While we keep hearing that the latest conflicts in the Middle East are between Sunni and Shi'a, we often see Sunni on Sunni violence. Jay Ogilvy in Mind the Gap at Stratfor links the latest conflicts to a conflict between those who have made it and those who haven't, rather than solely to religious motivations. The Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) suggests terrorism is a result of the conflict between the region and western values.  Click this link to IPT for more on CSID. My understanding of MEMRI's analysis is that there's nothing for the West to do but rescue those at risk of annihilation. What's your take?

Argentina

Deal with Iran at Root of Argentine Prosecutor's Death Mystery - Brian Winter and Nicolas Misculin (Reuters)

Argentine Journalist Who Reported Nisman's Death Flees to Israel(Ynet News)

Britain

Qatar buys part of British Airways, prompting security concerns (Times of Israel)


Greece

Victory of Syriza Party in Greece Is Bad News for Israel (European Jewish Press)

Iran

Iran's History of Nuclear Deceit Is Why There Hasn't Been a Deal Yet - Emanuele Ottolenghi (Business Insider)

Iraq

Yazidi girls tell of escape from IS – (Almonitor)

Beyond front lines in Iraq, a forgotten force faces Islamic State – Mitchell Prothero (McClatchy)

Jordan

Jordan threatens to hang all Daesh prisoners if pilot is killed (Albawaba News)

Patners for Peace?

PLO Ambassador expresses joy over Hezbollah bombing - Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW)

Where's the Coverage? Israeli Program Educates and Supports Palestinian Farmers (CAMERA) The latest untold story: Positive interaction between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs. Shhhh!

Hamas Ends Boycott of Israeli Products in Gaza - Nasouh Nazzal (Gulf News-Dubai)

10,000 Palestinian Teens Graduate Hamas Terror Camp, Practice Tunnel Attacks Against Israel- Elior Levy (Ynet News)

Russia

Are Russia’s Black Widows Spreading? - Andrew Foxall (World Affairs Journal) The recent suicide bombing in Istanbul was the first terrorist attack to be carried out by a Russian woman in Europe. The West should take note.

Syria

Hezbollah's tactical shift against Israel – Ben Caspit (Al-Monitor) Hezbollah is opening another front against Israel in the Golan Heights, where it can blame other organizations for possible escalations.

Who's Who in the Syrian War (Clarion Project)

Turkey

Calls To Kill President Al-Sisi And Egyptian Journalists On Muslim Brotherhood TV Channels Based In Turkey (MEMRI)

United States

There Were No Palestine Borders, And No Palestine, in 1967 (CAMERA) A New York Times story included erroneous and anachronistic language about Israel's "1967 borders with Palestine." In 1967, of course, there was no country, territory, or entity called Palestine. 

White House tiptoes around use of word ‘terrorism’ - Julie Pace (Times of Israel)

Argentina

Who will obtain justice for Alberto Nisman? - David Howrovitz (Times of Israel)

Egypt

Human Rights Watch and the Destruction of Rafah - Elliott Abrams (Council on Foreign Relations) The government of Egypt is destroying Rafah, a town in Egypt on the border of Gaza, leaving thousands of Egyptians homeless, in an effort to create a buffer zone along the border.

Egypt Uncovers Explosives-Laden Smuggling Tunnel between Sinai, Gaza(Maan News-PA)

European Union

EU to Appeal Ruling that Hamas Should Be Off Terror List (Reuters) EU will appeal last month's decision by the EU's General Court that the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas should be removed from the bloc's terrorist list. As a result of the appeal, Hamas will remain on the EU's terrorism list and its assets will remain frozen for now, pending a final judgment by the European Court of Justice.

Iran

Waning Public Support for Tehran’s Nuclear Aspirations - Ali Alfoneh (FDD) Iran’s regime is at odds with itself over the costs and benefits of its controversial nuclear program.

Partners for Peace?

Todays' terror attack in which over a dozen Israelis were stabbed in a bus in Tel Aviv is a result of the ongoing violence promotion carried out by Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority and Fatah. - Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW)

Hamas leaders praise Tel Aviv stabbing as ‘heroic’ - Elhanan Miller (Times of Israel)

Arsonists Torch Car of Palestinian Professor Who Led Auschwitz Trip(Ha'aretz) In 2007 Dajani founded Wasatia, a social and political movement based on concepts of moderation, pluralism, democracy and justice that he found in the Quran. Following the March 2014 trip, he was denounced as a traitor and collaborator, and expelled from the Al-Quds University workers' union. 

Russia

Report: Russia May Send S-300 Missile System to Iran - Thomas Grove (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia arrests man for filming public beheading (Times of Israel) Many Twitter users protested the video being circulated on the Internet because it could be seen by the woman’s family, but did not object to the beheading itself.

Syria

Jihad Mughniyah, Son of Hizbullah Commander, and Six Iranians Killed in Israeli Strike in Syria(Ya Libnan-Lebanon) They were preparing an attack on Israel (a raid on Galilee) and the airstrike took place near Quneitra, close to the ceasefire line separating Syria and Israel. Twelve people in all were killed. One of the six Iranians was General Mohammed Ali Allahdadi of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Iran's New Terror Base against Israel - Yaakov Lappin (Gatestone Institute) Over the past 18 months, Hezbollah and its enablers from the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] have begun launching a series of attacks on Israel from their new center of operations in southern Syria.

Turkey

Islamic State Has Sleeper Cells throughout Turkey(IHS Jane's Intelligence Weekly) A leaked intelligence report by the Turkish national police warns of the presence of Islamic State "sleeper cells" throughout the country, comprising around 3,000 people. Furthermore, last week Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu revealed concerns about the possible return of at least 700 Turkish citizens currently fighting for the Islamic State.

United States

CNN's Christiane Amanpour and "Activists" (CAMERA) Whether Amanpour made an honest mistake or not, the outrage she elicited by calling the Paris terrorists "activists" is reasonable because terminology matters...

Did you get a chance to read “Defending Islam from Free Speech” by Robert C. Blitt  in the Monday, January 12, edition of USA Today? He points out that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League are responsible for spreading the  belief that any insult directed against the Muslim faith or its profit demands absolute  suppression. Until leaders of the Muslim world stop endorsing turning blasphemy into a  crime, I think we can continue to expect incidents like those in Paris, Pakistan,  Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria, etc.  Some have compared the right to free speech with laws against Holocaust denial –  do you also find this argument specious? I support freedom of expression, not freedom  to lie and deny the truth – hence, this blog. I am not opposed to people  holding any opinion they want, but I am opposed to people freely spreading lies  without consequence or encouraging murder and violence against others. France Did a Time Article Justify Terror Attack in France? (Honest Reporting) Where's the Coverage? Only Woman Murdered at Charlie Hebdo Was "Definitely  Killed Because She Was Jewish" (CAMERA) You may have learned from the coverage  that the Kouachi brothers knew exactly who they were looking for, that they called out the names of their victims and methodically executed them. But very few media outlets have reported on Elsa Cayat. Paris: Grand Mosque Open, Grand Synagogue Closed - Lawrence A. Franklin  (Gatestone Institute) Iran Iran Eclipses U.S. as Iraq's Ally in Fight Against Militants (AP-Washington Post) Partners for Peace? In Gaza, Hamas and the PA Are at Each Other's Throats Again - Avi Issacharoff  (Times of Israel) Abbas' terror-hypocrisy continues - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW) Islamists killing 16 French civilians is terror. Palestinians killing 37 Israeli civilians is  heroism. Saddam Hussein - Fatah and PA hero - - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik  (PMW) Saudi Arabia Saudi ISIS Members Attack Saudi Border Guards on Iraqi Frontier -  (Asharq Al-Awsat-UK) Saudi Arabia Provides $60M for PA as Financial Aid Plummets (WAFA-PA) Saudi Arabia's "Great Wall" to Keep Out ISIS - Richard Spencer (Telegraph-UK)   The Saudis are building a 600-mile-long "Great Wall" - a combined fence and ditch - to  separate the country from Iraq. Syria Missile-Manufacturing Firms in Syria Are Built by Iran - Adam Kredo (Washington  Free Beacon) Turkey Turkey Says It Helped Hamas Become "Mainstream"  (Hurriyet-Turkey) Reception for Palestinian President in Turkey Mocked as Ottoman Circus (Al-Masry  Al-Youm-Egypt) United States Joan Peters will be missed. See video: http://www.levitt.tv/media/watch/680 U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem to Arm Palestinian Guards in Breach of Agreement - Itamar Eichner (Ynet News) The ISIS of Africa – Michael J. Totten (World Affairs Journal) The United States isn’t  directly involved in all these wars—Israel battles Hamas and Hezbollah, and the French  took out the proto-Islamic state in Northern Mali—but if a huge swath of Africa collapses  and Boko Haram metastasizes fully into an ISIS-linked entity with staying power, what  happens in Sub-Saharan Africa may no longer stay in Sub-Saharan Africa. Limits On Liberty?: Nearly 20 Percent Of Americans Think Religion Should Not Be  The Subject Of Satire – Simon Brown (Americans United for the Separation of Church  and State)

JE SUIS CHARLIE – A lovely sentiment, but sentiment alone isn't enough to vanquish those that would kill children (most recently 130+ in Pakistan), kidnap and sell girls (in Nigeria and Syria), and commit terrorist acts. As Daniel Henninger pointed out this week, “...if more of the world's people are to be protected from … Islamic terror, then the political and intellectual status quo will have to be changed or reversed.”

Egypt

Egypt's Sisi: Islamic "Thinking" Is "Antagonizing the Entire World" - Raymond Ibrahim (Islam Translated) ”We are in need of a religious revolution....This umma is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost - and it is being lost by our own hands."
Sisi First Egyptian President to Attend Coptic Christmas Mass (Al-Ahram-Egypt)

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States United Against Islamic Terror- Zvi Mazel (Jerusalem Post) Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states are all desperate to ward off the combined threats of a nuclear Iran and Islamic State.

Iraq

Iran-Backed Militias Are Getting U.S. Weapons - Josh Rogin and Eli Lake (Bloomberg)

Lebanon
Hizbullah's Global Intelligence War with Israel's Mossad - Ana Maria Luca (NOW-Lebanon)

Partners for Peace?

Six Palestinian Factions Reject Palestinian UN Resolution (Xinhua-China) The Hamas movement, Islamic Jihad, and four left-wing PLO groups said "the draft resolution opens the road again for the absurd bilateral talks."

Party Time: Fatah's Founding Myth (CAMERA) “Moderate” Fatah scheduled rallies to celebrate the anniversary of Fatah's first armed mission against Israel.

BBC finally links a Hamas article to their charter 

Hamas, Palestinian Authority Step Up Human Rights Violations - Khaled Abu Toameh (Gatestone Institute)

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Labor Ministry Denies Permitting Jews To Work In The Kingdom (MEMRI)

Syria

Islamic State uses US-made anti-tank missile near Damascus – Caleb Weiss (The Long War Journal)

Turkey

Turkey's Gov't-Aligned News Outlets Blame Victims in Paris Attack (The Clarion Project) Turkish and regional Islamist newspapers have blamed the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo ("Charlie Weekly") for the attacks against it.

United States

U.S.: Palestine Does Not Qualify for Membership in International Criminal Court (State Department)

Will we ever learn? Obama White House can't admit Paris attacks 'Islamic terrorism' - Steve Emerson (IPT)