US may send ISIS fighter to foreign country to face trial

An American Islamic State militant that was captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces last year and is currently being held in Iraq by the United States military. He has a dual U.S./Saudi Arabian citizenship but will most likely not face a trial stateside. Court documents that had previously been redacted were unsealed this week disclosing […]

Iraq begins airstrikes in Syria against ISIS

This past week the Iraqi Air Force began carrying out coordinated air strikes on Islamic State positions in Syria alongside the Syrian government. A Tweet from the Iraqi Air Force read, “Based on the orders from Abadi, the commander-in-chief, our air forces by using F-16s bombarded ISIS terrorists’ positions in Syria on the border with Iraq on […]

New United States consulate will be built in Erbil, Kurdistan

Douglas Silliman, the United States ambassador to Iraq, has announced that the U.S. will be constructing a new consulate structure in Erbil, Kurdistan. The announcement was made alongside Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani who expressed his vehement support of the expansion. The United States presently has an existing consulate compound within the city of Erbil but […]

Iraq criticizes United States for supplying financial aid to the Kurdish Peshmerga

Once again the United States is stepping up to handle the salaries of the Peshmerga despite Iraqi criticism and their apparent inability or unwillingness to do it themselves. The United States will be giving the Ministry of Peshmerga approximately $365 million this year over several installments. The ministry confirmed they have received the first on and […]

Fear mongering and the biggest killers in the United States

The internet is rife with things you ought to be afraid of. Guns, terrorists, illegal immigrants, WWIII, Kim Jong Un — they wouldn’t be able to instill those levels of fear if there were zero amounts of truth to any of it. I’ll leave it to you to decide which headlines are worth paying attention […]

Prime Minister Barzani discusses Kurdistan and the world at hand

Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister of the Kurdish Regional Government, has expressed that relations between Kurdistan and Iran are in good standing and that the KRG is eager to resume flights between the two. During a press conference last week the Prime Minister said, “We are happy with the restart of flights between Tehran, Erbil and Sulaimani. […]

President Erdogan against the world

According to Turkish President Erdogan, the United States and its western allies seek to maintain control of the oil fields in northern Syria. Over this past weekend he said, “Those who are planning in Syria are planning on oil, and we will spoil this game. By supporting Syria, and making this country stay on its feet again, […]

Assad meets with Russian delegation to discuss missile attacks and infrastructure repair

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is looking to acquire roughly $400 billion for Syrian restoration efforts from the Russian government. The Syrian president met with a delegation of Russian government officials over the weekend where he expressed that 7 years of war has badly damaged the country’s infrastructure.  The “infrastructure recovery” will take the amount specified and […]

Russian alliance accuses the U.S. of failing in Syria

Officials from Iran and Russia have heavily critiqued United States foreign policy in regards to Syria, making accusations that the U.S. cares not for defeating the Islamic State but are instead pursue ulterior motives in the form of economic gain. Russia’s Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, implied that the United States had failed in the war […]

The private sector and the rebuilding of the Middle East after ISIS

The U.S. Department of State is advocating the use of the private sector in the rebuilding and reconstruction of Syrian and Iraqi infrastructure in the wake of the war with the Islamic State. Rather than nation building as a government, they believe that privatizing the reformation process will be a far more feasible solution to […]

A look at sexual assault in militaries around the world

Sexual assault in the U.S. military has garnered a lot of media attention in the past years, and rightfully so. Sexual harassment and assault within a military bureaucracy can make it more difficult and tedious for victims to come forward — a DOD survey found that 52% of those who came forward were retaliated against […]

Opinion: Remembering the good things

These days it seems like everyone is in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction. Even compared to the Karen people, who live under the oppressive thumb of the Burmese government while surviving in an unforgiving jungle, I have rarely come across people more profoundly dissatisfied with their lives as Americans.  In fact, the Karen are among […]