Upon meeting with Israeli Parliament on Monday, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the US Embassy in Jerusalem is planned to be opened by the end of 2019. Though at first it may not seem completely controversial, in doing this, the US is speeding up an operation thought to need 4-5 years. Because US leadership has said nothing other than… Read more »
https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/30/middleeast/sochi-russia-syria-talks-intl/index.html (CNN)A Russia-engineered peace conference aimed at bringing together warring factions in Syria has been fruitless, with the main opposition figures snubbing the talks and those who did attend walking out. Opposition members who took part in the conference at the Black Sea resort of Sochi heckled Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday during his speech before the… Read more »
https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/22/politics/mike-pence-israel-jerusalem-intl/index.html Jerusalem (CNN)The US will open its embassy in Jerusalem by the end of 2019, US Vice President Mike Pence said Monday in Israel’s parliament, confirming that the controversial move is speeding up after officials earlier said it could take three to four years. Pence told Israeli lawmakers that Jerusalem was “the capital of the state of Israel,” reiterating President… Read more »
https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/27/middleeast/iraq-police-killed-coalition-operation/index.html (CNN)Eight people were killed and 20 others were wounded in an Iraq military operation and US airstrikes Saturday, the town’s injured mayor told CNN. Sharhabil al-Obaidi, the mayor of al-Baghdadi in Anbar province, said a bodyguard, a civilian and six police officers were killed after Iraqi military and special police forces raided a house. The bodyguard and civilian died… Read more »
http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/03/middleeast/palestinians-aid-trump-israel-intl/index.html On Wednesday, President Trump threatened to cut the hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid to Palestine. Palestinian General Secretary Saeb Erekat responded by stating, “You are moving from negotiating to dictating and then you are threatening us if we don’t accept your dictations — that you are going to cut aid.” Though it is easy to see why… Read more »
http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/03/asia/iran-protests-government-intl/index.html (CNN)The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards saidWednesday that a string of anti-government protests were over after six days of unrest. In comments to the semiofficial Fars news agency, Mohammad Ali Jafari said that only 15,000 people had turned out at the height of the rallies and that the main “troublemakers” have been arrested. CNN has not been able to… Read more »
http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/03/middleeast/palestinians-aid-trump-israel-intl/index.html Jerusalem (CNN)Palestinian officials responded angrily Wednesday to US President Donald Trump’s threat to cut off aid to the Palestinian territories unless Palestinian leaders agree to engage in peace negotiations with Israel. Addressing Trump directly, PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat said to CNN, “So, Mr. Trump, your art of the deal. What’s left to negotiate?” referring to Trump’s 1987 book, “Trump:… Read more »
In the this simulation, I helped advise my group members and work with representatives from other countries and organizations to come to an agreement on the “refugee crisis”. Overall, I believe the simulation went very well. There are, however, several things that could have made it much more realistic. The basis of the simulation was the bringing together of several groups… Read more »
Though it has long been known that ISIL forces have been using American and Saudi Arabian weapons, it has been found that the number of these is far more than what could’ve been captured in battle alone. There has been some conspiracy theorists hinting at these facts beforehand, however, the complete disorder found in big-picture situation in the Middle East… Read more »
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/isil-weapons-traced-saudi-arabia-171214164431586.html Weapons supplied by the United States and Saudi Arabia to opposition fighters often fell into the hands of ISIL, significantly enhancing the “quantity and quality” of the group’s armaments, a new report alleges. The number of weapons goes “far beyond those that would have been available through battle capture alone”, according to the study by arms-monitoring group Conflict Armament… Read more »