Among Edward Snowden’s most shocking revelations is “that the N.S.A. was routinely passing along the private communications of Americans to a large and very secretive Israeli military organization known as Unit 8200” that has been accused by 43 of its veterans of startling abuses:
- Israel’s N.S.A. Scandal (NY Times)
“With the word ‘injustice’ often on their lips – and … thousands of Sunnis detained without charge on their minds – Iraq’s aggrieved Sunnis began a popular uprising in December 2012. They called the Baghdad government ‘enemy,’ and in June this year helped Islamic State (IS) militants advancing from Syria seize control” …
- Islamic State: Iraqi Leaders Created the Problem … and Can End It, Say Sunnis (Christian Science Monitor)
… and now as foreign powers decide what to do about the terrorist state with which their previous interventions have saddled Iraq, in addition to issues of practicality, unintended consequences, and the risks of escalation, they must also consider the fact that government with which they have saddled Iraq doesn’t want their troops:
- At Summit Against Islamic State, Leaders Pledge to Take ‘All Means Necessary‘ (Christian Science Monitor)
- Obama’s IS Plan Looks Good on Paper. but in Practice? (Christian Science Monitor)
- Focus on Islamic State Has Left Baghdad Residents Vulnerable to Crime (Christian Science Monitor)
- US General: Ground Troops Option if Anti-IS Strategy Fails (BBC)
- Iraq Premier Says No Foreign Troops (AP / abc News)
“In the 10-minute call with Nzinga Islam, which she believes was not sanctioned by his jailers, Mobley pleaded to see his lawyer and said he was being physically abused. ‘He said, “I’m being tortured.” He even said, “They’re gonna kill me in here”’”:
Amnesty International says she is being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, where she was kept in solitary confinement for more than 40 days before being moved to a shared cell. Â ‘She is a prisoner of conscience, arrested solely for taking part in a peaceful protest against the ban on women attending volleyball world league matches in Tehran’s Azadi stadium”:
“Qatar and Turkey were the only regional countries to back the Brotherhood after Egypt’s army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi last year following mass protests against him”:
“The UN has orchestrated a deal for rebuilding in the Gaza Strip, giving prominent roles to the Palestinian Authority and the private sector”:
The “Islamist political leader whose conviction last year for war crimes during the country’s 1971 war for independence sparked deadly protests. Delwar Hossain Sayedee … must remain in prison “for the rest of his natural life”, said the chief justice[, who] … did not explain his decision for reducing the sentence”:
“Six children were among those who died …, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. A dozen rebel fighters were also killed, the UK-based group added. Meanwhile, at least 34 children have died in another opposition-held area of Syria, reportedly after being given contaminated measles vaccinations”:
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