CULF 3331: "Middle Eastern Revolutions"

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 war in Syria is costing the lives of many, but theres plenty more that is being lost. Syria is a country that has been continuously inhabited for a very long time. Civilizations have left their marks on the architecture there and there are many great archaeological sites. At the center of Aleppo, lies the great mosque, known for its 1000 year old minaret. The article is about the minaret being lost due to the fighting in the city.

I fear that this article might hold some truth. Aleppo has been a fighting zone in the past couple of weeks, and with the regime retaking control, the fear has been that the city will fall under siege. Aleppo is my hometown, and I am interested to compare what I read to what I hear from people back there.

Completely off topic regarding the Middle East. However, the proposed plan is in line with market liberalization. Since we just covered that in class, and this applies perfectly, I figured I would save it.

This article provides a counter argument to statements that US military officials are making about ISIS "spreading like cancer" through the Syrian refugees. Maybe the reason they seem to support ISIS is because all the US is doing is making enemies.

More than 900 Mauritanian women have been trafficked to Saudi Arabia in 2015, where they are trapped working in jobs they did not sign up for, a local activist has told Middle East Eye.

The Yazidi religious minority community in Iraq says 3,500 of its women and girls are still being held by the so-called Islamic State (IS), many being used as sex slaves. A few have managed to escape and here tell their harrowing stories. One day in August, Hannan woke to find her family frantically packing.

Almost 3% of people in the Middle East are enslaved. Typically the people are trapped by falling for a "work trap." They leave their homes and families because they are promised employment. Upon arriving to work, the employers take everything from them and enslave them.

ABOUT THE AUTHORSharon Buchbinder, RN, Ph.D., is an award-winning professor at Stevenson University and novelist who recently published Obsession, which deals with human trafficking and international kidnapping. Follow her on Twitter at @sbuchbinder. MORE BY THIS AUTHOR In a previous issue of The Islamic Monthly, I examined the pervasiveness of human trafficking in Southeast Asia.

Women and girls as young as 11 have been systematically raped by fighters for the Islamic State, which has made sex slavery a pillar of its self-proclaimed caliphate. The New York Times interviewed 21 women and girls in Iraq who recently escaped Islamic State captivity, examined the group's communications and talked to terrorism and religious experts for a chilling report by Rukmini Callimachi, a correspondent who covers Islamic extremism.

More information on the Kurds' background and political struggle for an autonomous state. Kurds are fighting IS ever since IS attacked their ranks in Iraq, however more than 160,000 were displaced into Turkey. Turkey refused to allow Kurds to defend themselves- pulling PKK out of peace negotiations with Erdogon.

Jordan officials killed 7 suspected jihadist militants whom were supposedly planning to blow up civilian and military targets in the country. Jordan, backed by the U.S., has been amping up the crackdown on ISIL influence flooding from Syria.

The war in Yemen has forced nearly 100,000 people to flee across the Gulf of Aden to Djibouti, a small country in the Horn of Africa. Many live in refugee camps, like Markazi refugee camp, but are unwanted due to "Yemen's reputation for terrorism."

This video traces the origins of the crisis in Yemen. Protests began in 2011 as part of the Arab Spring Uprisings, but it yielded nothing but violent conflict.

This article goes briefly over the history of the Yemen and gives information on the present conflict. The future of this country looks grim as the war between the Shiites in the north and Sunnis in the south will divide the country.

Before the conflict and poverty that has been affecting the nation for years, Yemen was once a center of civilization and wealth. This article outlines the history of this tumultuous country from its beginnings as "Happy Arabia" (as the Romans used to call it) to a country divided.

This article highlights some of the challenges with improving girls education. Yemen has very little resources so taking resources from one place and giving to another-is basically like taking from students sitting on the dirt and giving to students sitting on rocks. There is also high security concerns. Many religious sects don't believe women should receive education.  So girls and schools are being terrorized on the way to school. Some families don't believe the cash transfer is worth loosing children. 

This article discusses the large gap amongst girls and boys in Yemen. There are fewer women in the population, not as many teachers, the literacy rate is 15% lower for girls as compared to boys. This project will deploy 700 teachers to rural areas of Yemen, hoping to attract 25,000 more students, and it will increase cash stiphens to encourage families to let their daughters go to school

This article is about the improvement of education in Yemen. Yemen is a very poor country with a large population growth. These programs have created platforms and finances to attract teachers, advocates for girls groups, advocates for education, and have pushed the literacy rate up towards 90%