Quantitative examination of the impact of terrorism around the world. The podcast discusses the number of terrorism deaths, the geographic distribution of terrorist attacks (including the countries and regions where terrorism is on the increase or decrease) puts the data into a broader historic context comparable year-by-year.
Stephanie Pennington
Assignment Asia: Preserving Ottoman miniature art
I came across this video while looking at modern Persian Miniatures. Apparently they are alive and well in today’s society. The video gives a little history of the miniatures and some insight from a modern miniatures artist.
Sean Ingraham
Original article title- Is the US undermining the Middle East peace process?
URL: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2018/01/undermining-middle-east-peace-process-180123183502248.html
With the visit of the Vice President Pence to Jerusalem, came an announcement. The American embassy that is scheduled to be built in Jerusalem had a new timetable: the embassy would be built by “the end of next year.” this surprise was greeted fanatically by the Knesset, with the exception of Israeli-Palestinian members who voiced their opposition vocally and were later removed from the chamber. This shift in US Middle East policy is an obvious move from the scrutiny of the Israeli state in the Obama years. The trip only further cemented the growing divide between the Palestinian authority and the Trump white house. Earlier, the president of the Palestinian authority Mahmoud Abbas was quoted as saying ” … we will accept the US as a mediator in the peace process nor are we going to accept any plan from the US side.” Ongoing protests are still happening as a result of the President Trump’s announcement. Until the plans are abandoned for the new embassy or a new administration is in place at the White House, the two-state solution looks increasingly idealistic.
Egypt opened Rafah crossing, the only way into Gaza that doesn’t involve Israel, for three days. The crossing has been strictly controlled and at this time Palestinians were only able to leave Egypt. The crossing has been watched for the last ten years after Israel placed an embargo on the strip. Last year, the crossing was only open for just over 30 days, and in 2015 for just a month and a half. Many of those crossing in the past have done so for medical care in Egypt.
This is a breaking story on the news based on the airstrike that the U.S. took in Syria. When the story first broke a month ago the U.S. had said that a mosque that some believed was hit with a bomb along with the building holding al Qaeda members. The U.S. now admits that unintentionally it did hit a mosque and there may have been civilian casualties.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/04/politics/syria-mosque-march-strike-us-investigation/index.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39823236
Despite refusal by rebel leaders, Russia has moved forward with it’s plan to enforce 4 safe zones in Syria. It has issued a statement that they will go into effect at midnight tonight, noting also that it will not allow US-coalition aircraft within their borders. (http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/05/russia-syria-safe-zones-closed-coalition-planes-170505072733285.html)
“On April 27, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ratified the Judicial Bodies Law No 13 of 2017, a day after Egypt’s House of Representatives issued its final approval of the law. By so doing, Egypt‘s authoritarian regime has taken an additional step towards full subordination of state institutions, rendering them completely submissive to the military-security ruling establishment.”
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/05/sisi-law-tool-restore-tyranny-170503074648055.html
UNESCO passed a resolution critical of Israel’s actions in the Ghaza stripa and Jerusalem, which many countries are saying they are violating international law. In addition to Palestine, many other middle eastern countries supported this resolution. Israel said the resolution was unnecessary and they planned on continuing their operations in Jerusalem. Palestine though see’s it as a step forward.
The Syrian Government is producing chemical weapons in violation of a 2013 deal to eliminate them, via a Western Intelligence agency. This is just after a Syrian plane dropped chemical bombs killing nearly 100 people, and the U.S. sending a missile attack on a Syrian airbase in response to this.
On Saturday, the Turkish government recently blocked access to Wikipedia because of linking the nation to terror activity. “It has become part of an information source which is running a smear campaign against Turkey in the international arena,” the ministry said.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/29/europe/turkey-wikipedia/index.html
