Syria
Arab Spring lives on as protests give way to new forms of activism
The uprisings that swept across the Arab world from late 2010 are, to put it mildly, faltering.
Egypt has returned to authoritarianism. Syria is a bloodbath. It is getting harder…
Death and decorum: Japan awaits word of its ISIS hostages
In the last week, digital graphic designers such as Isaku Ogura have suddenly found themselves in strong demand for media commentary on the plight of two fellow Japanese taken…
ISIS beheadings are a grotesque media strategy
ISIS is a transitory organisation whose aspiration to lead an Islamic reconquista is doomed to fail. It will eventually be degraded and splinter, some of its members joining the…
Kuwait steers careful sectarian course in fight against ISIS
Having just spent a few days doing research in Kuwait, it was interesting to see how relatively relaxed Kuwaitis appeared to be about events in neighbouring Iraq.
Kuwait would…
Turkey's reluctant role in the battle for Kobane
Turkey appeared to take a step closer toward membership in the coalition against the Islamic State on 20 October. It agreed to allow Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters and heavy…
What's so strategic about Kobane?
If you relied only on the media, you could be forgiven for thinking that the focus of the fight against ISIS has been on the Syrian city of Kobane.
This is thanks to the easy…
ISIS and Iraq's chemical weapons
A leading article in the New York Times on 14 October (The Secret Casualties of Iraq's Abandoned Chemical Weapons, by CJ Chivers) details how, on numerous occasions during the US…
Commentary
Ambitious foreign policy push yet to coalesce
Ambitous foreign policy push yet to coalesceDr Michael Fullilove17 October 2014Please click here for the online text.Michael Fullilove
Syria: What is a moderate rebel?
The question of defining a 'moderate' rebel in Syria's civil war bedevils the US as it works to fulfill its plan, announced by President Obama on 10 September, to arm and train…
Commentary
Burning questions over ADF deployment to Middle East
Burning questions over ADF deployment to Middle EastJames BrownThe Saturday Paper4 October 2014Please click here for the online text.James Brown