A quick scan of Google Trends, Google’s worldwide search volume analysis tool, shows the predictably one-sided view of the combatants in Syria popularized by much of the Western media. ISIS, the ubiquitous upstart terrorist group responsible for out-radicalizing al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, the al-Nusra Front, dominates the search interest (which is calculated proportionally). The Free Syrian […]
Archives for December 2014
The Nearing Cliff
Little American media attention was drawn to the recent October Brazilian presidential elections. The debate at hand was whether or not to continue with the left-leaning policies of the majority party, the Workers’ Party (PT), or support the slightly more business-oriented and conservative policies of the leading minority party, the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, a […]
The One Thing ISIS is Good For: Answering 100-Year-Old Questions
If made into a blockbuster drama, the history of the Kurds in Turkey would make a killing at the box office. It is a tale of betrayal and bloodshed, repression and revolution. Turkish Kurds have experienced a turbulent past of subjugation, violence, economic assistance, violence, peace talks, and more violence. Turkey’s uncertainty in how to […]