Conservatives vs. the Conservative movement

More paradigm shift: In the National Review, David Harsanyi, author of The People Have Spoken (And They Are Wrong), sees the current popularity of a Republican candididate as an existentialist threat to traditional Republicans: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/430468/donald-trump-what-if-he-wins

Ann Coulter takes aim at Fox

Ann Coulter

Is Fox News conservative or 'conservative'? This article by Ann Coulter signifies that a political paradigm shift is under way in the United States: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/267300-trump-boycott-isnt-about-kelly-its-about-fox-being   

The Azaz-Jarabulus Corridor (Part V)

Courtesy of http://syria.liveuamap.com/

The story keeps unfolding: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/isis-syria-kurdish-militia-ypg-plans-massive-attack-against-daesh-seal-turkish-border-1540728?

The Azaz-Jarabulus Corridor (Part IV)

This is a map of how Rojava will look in the future (courtesy: http://turkeyharvest.blogspot.com.au/-)

Jarabulus is a target for the YPG/SDF because it remains a transit point between the Islamic Republic of Turkey and the Islamic State: http://aranews.net/2016/01/kurds-bomb-isis-headquarters-in-jarablus/

Saudi Arabia bans chess with its latest move in the War of Freedom

The Wahhabists of Saudi are no friends of freedom: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabias-highest-cleric-bans-chess-and-claims-game-spreads-enmity-and-hatred-a6825426.html

Here is some useful background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Saudi_Arabia

And here is a piece on Raif Badawi: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/17/for-wife-of-imprisoned-saudi-blogger-raif-badawi-its-a-life-of-waiting/

Who murdered Alexander Litvinenko?

The grave of Alexander Litvinenko at Highgate Cemetery

Here is a British newspaper providing one perspective: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/21/alexander-litvinenko-was-probably-murdered-on-personal-orders-of-putin

Here is pro-Kremlin Sputnik International providing another: http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160121/1033442767/litvinenko-public-inquiry-findings.html

The Azaz-Jarabulus Corridor (Part III)

Commander of Ahrar Jarabulus (the freedom movement of Jarabulus) announces merger with SDF 

Ahrar Jarabulus joins the Syrian Democratic Forces: http://aranews.net/2016/01/jarablus-rebels-join-western-backed-syrian-democratic-forces-to-combat-isis/

Farhana Rahman: an Israel-loving Muslim

Fahrana Rahman

Only those who are trapped inside their anti-Zionist ideology would find this incomprehensible: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/206695#.Vp7dnhh95eW 

Turkey's PM Ahmet Davutoğlu: "The PYD (Syrian Kurds) are not real opposition"

Turkey waiting out the Stalingrad-like Battle of Kobanî (November 2014, Japanese Times)

Who can believe anything Turkish government says: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/12108971/Syria-peace-talks-on-point-of-collapse-over-Kurds.html

Turkey and the failure of our strategy against militant jihadism

Here is a link to an article I have just written for the ABC's The Drum: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-19/mccann-the-failure-of-our-strategy-against-militant-jihadism/7097998

Freedom Iranian-style

Freedom is freedom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7XmJUtcsak

Nick Cohen: "The Kurds should not be denied our support"

Here is a terrific piece by Nick Cohen in the Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/16/west-must-back-kurds-independence-allies-against-isis?

Identity Politics should be an anathema to conservatives as well

New York Values

Senator Cruz would have done better in the 14/1/16 debate without the Identity Politics: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/lupica-ted-cruz-new-york-city-values-9-11-heroes-article-1.2497009

Vladimir Pribylovsky Dead

Russian dissident Vladimir Pribylovsky appears to have been murdered: http://www.ibtimes.com/who-killed-vladimir-pribylovsky-author-who-criticized-russian-president-putin-found-2263119

I hope Yuri Felshtsinky is safe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Felshtinsky 

Candidate Hillary Clinton: Defend Samar Badawi!

Sometimes you have to go beyond a photo op

The Saudi regime is threatening Raif Badawi's sister: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/12/samar-badawi-sister-blogger-raif-badawi-arrested-saudi-arabia

Here is a link to Samar Badawi's story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samar_Badawi

And here is Raif's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raif_Badawi

And, while we are at it, here is a brief history of the struggle for women's rights in Saudi Arabia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_rights_in_Saudi_Arabia

A win: Aljazeera America closes up shop

Here is a good news story (pun intended): http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/13/media/al-jazeera-america/

Erdoğan cracks down, Turkey cracking up

Courtesy of www.dailycos.com

President  Erdoğan keeps burning down the house: http://www.todayszaman.com/national_measures-to-be-taken-against-university-academics-who-signed-critical-text_409490.html?

Vale David Bowie (1947-2016)

Favourites? "Heroes", "Golden Years", "Fame", "Gene Genie", "Starman", "Space Oddity" and, sadly in these circumstances, "Ashes to Ashes". I have always been impressed by the fact that "Ashes to Ashes" represents, in a sense, "Space Oddity Part 2" - the drug world he inhabited involved thrills and spills but down here was reality - and humanity. He experienced, in the end, thirty years of solid family life: good for him. Here is the Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie

The Azaz-Jarabulus Corridor (Part II)

The Tishrin Dam Offensive: 23 December-30 December 2015

The Tishrin Dam offensive was the last battle waged by the Syrian Democratic Forces (QSD) in 2015: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tishrin_Dam_offensive

Here is small video of QSD getting the power-generating dam up and running: https://www.facebook.com/1814267612131127/videos/1951497661741454/?theater

The Azaz-Jarabulus Corridor (Part I)

Courtesy of the Washington Institute: http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/ 

This is the link to Fabrice Balanche's "The die is cast: the Kurds cross the Euphrates" article: http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-die-is-cast-the-kurds-cross-the-euphrates

Losing Turkey

Courtesy of the Kurdish Daily News: http://kurdishdailynews.org/

David L. Philips is only belatedly stating the obvious in this Huffington Post article, but at least he is on the right track. The Free World has, in a sense, "lost" Turkey in the way China was "lost" in 1949: http://kurdishdailynews.org/2016/01/07/david-phillips-losing-turkey/   

Turkey: Kurds are the greatest threat to Erdogan

Here is a piece in Politico: http://www.politico.eu/article/turkey-unwinnable-war-pkk-protests-media-erdogan-kurds-nato/

Syria: Kurds are the greatest threat to the Islamic State

YPJ Fighters (Photo: Rusyar Resho)

An interesting article in the Long War Journal: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2016/01/ypg-claims-to-have-killed-nearly-6000-enemy-fighters-in-2015.php

This the link to the official YPG/YPJ website: http://ypgrojava.com/en/

Iraq: Kurds are the greatest threat to the Islamic State

The Peshmerga

Here is a good piece from Strategy Page: http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/iraq/articles/20160105.aspx?

Good times: Introducing the Martyr Muhannad al-Halabi Table Tennis Tournament

Let's face it, Fatah is no less of a death cult than Hamas: http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2016/01/01/palestinian-table-tennis-tournament-used-to-honor-terrorists/


Here, by the way, is the truth about Muhannad al-Halabi's "protest" outside Jerusalem's Lion's Gate in October 2015: http://bbcwatch.org/tag/muhannad-halabi/

The Saudi regime AND the Islamic Republic regime are both barbaric

Courtesy of the Iran News Update (INU): http://irannewsupdate.com/

Obviously the Saudi regime is barbaric, but that does not mean the hypocritical leaders of Islamic Republic of Iran are any less so: http://irannewsupdate.com/news/human-rights/2511-surge-of-arrests-and-executions-at-christmastime.html

Erdoğan's war on Turkish Kurds

The link to Sputnik magazine is: http://sputniknews.com/

Just because a story appears in Sputnik magazine does not mean it is wrong. Here is a link to the Kremlin's view of Erdogan's war on Turkish Kurds: http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160103/1032618744/kurdish-towns-bombardment.html

Erdogan cites Hitler's Germany as a role model

Oh dear (Courtesy of Nacipatan.com)

When does the world realise we have an Islamo-fascist demagogue in our midst: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/179894/World/Region/Erdogan-cites-Hitlers-Germany-to-defend-presidency.aspx