By SETH J. FRANTZMAN In June 2014 when ISIS rolled into Mosul many western media called them “insurgents.” Within a month they had expelled Christians from the city, ending 1,600 […]
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN There is an article making its rounds claiming an independent Kurdistan would be a “failed state.” It has been republished by Newsweek, the website eKurd, and the […]
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN A lot of people have read Jared Yates Sexton’s tweets about getting death threats after he outed a Reddit user who made a gif about Trump […]
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN Just after noon on May 29th the Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), a mostly Shia group of militias that have been officially part of […]
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN Since August 2014 the Kurdish Peshmerga, the armed forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government, fought a tough war against Islamic State along a 1,000 kilometers of […]
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN On March 22nd US forces helped transport elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces across lake Assad behind ISIS lines. Coming ashore around 30 kilometers from Raqqa, […]
By Seth J. Frantzman Looking for something new this year? This summer? A place where there aren’t legions of tourists, but has the beauty and opportunity to get off the […]
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN On February 18th the reports had already begun that the Iraqi army intended to launch the long-awaited offensive to take Western Mosul, which is often called […]
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN I was outraged by the ban on refugees from war-torn countries in the Middle East. I’ve covered refugees fleeing war in Iraq and Syria over the […]
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN “Pray for Germany,” read one meme floating around on Facebook. But I’m not praying for anyone and you shouldn’t either. “Thoughts and prayers have become the […]
