Left: ISIS "deliberate destruction of irreplaceable objects of religious and cultural values in the museum of Mosul and burning thousands of books and rare manuscripts from the library of Mosul." Destruction of historical relics In the past two … [Read more...] about The Conduct & Funding of ISIS – Feb. 26–March 4, 2015*
Arabian Peninsula
The Obama Persian Mystery
Obscured by all the hullabaloo over the Congressional speaking invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the more fundamental mystery of the Obama Administration’s Iranian strategy. Laying aside the increasingly evident incompetence … [Read more...] about The Obama Persian Mystery
Weekly Briefing – February 16-20, 2015
"If Only Germany Had Solved Its Unemployment Problem in 1933, Germans Wouldn’t Have Become Nazis...Er, Maybe not." - David P. Goldman (Sprengler) Denmark’s Compromised “Values” - Rachel Ehrenfeld - The Danes should have known better, but they … [Read more...] about Weekly Briefing – February 16-20, 2015
The Invisible Hand Behind The Coup in Yemen*
Left: Sa'dah, Yemen Credit: Bernard Gagnon Over the last three years, media pundits accurately described Yemen as perched on the brink of chaos. No more. Now it has fallen off the cliff. The key question is how this happened. The short answer is … [Read more...] about The Invisible Hand Behind The Coup in Yemen*
Libya – Ali al-Salabi and the Re-Emerging Muslim Brotherhood
Left: Ali Muhammad al-Salabi "Ansar al-Sharia ('Supporters of Islamic Law'), the al-Qaida-linked militia believed to have led the Benghazi consulate assault in September, is a spinoff of the February 17 Martyrs Brigade. Reports remind us of ties … [Read more...] about Libya – Ali al-Salabi and the Re-Emerging Muslim Brotherhood