In The News

In striving for a caliphate, the self-declared Islamic State has managed to provide a “common adversary for Saudis and Iranians, Turks and Kurds”; “united many of Iraq’s Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish politicians behind an inclusive new government; and “ forced a reluctant President Obama to come halfway off the bench in authorizing airstrikes for ‘limited military objectives’ in Iraq,” writes David...

After invading Iraq in 2003, the United States struggled to repair the bitter Shia-Sunni divide and install a system of governance more stable than that of brutal dictator Saddam Hussein. After US troops withdrew in 2011, a relatively small group of militants fighting in Syria took advantage of a power vacuum to impose what they call an Islamic State, also known as IS, ISIS or ISIL, rapidly...

As Israel and Hamas continue to exchange fire, anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe, reports Melissa Eddy for the New York Times. “[E]ven as the police have clamped down on demonstrators, banning slogans that target Jews instead of Israeli policies, a spike in violence has spread fear among Jews, not only in Germany but also in other European countries,” Eddy reports. France has prohibited some...