The Caucasus
Nagorno-Karabakh

Nagorno-Karabakh in Russo-Turkish game

As the worst fighting since a 1994 truce breaks out in Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkey’s President Erdogan asserts himself as protector of Azerbaijan, pledging to back Baku “to the end.” (Map: Wikipedia)

Greater Middle East

Obama-Putin deal for partition of Syria?

The announced Russian military withdrawal from Syria has raised suspicions of a quiet deal between Putin and Obama for the partitiion of country into "spheres of influence."

Greater Middle East

Syrian opposition groups to attend UN talks

The High Negotiations Committee of Syrian opposition groups will attend UN-brokered talks with the Damascus regime—but Kurdish leaders will have no seat at the table.

Iraq

Turkey inciting genocide against Kurds

Amid reports of jihadist chemical attacks on Kurds in both Syria and Iraq, Turkey is reviving the same propaganda against Kurds that was used during the Armenian genocide.

Greater Middle East

Are Rojava Kurds collaborating with Assad?

Amid confused fighting in northern Syria, accusations are mounting that the Rojava Kurds are collaborating with Russia—and, by extension, the genocidal Bashar Assad regime.

Greater Middle East

Syria: whose side is Israel on?

The Israeli security establishment and its neocon allies are divided between those who would destabilize Assad and those who would prop him with up as the Devil they know.

Greater Middle East

Are Rojava Kurds taking the Russian bait?

Syria's Rojava Kurds are accused of coordinating with Russian air-strikes to take territory held by Islamist factions—while Turkey warns them against any further advance.

Greater Middle East

US must choose between Turkey and anti-ISIS fight

The US aids Syrian Kurds against ISIS even as it acquiesces in Turkey's counterinsurgency against allied Kurdish forces just across the border—undermining anti-ISIS unity.