News
A War Among Friends
By Alex Rand
The age-old adage goes “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. However, the United States now finds itself in a situation of “the enemy of my friend is still my friend”. In the…
Update on the Kurds in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran
by Gabriel Giddens
The following gives updates on the Kurds in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran.
Iraq
Late last year, the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Regional…
Interview with the Director on Islamophobia, All Sides with Ann Fisher
Today the director of the Middle East Studies Center was interviewed along with Nathan Lean of Georgetown University's Bridge Initiative to discuss Islamophobia. You can listen to the entire…
Dangerous, Crowded Airspace in Syria, Diverse Alliances, Some with Cold War Roots
The Middle East is growing more dangerous each day with conflicts multiplying. With the crowded airspace in Syria, the chance of either Russia or the U.S. hitting unintentional targets of…
Event: Aftermath of the Arab Spring
Last night's event hosted by the Arab Student Union at the Ohio State University, "Aftermath of the Arab Spring," was enjoyable and thought-provoking. Four distinguished panelists…
Dynamics of Conflict: Kurdish groups, Shi'i groups, and the Islamic State
The news this morning that Mullah Omar died is significant for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was in Pakistan. After the U.S. attacks on Taliban and al-Qaeda positions in Afghanistan in 2001,…
Who are the Shi'is?
The name Shi'ite, or Shi'i, or Shi'ah in Arabic, means "partisan", or “supporter” of Ali as legitimate successor of the Prophet Muhammad. Shi'is are also sometimes called Fatimis, or Fatimids,…
Turkey in relation to Syria and ISIS
Turkey has not yet engaged militarily in the conflict against ISIS, but they are under considerable pressure from the rest of the coalition against ISIS to contribute more to the fight (1). …