After success in Iraq and Syria, ISIL will find it tougher to crack Jordan

http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/after-success-in-iraq-and-syria-isil-will-find-it-tougher-to-crack-jordan Lost in the flurry of rambling threats to Iraq’s Shiite community during its surprise military blitz last week, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) issued an even bolder statement: a call...

Iran Sponsored ISIL Founder, Sheltered Him from U.S.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iran-sponsored-isil-founder-sheltered-him-from-u-s/ Iran long provided shelter and protection to the founder and former commander of al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), the predecessor to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), which rose to...

What does the fall of Mosul mean?

http://www.meforum.org/4734/fall-of-mosul Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum and a former official in the U.S. departments of State and Defense, briefed the Middle East Forum in a conference call on June 16, 2014. The implications...

Kurdish Advances

http://www.meforum.org/4733/iraq-kurds-isis-isil The stunning collapse of the Iraqi army in Mosul, and the rapid advance of the fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) through Tikrit and toward Baghdad has created a new...

UN Elevates Syria: Business as Usual

http://blog.unwatch.org/index.php/2014/06/18/un-elevates-syria-business-as-usual/ Mr. President, what the Commission of Inquiry has just described is a living hell. Faced with continuing reports of Syria’s mass murder, torture, rape, and gassing of civilians by chemical weapons, how is the...

Second Front Opens in the Sunni-Shia War

http://www.meforum.org/4728/second-front-opens-in-the-sunni-shia-war The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) organization swept into the city of Mosul in western Iraq last week. No one has any right to be surprised. ‬ ISIL has held a large...

How Iran Gains From Assad Victory

Interviewee: Michael Young, Opinion Editor, Daily StarInterviewer: Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting EditorJune 5, 2014http://www.cfr.org/syria/iran-gains-assad-victory/p33064 With Syrian president Bashar al-Assad claiming a sweeping electoral victory, one party set to gain in influence is Iran, says Lebanon-based expert...

Illusions and Delusions – writes Michael Kuttner

http://www.jwire.com.au/featured-articles/illusions-and-delusions-writes-michael-kuttner/42905#more-42905 Like confidence tricksters who manage to fool multitudes with their snake oil type smooth talk current developments bear an uncanny resemblance to these fraudsters. There is a saying that a fool is born every...

Taking Iran’s Anti-Semitism Seriously

http://www.the-american-interest.com/articles/2014/06/02/taking-irans-anti-semitism-seriously/ Radical, theologically based hatred of Judaism, Zionism, and the state of Israel is part of the core ideological beliefs of the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Yet U.S. policymakers all too rarely...

Iran Launches Hizbullah network in Syria

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs reports that the Teheran regime approved and facilitated the establishment of a Hizbullah force in Syria. In a report, the center said Hizbullah, representing Iranian interests, would operate...