2020 Will Be More Turbulent Than 2019, Unless…

Unless some drastic measures are taken, the various conflicts in the Middle East will become ever more intractable and exact a horrifying toll in blood and massive economic dislocation. The continuing severity of these crises and their repercussions will depend on whether or not the combatants assume a realistic posture, or new leadership rise and…

December 19, 2019 Read more

We Must Not Grow Numb To The Yazidi Genocide

A few week ago, I had an opportunity to meet with six members of the Yazidi community, including journalists and activists. I must admit that although I knew and was very shaken when I first learned about the horrifying attack by ISIS on the Yazidi community in Sinjar, Iraq, listening to their account of what…

October 23, 2019 Read more

The Iraqi Kurds’ Independence Is Decades Overdue

The Iraqi Kurdish referendum vote for independence, scheduled for September 25, is more than likely to pass by an overwhelming majority of the Kurdish population. Sadly, however, not a single country (with the exception of Israel) expressed its support for the Kurds’ impending historic decision to finally realize their decades-old dream of establishing a state…

September 21, 2017 Read more

Defeating ISIS And Ending Sunni-Shiite War In Iraq

Now that Iraqi forces, with the support of the international coalition, are gearing up to recapture Mosul—ISIS’s last major stronghold in Iraq—the question that looms high is what will be the fate of the Iraqi Sunni community following ISIS’s inevitable defeat? I maintain that unless the political discussion begins now between the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government…

July 27, 2016 Read more

An Iraqi Sunni State Is Prerequisite To Defeating ISIS

One of the main prerequisites to defeating ISIS in Iraq and stabilizing the country is the establishment of an independent Sunni Iraqi state alongside the current Shiite government and the autonomous Kurdish entity. As long as the Sunni Iraqis do not know what the future has in store for them, they will be unwilling to…

February 19, 2016 Read more

The Necessity Of Iraqi Sunni Independence

U.S. President Barack Obama holds a news conference at the conclusion of the G7 Summit in Kruen, Germany. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque One of the main prerequisites to defeating ISIS in Iraq is to determine the political future of Sunni Iraqis. As long as they do not know what the future has in store for them, they…

June 10, 2015 Read more

Freedom In Martyrdom

The intensified public discussion about the root causes of violent extremism has focused mainly on the socio-economic and political conditions that exist in Arab countries and among Arab communities in Europe and the US, which provide a breeding ground for extremism. But to effectively counter violent extremism, we must also carefully consider how the development…

April 10, 2015 Read more

Iran, Not ISIS, Is The Real Menace

Whereas the international focus today is on how to counter violent extremism, which is behind many of the violent conflicts sweeping the Middle East, the real destabilizing power and sponsor of terrorism in the region and beyond is Iran. Unlike violent extremists and religious fanatics such as the Islamic State (IS), which can be degraded…

April 3, 2015 Read more

Deconstructing The Iraq And Syria Conflicts

The current escalating sectarian violence between the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Iraqi forces and the unending civil war in Syria are now intertwined and neither can be resolved without the other, which requires a dramatic change in the political and military landscape in Syria and Iraq. What is happening in Iraq…

June 18, 2014 Read more
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