The looming battle for the small Syrian town of Dabiq presents Islamic State commanders with a well-deserved dilemma. Do they retreat from Dabiq’s “physical” ruins north of Aleppo or do they fanatically defend the “metaphysical” Dabiq of Muslim tradition in a battle that is a sign of Earth’s end times? Unlike al-Qaida, ISIS controls territory. […]

Defeating ISIS fighters in Libya is proving to be a grinding, bloody struggle. The multi-sided battle among Libyans for control of their own oil industry is an even more complex war — but an opportunity to settle may have just emerged. Let’s address ISIS first. On August 22, Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord announced […]

In August 2011, six months after Syria’s Arab Spring revolt erupted, U.S. President Barack Obama put American prestige on the line and insisted Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad cede power. “For the sake of the Syrian people,” Obama said, “the time has come for President Assad to step aside.” It is September 2016. Assad remains in […]

Despite the touts that it would “be remembered for centuries,” Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro’s non-aligned summit proved to be a less-than-memorable bust. The non-aligned nation summit, held in Caracas from September 16-18, was supposed to showcase Maduro as a radical and resilient socialist leader. Instead, it revealed Venezuela’s weakness and exposed Maduro as delusional. […]

On August 24, leaders of the “nominally Marxist” Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia agreed to what they called a “definitive ceasefire” with the pro-U.S. Colombian government they once vowed to topple. Weary Colombian citizens immediately applauded the announcement. They hope the deal will end the 52 years of war FARC ignited in 1964. 260,000 people […]

That the fourth anniversary of the terrorist assault on America’s Benghazi consulate coincides with the 15th anniversary of the 9/11/2001 attacks is no accident. 9/11 is an iconic date for Americans. It’s also iconic for militant Islamists whose goals align with Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terror group. 9/11’s prominence guaranteed the Benghazi attack […]

Timbuktu, located in Mali, is a classic idiom for nowhere. However, the great caravan city the southern Sahara was — and still is — a cultural somewhere rich in Arab, Berber and sub-Saharan African historical structures and cultural artifacts. In 2012, the al-Qaida-aligned Islamic terrorist group, Ansar Dine, intentionally attacked Timbuktu’s historic trove. Its thugs […]