Greater Middle East
Lines drawn in imperial scramble for Syria
The US and Russia each groom their own rival proxy forces to fight ISIS and the Nusra Front—which in turn pledge to turn Syria into "another Afghanistan."
Author: Bill Weinberg
Greater Middle East
Amnesty charges Syrian Kurds with ethnic cleansing
Amnesty International accuses Syrian Kurdish forces of ethnic cleansing against Arabs and Turks in areas liberated from ISIS, raising pressure on Kurdish authorities for an accounting.
Greater Middle East
Peace demands unbowed by Ankara massacre
Kurdish and Turkish activists are continuing to demand "peace despite everything" after twin suicide blasts at an Ankara anti-war rally killed at least 100 and injured twice as many.
Greater Middle East
Tatar militants pledge to Syria’s Nusra Front?
In a claim convenient to Russian war propaganda, a group of Tatars calling themselves the Crimean Jamaat reportedly pledged loyalty to Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's Syrian franchise.
Greater Middle East
Syrian Kurds as pawns in Turko-Russian game?
With tensions high between Turkey and Russia, Moscow's intervention risks drawing the Kurds into the geopolitical game and escalating divisions within the Syrian resistance.
North America
Another day, another massacre…
In the wake of the latest campus shoot-up, calls are raised for pre-emptive restraint on the "mentally ill," but it is verboten to ask why so many people are driven to this pathology.
The Andes
Peru: privatization of archaeological sites seen
Public sector workers in Cuzco held a rally in the historic city to protest plans by Peru's government to allow private administration of cultural and archaeological sites.
Greater Middle East
Russia bombs ISIS —not!
The Syrian regime says Russian air-strikes hit "ISIS dens"—but a look at the map indicates the strikes were nowhere near ISIS territory, and targetted rebel forces hostile to ISIS.
Afghanistan
Fall of Kunduz signals Taliban resurgence
The fall of Afghanistan's northern city of Kunduz to the Taliban is but their most dramatic advance in recent weeks, with Taliban and ISIS forces rapidly seizing territory.
Europe
Crimean Tartars in alliance with Ukrainian fascists?
Crimean Tartars, blockading the Ukrainian border in protest of Russia's annexation of their homeland, are said to be collaborating with Ukraine's neo-fascist Right Sector.
Greater Middle East
Syria war prompts ‘doomsday’ seed bank withdrawal
An Aleppo-based seed research center, forced by the war to flee to Beirut, has made an emergency request for seed stock from a "doomsday" vault on a remote Arctic island.
Greater Middle East
Putin pries Western leaders from anti-Assad stance
British Prime Minister David Cameron is now the first Western leader to take Vladimir Putin's bait in agreeing that Bashar Assad can be part of a Syrian "transition government."