current movements and attacks. The movement has spread so easily because it is fighting for the noble cause, to so many people, of making the world a better place and moving towards the end of the world.

The United States has seen increases in movement towards chemical weapon use by ISIS members in their attacks. Military forces were able to take out two key facilities that were being used by ISIS to create chemical weapons.

This article covers Yemen's civil war and rejects the notion that the Houthis are 'Iran-backed.' According to the author, the Houthis are not merely Iran's pawns and, labeling them as such, diminishes the decades of conflict that led to the rebellion.

This article takes a closer look at the Houthis and the malapropisms found in the media when reporting on the war. For example, the war is often simplified to Shi'i vs. Sunni when, in reality, not all Houthis' enemies are Sunni.

Iran has provided weapons, medical aid, and training to the Houthis. In 2013, a ship smuggling Iranian weapons to Yemen was seized.

According to the author, there are six reasons Iran has not directly intervened in Yemen through military action. Among these is that launching a military campaign in Yemen is not a priority considering the conflict in Syria and Iraq.

The House Judiciary Committee recently passed a resolution calling on the State Department to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. This resolution resonates with the feverish anti-Islamic politics of the Republican primary, fueled across the spectrum by candidates from Donald Trump to Marco Rubio. Other countries even in the Middle East have officially stated the Brotherhood as a terrorist group. There is much debate on their stance and beliefs and what this should mean to the international community especially in a time of instability in the Middle East.

On the Muslim Brotherhood's own news website, they are claiming that hundres of women have been harassed under the new coup in Egypt. This relates to yesterdays National Women's Day and how the Brotherhood is saying that the regime is treating the women of the Brotherhood unfairly and abusing them in numerous ways. Since the July 2013 coup against legitimacy, women became many of the victims. They killed nearly 100 women and girls, and expelled 526 female students from Egypt's universities.

On Wednesday, February 24, the Republican dominated House Judiciary Committee voted 17-10 along party lines to require the State Department to take action to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization. The move would be welcomed by Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the United Arab Emirates who have been waiting for such an action to occur. Many believe the Muslim Brotherhood is what is preventing democracy in the Middle East and have a powerful stronghold that greatly affects these changes in the region.

A security official declared Tuesday the criminal apparatus in Giza directorate arrested a fugitive terrorist, Mohamed Abdel Razek, affiliated to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, according to the Ministry of Interior's statement. Many have been charged, sentences and killed from the Muslim Brotherhood, and this will be even more so enforced as many countries including the United States are calling them a terrorist organization.

This article talks about a senior figure of ISIS by the name of Tarkhan Batirashvili. It turns out, one of the big figures at the head of ISIS is far from Syrian, as he is a Chechen that served in the US-trained Georgian army.

Of course, Libya is currently the largest political issue, alongside Japan's natural disaster and nuclear situation. In both situations we also have an unusually prominent amount of information being made available through social media websites. It really is pretty remarkable.

While true that "slacktavism," online bullying, and unprecedented threats to our privacy are challenges, few could argue that social media has not vastly facilitated political involvement. The results have been impressive, if not always as dramatic as the Arab Spring.

A group of 5 men, aged 21-24, were arrested recently for taking a boat full of 200 people and trying to illegally smuggle them across waters. If anyone tried to escape the tightly packed boat, one of the five men would beat them with sticks and knives and forced them back inside.

The Syrian Arab Army's Central Command and their allies have been planning for this offensive for a long time now; it is expected to be the largest military operation to take place during this brutal war against ISIS.

the general intelligence revolution has revealed an alleged Hezbollah plan to take over Beirut by purposely bombing the organization's own munition factories as well as military positions of the Lebanese army

U.S Congress members urge EU to do as Gulf states and outlaw both military and political branches of Hezbollah, to actually harm the terrorists.

The division in opinion among Arab Israelis over the war in Syria and support for Hezbollah or Sunni rebels is mainly determined by the person's ideological affiliation.

There are many different types of human trafficking, but the one thing the different types all have in common is the vulnerability of the victims. The reason and types of different human trafficking include trafficking for forced labor, sexual exploitation, commercial sexual exploitation of children in tourism, trafficking for tissue, cells, and organs, and others.

Algeria is known for being a destination and gateway for human trafficking. There are organizations that try to help children avoid being victims of human trafficking by trying to keep them off the streets at a young.