Trying to understand the different players and factions fighting in Syria currently is like trying to get through Tolstoy’s War and Peace – though the title aptly refers to the ongoing war, but there is no peace.
The world nods in brief acknowledgment and goes on. After all, most people have become accustomed to hearing about terrorist attacks in Iraq that have been ongoing for over ten years now. Iraqis die barely making headlines.
Iraqis are once again paying for political ambitions and miscalculations made on their behalf by foreign and domestic governments. After the pullout of the U.S. that led to the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS), the Iraqi government hasn’t pulled it together to fight the enemy it was left with. The ongoing battle for Fallujah to rid it of ISIS underscores this need.
It has to come to this: Muqtada Al Sadr, now more than ever, is calling the shots in Iraq.
Two weeks removed from the Lahore Easter massacre, enraged Pakistanis need a government willing not just to combat individual jihadis, but uproot jihadi ideology from Pakistan’s mainstream.
For the first time in over forty years, it was announced that Iraq has crowned its first beauty queen.
President Obama’s address to the nation after the massacre in San Bernardino California was not particularly revelatory or comforting. Now more than ever, Americans want to hear that we are safe and protected. It remains unclear if anything has or will be done to make us feel safe again.
