The President Who Ate Turkey… Dispatches from Turkey…

How goes the war against the Islamic State? A useful barometer is the position of Iraqi Kurdistan, which is the most reliable U.S. ally in the battle — and holds the longest front against the terrorists. Four months ago, two senior Kurdish officials traveled to Washingtonto deliver some dire warnings: The Islamic State was still expanding, no military force in the region could stop it and Kurdistan itself was no longer willing to be part of a shattered Iraq

While I was looking for a place for myself at the breakfast hall to listen to retired General John Allen, I came across my acquaintance, the Afghan media magnate who said, “I was with General Allen last night at dinner.

Assad’s secular sectarianism

 open Democracy News Analysis – by Mohammad Dibo

A historic overview of the manipulation of sect and religion by a Syrian elite only concerned with survival.

The manipulation of sectarianism was one of the methods used by the Syrian regime to preserve its control over the decades. The interdiction against sectarian discourses, under the guise of nationalism and secularism, was but a cover for the authoritarian and sectarian practices of its security establishment.