Juan Cole – “This Parrot is no More”: The 2016 Presidential Election did not Take Place

The French sociologist and philosopher Jean Baudrillard wrote a book in 1991 entitled The Gulf War Did Not Take Place. In the same way, the 2016 presidential election did not take place. Baudrillard did not mean to say, of course, that no war was prosecuted by the US and its allies, positioned in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, against the …

Ramzy Baroud – ‘Islamic State’ Pretence and the Upcoming Wars in Libya

Another war is in the making in Libya: the questions are ‘how’ and ‘when’? While the prospect of another military showdown is unlikely to deliver Libya from its current security upheaval and political conflict, it is likely to change the very nature of conflict in that rich, but divided, Arab country. An important pre-requisite to war is to locate an …

Probability of US again bombing Libya is always there’

The US might carry out air strikes again in Libya, but it won’t improve the conditions on the ground, says Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire. The US would rather allow Egypt and the UAE to carry out certain aspects of this foreign policy in Libya, he adds. Battles between Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants and local …