In The News

Wanted: European Grand Strategy for War Against the Islamic State

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller February 2, 2016
Leaders of the Islamic State impose a rigid and fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, maintaining that the religion does not condone Western values of democracy, individual freedom, economic globalization or education. Author Joergen Oerstroem Moeller urges Europe to develop a grand strategy to combat extremism by recognizing how the long history of the Middle East influences political agendas...

Tears and Destruction Amid Turkey PKK Crackdown

Mark Lowen January 27, 2016
Parts of Turkey’s southeast region, near the country’s border with Syria and Iraq, has transformed into a war zone. For Turkey, the fight is internal, not against Islamic State extremists, but a Kurdish minority group. “The heart of the battle is Diyarbakir, where the Sur neighbourhood has been under curfew for weeks, as Turkish police and military flush out rebel fighters from the PKK – the...

Opening a New Front Against ISIS in Libya

January 26, 2016
The Pentagon is gathering intelligence in Libya, preparing to target Islamic State holds with allies France, Great Britain and Italy. “That is deeply troubling,” argues the editorial board of the New York Times. “A new military intervention in Libya would represent a significant progression of a war that could easily spread to other countries on the continent.” The terrorist group is estimated to...

Al-Shabab Seizes African Union Base in Somalia

January 15, 2016
Al-Shabab is reported to have attacked an African Union military Base in a small town west of the capital of Mogadishu: “Kenya contributes more than 4,000 troops to the 22,000-strong AU force that is in Somalia helping the UN-backed government battle al-Shabab, which is part of al-Qaeda,” reports BBC News. The African Union is a continent-wide force supported by 54 nations. Al-Shabab may be...

Madaya Syria: Aid Convoy Sets Off for Besieged Town

January 11, 2016
Small towns in rural Syria are blocked from basic supplies due to a protracted civil war and blockades: “only 10% of the UN's requests to deliver aid to people to in besieged and hard-to-reach areas were granted,” reports BBC News. “Blockades have been a feature of Syria's civil war but the plight of Madaya has drawn international attention, partly due to images emerging of severely...

The Spread of Wahhabism and the West’s Responsibility to the World

Karen Armstrong December 28, 2015
Colonial arrangements, business deals and support of authoritarian leaders have contributed to the instability of the Middle East, argues author Karen Armstrong for the NewStatesman. She is among the many analysts who key in on Saudi Arabia, using oil wealth to proselytize a fundamentalist form of Islam around the globe: “Wahhabism originated in the Arabian peninsula during the 18th century as an...

The 5 Key Trends in Globalization That Are Changing the US and the World

Edward Goldberg December 23, 2015
Events in one country or one industry can have repercussions that spread throughout the world. Edward Goldberg, a professor who teaches about globalization, identifies five trends for the Huffington Post: China’s economy is slowing, and the government will likely adjust, eliminating inefficient state-owned companies and accepting citizens’ need to adapt to rising unemployment through...