Iraq

"...the march towards secularism and freedom is not inevitable. In fact, it’s problematic because we have a situation where every year the West becomes more secular, open, tolerant and liberal while many parts of the Muslim world are going the other way. So it would seem that we might be moving towards a head-on collision of some sort... In most Muslim countries the majority of people are tolerant. They want to live in a more inclusive society and have a more liberal religious doctrine. The problem is that Islam seems to have been hijacked by a vocal minority of people who are prepared to use violence to advance their very intolerant and conservative version of Islam."

"Oil and gas sector bankruptcies have reached quarterly levels last seen in the Great Recession. At least nine U.S. oil and gas companies, accounting for more than $2 billion in debt, have filed for bankruptcy so far in the fourth quarter."

"The apostate's life and organs don't have to be respected and may be taken with impunity. A group of Islamic scholars have permitted, if necessary, one to kill the apostate in order to eat his flesh."

In American politics the nation of Russia, especially as personified in its leader Vladimir Putin, becomes all things to all men. To American leftists, Russia is a neo-fascist, violently nationalist country that ruthlessly suppressed minority groups, especially homosexuals. To the American Right, Putin is the second coming of Stalin who is working to subvert good old-fashioned American values around the world.

"Erdogan's adventurism has been quite successful so far, but it amounts to an extraordinary departure for Turkish foreign policy, and maybe even risks the destruction of the country. How on earth could this happen? The background is an inferiority complex, and megalomania."

Every year, Pew Research Center looks back at the most memorable facts that illustrate important trends shaping our world. From faltering faith in government to the decline of Christians in America and from increased racial tensions to the shrinking American middle-class, here are some of our most striking findings of 2015.

The fight against ISIS makes for some strange bedfellows. “The Taliban interest objectively coincides with ours. We've already said earlier that we and the Taliban have channels for exchanging information."

According to WSJ, "the Obama administration pursued secret communications with elements of Syria’s regime over several years in a failed attempt to limit violence and get President Bashar al-Assad to relinquish power, according to U.S. and Arab officials. Early on, the U.S. looked for cracks in the regime it could exploit to encourage a military coup, but found few.”

This cannnot end well...

Trump is popular not so much for his stance on issues as for the fact that he is not another Washington politican, and he is respected for not backing down and apologizing when he makes strong statements for which he is criticized. What people see in Trump is strength and leadership. This is what is unusual about a political candidate, and it is this strength to which voters are responding. For that reason, the corrupt American political establishment has issued a “get Trump” command to its presstitute media.

For those who have enjoyed our coverage of how Washington and its regional allies supply TOWs to militants battling for control of Syria, we bring you the following clip, which appears to depict Syrian rebels firing a missile at a Hezbollah fighter sitting in a truck. In a remarkable example of remaining cool under fire (literally), the soldier simply pulls forward, dodging death by a few feet at the last second.

As the status-quo-sponsored mainstream media continues to desperately try to point out all of Donald Trump's flaws (and apparently wash over all of Hillary's), the actual electorate appears unimpressed by their efforts. Despite "Schlong-gate" (more press), the latest poll from CNN/ORN shows The Donald adding 3 more points since the last debate to 39% of Republicans, with Ted Cruz a distant second at 18%.

An analysis of terror attacks since 2002 suggests U.S. efforts to combat terrorism - i.e., the "War on Terror" - have led to a dramatic increase in death and suffering from terrorism.

As Baghdad gears up for an assault on ISIS-held Mosul, the Iraqi army has managed to liberate Ramadi, the "heartland" of the country's Sunni community. “We went into the center of Ramadi from different axes, and we started clearing residential areas. The city will be cleared within the coming 72 hours."

In a shocking new report, Seymour Hersh reveals what he says was a covert operation run by the Joint Chiefs of Staff who sought to undermine the Obama administration and the CIA's goal of overthrowing the Assad regime in Syria. "If the American public saw the intelligence we were producing daily, at the most sensitive level, they would go ballistic."