Iraq
All countries-
Islamic State
A year of territorial losses
Although 2015 has been a bleak year, characterised by numerous casualties resulting from the terrorist activities of IS, the last twelve months have seen Islamic State relinquish rather than gain ground. By Chase Winters
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Violence against women
Young Arab men fight for women′s rights
Fifteen years after Security Council Resolution 1325 called on all parties to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, such violence remains widespread throughout the Arab world. The good news is that ever more young Arab men are joining women′s rights organisations. By Katja Dombrowski
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IS: the winners and the losers
The time is ripe for Bashar and his cronies
In future, under the pre-text of waging a ″war against terror″, autocratic regimes in the Arab world will adopt an even harder line against opposition groups in their own countries. There is likely to be little objection from the West, which is still reeling from the most recent IS attacks, writes the Moroccan journalist Ali Anouzla
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Book review: ″Auf der Flucht″ by Karim El Gawhary and Mathilde Schwabeneder
Born in the wrong place
″Auf der Flucht″ by Karim El Gawhary and Mathilde Schwabeneder tells stirring and disturbing real-life tales of people who have lost everything. Martina Sabra read the book
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The Middle East
Preserving the Ottoman mosaic
With the international community striving to end the chaos and conflict racking the Middle East and establish a regional order than can sustain peace and stability, Sweden′s fomer prime minister, Carl Bildt makes a plea for working within the existing framework
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IS and its media
Calling all suicide bombers
The media is playing its part in today's horror as "Islamic State" showcases its terrorists in magazines, videos and on the Internet to recruit new members. Joseph Croitoru examines how IS strategy has developed and evolved
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Airstrikes against IS
Solidarity yet no strategy
Western airstrikes will fail to have any significant impact on the terrorist militia as long as the Syrian rebels, prevented from focusing their efforts on the jihadists by the ongoing offensive staged by Assad′s regime, have to defend themselves simultaneously against IS and Assad. A commentary by Bente Scheller
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Interview with Arun Kundnani
Violence comes home
After the Paris attacks, what are the logical and tragic consequences of a war with no geographical limits? In this interview, Arun Kundnani unveils and critiques the ramifications of the ″war on terror″, from the conservative and liberal rhetoric of the intellectuals and commentators who have emerged, to the theories of ″radicalisation″ which have fuelled counter-terrorism programmes in the West
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IS and the lessons learnt
Negotiating beyond time and space
The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, is a recruitment tool for the IS and has to go. Nevertheless, a successor government needs to be able to keep order and cannot allow the jihadists to exploit a power vacuum, as it has in Libya. An essay by Richard N. Haass
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IS terror in Europe
Crossing a psychological line
Following the devastating attacks on Paris, French terrorism experts believe that the jihadists′ awareness must have undergone a radical change to enable them to operate in Paris just as they do in Syria or Iraq. Has "Islamic State" altered its strategy? Analysis by Birgit Kaspar
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Cuspert the IS terrorist
Mortal dreams of paradise
In 2004, Denis Cuspert was still the Berlin rapper "Deso Dogg". Radicalised by the Salafist scene in Germany, he then joined IS, fighting for three years under the name Abu Talha al-Almani. Now reports are circulating claiming Cuspert has been killed. By Katja Riedel
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Migration and human rights
Refugee versus migrant: what's in a name?
″All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights″: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights couldn′t be much clearer. Still the political response to the current flood of refugees is inevitably proving insufficient. Pia Oberoi, advisor on migration and human rights with the UNHCR, examines the issue