Rounded Analysis On Contested Issues; Spotlighting Blind Spots; Politics, Religion, Travel, Books
Tikrit was a test case for Iraq’s ability to unite the country after ISIS massacred 1,700 air force cadets, mostly Shia, at Camp Speicher there to drive a permanent sectarian wedge for the Iraqi state’s implosion
The turnaround in the situation was such that Pope Francis could visit Mosul seven years after it fell to ISIS to acknowledge the assistance Christians received from Muslims and their harmonious coexistence
Volunteers of al-Hashd al-Shaabi were deployed as shock troops and negated ISIS's advantages of surprise, sudden attack, and ambush
Iran built a corridor of influence extending up to the Mediterranean when the US left Iraq in 2011 and left the field open for its archfoe and helped Tehran keep Bashar al-Assad in power in Syria and support Hezbollah in Lebanon
A tapering gateway of inscriptions and geometric themes now leads to Mustansiriya University, one of the world’s oldest universities which survived the Mongol onslaught, floods, and manmade and natural calamities that claimed much of Baghdad’s heritage over centuries
Nahdlatul Ulama has cited ISIS’s attempt to create a so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria and argued it will inevitably be disastrous and contrary to the basic purposes of Sharia—the protection of religion, human life, sound reasoning, family, and property
In 1963, crown prince Faisal told US ambassador Parker T Hart that 'after Allah, we trust America' while Saudis were involved in a confrontation with Egypt over Yemen, highlighting the depth of their relationship that has endured
Saudi Arabia's ruling al-Saud family's ties with revivalist theologian Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab conferred legitimacy on its rule but they are increasingly being underplayed with an acceleration of modernization
Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s biggest Islamic organisation, is an antithesis of the Taliban but it is hardly known perhaps because its progressive ideas do not fit into the dominant narrative about Islam particularly when Islamophobia is lucrative and many demagogues globally have tapped into it for political power
Pakistan's minister of state for foreign affairs Hina Khar traveled to Kabul without adhering to the Taliban’s dress code for women by dressing typically stylishly and covering only the back of her head with her dupatta leaving much of her hair visible
