Content

SyriaSource

Jan 14, 2016

Top News: January 14, 2016

By SyriaSource

– World powers push for lifting sieges in Syria – Second aid convoy departs for besieged Syrian communities – Lebanon turns back on Syrian refugees – Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says Turkish artillery hit ISIS positions in Iraq and Syria– Iraq receives Saudi envoy credentials despite anti-Riyadh anger– US Special Forces ‘now in place’ in Iraq

Syria

New Atlanticist

Jan 14, 2016

Poland’s Right Turn Worries Brussels

By Ashish Kumar Sen

But European Commission seen unlikely to punish Warsaw Poland has been widely hailed as the poster child of democracy in Eastern Europe in the decades since the collapse of communism. Is that about to change under the ruling Law and Justice Party? After sweeping to power in October, the Law and Justice Party (PiS), led […]

Poland

Trade in Action

Jan 14, 2016

TTIP&TRADEinAction – January 14, 2016

By Global Business & Economics Program

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave her support for TTIP on her weekly podcast on Saturday, January 10. (The Federal Chancellor) Make your tax-deductable donation to support TTIP&TRADEinAction Donate Now President Obama Talks TPP in his Final State of the Union Address: “… we forged a Trans-Pacific Partnership to open markets, and protect workers and the […]

Economy & Business Trade and tariffs

MENASource

Jan 14, 2016

Western Options in a Muslim Battle of Ideas

By Matthew Bryza

Each act of terrorism prompts confusion and fear on both sides of the Atlantic. Television reports following each new attack are ritualized: policymakers condemn terrorists’ “cowardice” and “barbarism” but offer no policy antidote other than stepped-up policing at home and military operations in Syria and Iraq, while private citizens incredulously explain their neighbors “showed no […]

MENASource

Jan 14, 2016

Top Story: Thousands in Tunis mark revolt anniversary

By MENASource

Thousands gathered in the Tunisian capital Thursday to mark the fifth anniversary of the overthrow of longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the uprising that inspired the Arab Spring. Tunisians thronged Habib Bourguiba Avenue, the main thoroughfare in central Tunis and the epicenter of the country’s revolution five years ago.

MENASource

Jan 14, 2016

Top News: Cabinet Approves Draft Bill Criminalizing Possession of ‘Terrorist Symbols’

By EgyptSource

The Egyptian cabinet approved on Wednesday a draft bill that punishes the possession and distribution of so-called “terrorist” symbols. The draft bill, which adds a new article to the existing criminal code, was proposed to the cabinet by the presidency.

MENASource

Jan 14, 2016

EconSource: Gulf States Prepare VAT Laws Ahead of Introduction from 2018

By EconSource

Gulf Arab states are putting the finishing touches on draft laws for value-added taxes (VAT) of up to 5 percent that could be imposed starting in 2018, officials said on Thursday.

New Atlanticist

Jan 14, 2016

US’ Syria Policy ‘Paralyzed’ by Rhetoric that Assad Must Go, Says Hagel

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Former Defense Secretary also has advice for presidential candidates: don’t divide America Former Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, thinks that the Obama administration has become “paralyzed” by its rhetoric that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must step down, said budget cuts have pushed the United States “perilously close” to being unable to maintain its military dominance, […]

Iran Russia

MENASource

Jan 13, 2016

Same US Policy, Different Syria

By Faysal Itani

Critics have called the Obama Administration’s Middle East policy inconsistent and confused, but in occasional speeches and interviews, President Barack Obama makes clear his core views on US policy in the region. His 2016 State of the Union speech was one such occasion.

Syria
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Oct. 5, 2015

NATOSource

Jan 13, 2016

Jens Stoltenberg: NATO’s Role in Fighting Terrorism

By Jens Stoltenberg, Newsweek

NATO is at the forefront of the fight against international terrorism. The aim of its biggest-ever operation was to deny safe haven to international terrorists in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan Iraq