A day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to attack Kurdish forces in Syria, social media were abuzz with reports of an impending Turkish operation against these troops, who have been the main US ally on the ground against the Islamic State.https://twitter.com/metesohtaoglu/status/923178493269237760The enclave of Afrin and the Kurdish-held city of Manbij, both in northern Read More
In a lightning advance, Iraqi forces captured the oil-rich city of Kirkuk from Kurdish forces on Monday, sending thousands of civilians fleeing.The fighting between two US-trained and -equipped forces that have been central to the war against the Islamic State was a slap in the face to US foreign policy. US-supplied Iraqi tank knocks over Read More
Prof. John Reilly, the co-director of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, was one of the scientists drawn in President Donald Trump’s announcement last week that the US would pull out of the Paris Agreement on climate change. WhoWhatWhy interviewed Reilly prior to the events of last week. An Read More
While scientists say the US president’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change is disastrous, they also describe a cyclical pattern where, driven by greed, humanity periodically comes to the brink of catastrophe.
It hasn’t just been WhoWhatWhy’s domestic coverage that has been far ahead of the curve: with our limited resources we got many of the international stories right too. For example, according to mainstream media reports, it now seems increasingly likely that Donald Trump might try to play Russia and China off of each other, by cozying Read More
Donald Trump’s “bromance” with Vladimir Putin, as well as the foreign-policy skills of his tentative generals-rich cabinet, will face a dangerous challenge in Syria as soon as he takes office.
Hundreds of millions around the world welcomed Trump or saw him as the lesser of two evils, despite his xenophobic campaign. It has a lot to do with Clinton’s hawkishness and the fear of nuclear war.
As the Syrian army advances on shattered East Aleppo and US Secretary of State John Kerry struggles to find his footing against the Russians, Western media is ripe with speculation that the offensive is timed to the US election. As The New York Times put it, “The strategy of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Read More
Big-power rivalries and home-grown dysfunction raise fears along eastern periphery of the European Union.
While many concerns have been raised about the way the Panama Papers investigation has been handled, there has been little actual evidence of objectionable actions on the part of the ICIJ — until now.
Syria is a mess. And the narrative in mainstream media keeps swinging from one extreme to another, failing to grasp the complexities of the situation.