Category: Blogs

Top News: ISIS Claim Suicide Bombing in Sana’a Mosque

By MENASource

Yemen’s branch of the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) claimed responsibility on Thursday for a suicide bomb attack on a mosque in Yemen’s capital Sana’a that killed at least twenty-nine people and wounded at least thirty-six.

Top News: No politics, No Campaigning in Eid Sermons, Warns Endowments Ministry

By EgyptSource

The Endowments Ministry warned preachers against campaigning for the upcoming elections in their Eid Al-Adha sermons, as aspiring parliamentary candidates gear up for the first round of voting at the end of October.

EconSource: Soaring Bad Debts Sound Alarm in Turkey

By EconSource

The deterioration of Turkey’s economy is accelerating, as political uncertainty, early elections, and a conflict with Kurdish militants take a toll on the economy.

PKK-Turkey Conflict Could Hurt Kurdish Fight Against ISIS in Syria

By Wladimir van Wilgenburg

The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) operating in Syria and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraq have become indirect partners of the Western anti-Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) coalition. In July 2015, however, the Turkish Armed Forces launched airstrikes against PKK targets following an attack that killed two policemen.

Kremlin: Russia Will Take Countermeasures if US Places New Nuclear Weapons in Germany

By AP, International Business Times, and Reuters

From AP:  The Kremlin says Russia will take countermeasures if the U.S. places new nuclear weapons at a base in Germany.

Top News: EU Urges Libya Parties to Grasp Peace Deal

By MENASource

The European Union is urging Libya’s warring factions to grasp the opportunity of a new peace deal and is promising backing once a unity government is formed.

Top News: Egypt Pardons 100, Including Al Jazeera Journalists, Activists Sanaa Seif and Yara Sallam

By EgyptSource

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced on Wednesday the pardoning of 100 prisoners, including Al Jazeera’s television journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, and prominent activists, Sanaa Seif and Yara Sallam, who were charged with violating the protest law.

Will the European Union’s Plan to Distribute Migrants Hurt Europe?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

European ministers on September 22 approved a plan that would force EU member states to take in their share of 120,000 migrants, a majority of whom are fleeing the war in Syria. In an unusual break from procedure, which emphasizes consensus on issues of national sovereignty, the ministers decided the issue on the basis of […]

Mr. Xi Comes to Washington: High Stakes, Low Expectations

By Romain Warnault

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington on September 25 will take place in a much tenser atmosphere than that which prevailed a little under a year ago when US President Barack Obama visited China. Indeed, the US-China relationship has become much more volatile over the past year. Recent cyber espionage scandals, the devaluation […]

Creating ‘A Piece of America’ in the Carpathian Mountains

Camp America, located at a charmingly rustic resort in Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains, welcomed twenty young Ukrainians for a week in August. For most of them, Camp America—a 24/7 English-language environment where all activities are conducted in English—was their first experience with native English speakers. “I like to tell our students that there are three international […]