In Iraqi Kurdistan’s September 2017 referendum on independence, 92% of the population in Kurdish-held areas voted in favour of secession. Yet dreams of independence were shattered quickly. In response to the referendum’s result,… Continue reading
“The leaders of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria are telling their followers: ‘Don’t bother to come here anymore, we’ll find something for you to do in the homeland.’” On the day… Continue reading
“And so he [Abu Masab Al Zarqawi, founder of ISIS] takes his brutality and the pure violence in his personality and melts that with this radical movement he creates. On top of that,… Continue reading
“So what if you win the battle against ISIS in Mosul, and lose the struggle to rebuild the Middle East?” On the campaign trail, Donald Trump presented himself as relentless in the fight… Continue reading
“Only when Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria fall, can we begin to talk about the beginning of the end of the physical territorial state. We already have plenty of evidence, that… Continue reading
“[A united front against ISIS is] something the Houthis would definitely be interested in, right from the very beginning, one of their grievances was the inability of the government to protect them from extreme… Continue reading
“There is the issue of compatibility of Islam and democracy”, but in the recent past, the people of the Middle East have “spoken loudly about rejecting strongmen and have pushed out dictators.” But… Continue reading
“I’m not sure … the Saudis and their allies control 80 percent [of Yemen], had they done so we would have seen an end to this conflict a long time ago.” For War and Peace Talk,… Continue reading
“Bin Laden was very proud that he had only spent 500.000 dollars on the 9/11 attacks. The US in response to those attacks has probably spent 3 trillion dollars. So as a return… Continue reading
“Extremism and ignorance existed in Libya for a long time. […] The Gaddafi regime was using heavy-handed tactics [against those they deemed extremists],” explains former Libyan Minister of Justice Salah al-Marghani. As long… Continue reading
“A lot of things need to happen before Libyans either side have the capability and capacity to take action against these radical groups” Professor Dirk Vandewalle (Dartmouth College) analyzes the probability of the… Continue reading
“We need an early warning system within communities in Tunisia” Dr Moncef Kartas elaborates on the role the Tunisian government can take to prevent young people from joining the Islamic State. Rather than… Continue reading
“IS and all jihadis believe that there is going to be war until the day of reckoning. A Caliphate will be re-constituted before the end times. But there are 12 Caliphs before the… Continue reading