Fighting between the government and Sh’i’te insurgents in Yemen’s northern mountains has killed 25 soldiers and 20 guerillas over the last five days. The government has set up camps to shelter about 10,000 people displaced by the violence. Sporadic clashes… Read moreSectarian war rocks Yemen
Thousands of Turkish troops backed by helicopters battled Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) insurgents near the Iraqi border April 8, in clashes that left 10 soldiers and seven guerillas dead. The fighting was centered in the provinces of Tunceli, Bingöl, Bitlis… Read moreTurks charge US betrayal on PKK; Barzani threatens Turkey
As if the jihadis aren’t ticked off enough already. The opponents quoted in this story seem entirely legitimate, but this obviously serves as more grist for Osama’s propaganda mill. Talk about “jihad versus McWorld.” What can you say but a… Read moreStarbucks comes to Mecca
OK, Fox News may be touting this story for bad, Islamophobic reasons. One of the ironies of our times is that jingoistic propagandists like Fox are bashing US allies like Saudi Arabia, while “progressives” in the West are lining up… Read moreSaudi Arabia: woman sentenced to 90 lashes for getting raped
From Compass Direct News, Feb. 22. Compass Direct monitors global persecution of Christians, and likely has its own evangelical axes to grind. But nobody else is covering this. Police detained Christian families in Upper Egypt and forced them to deny… Read moreEgypt: growing violence against Copts in south
Freedom’s on the march in Washington’s top Arab client state, and the world’s second-largest US aid recipient after Israel. From the BBC News, Feb. 22: An Egyptian court has sentenced a blogger to four years’ prison for insulting Islam and… Read moreEgypt: blogger gets prison
Some 45 Jews in Sa’ada, Yemen, have fled their homes after being threatened by radical Muslims and are seeking aid from the government, according to a Jan. 21 report in the Saudi daily Al Wattan. The Jews apparently received letters… Read moreAnti-Jewish pogrom in Yemen
From the AP, Jan. 19: CAIRO — An Egyptian blogger went on trial Thursday on charges of insulting Islam and causing sectarian strife with his Internet writings. Egypt’s first prosecution of a blogger came as Washington has backed away from… Read moreBloggers in the news: Egypt
Shaikh Abdul Ameer al-Jamri, a Shiite cleric who led pro-democracy protests in Bahrain in the 1990s, died Dec. 18 at the age of 67. Shiites throughout the small island state went into mourning, hanging black flags and banners outside their… Read moreBahrain’s top Shi’ite cleric, opposition figure dies; streets filled for funeral
From Reuters, Dec. 8: Gunmen killed two security officers when they opened fire on a guard post outside a prison in Jidda, the Interior Ministry said. Residents said terror suspects were believed to be held at the prison. Al Arabiya… Read moreJihadis attack Saudi cops in Jidda
Now here's an hilarious conundrum for the idiot left that cheers on reactionary Islamism as heroic anti-imperialism. Are we supposed to oppose this garbage when conservative Christians do it in the US, but support it when conservative Muslims do it… Read moreIslamo-creationism infiltrates Turkey’s schools
From Turkey’s Zaman, Nov. 2: A 92-year-old retired Turkish archaeologist has been acquitted in a rights trial in which she was accused of “inciting hatred by insulting people based on their religion.” Muazzez Ilmiye Cig, an expert on the ancient… Read moreFree speech victory in Turkey
