Tag / ISIL
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What Reading Joe Biden’s Memoir Taught Me
Promise Me, Dad recently joined the ranks of the few books written by modern American politicians that I have read from cover to cover. Joe Biden’s memoir covers the period from Thanksgiving 2014 to the months which followed his son Beau’s death in May 2015, and it is worthy of the praise that it has…
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How to Debate Non-Interventionists
I can’t count how many times I’ve heard people say “the U.S. should mind its own business” or “we should leave the Middle East alone” or “alliances with none, trade with all.” Every time I do, I cringe a bit; not only because I disagree, but also because points like that are quite difficult to…
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ISIL: Explained
BY JOE LENOFF I’ve heard them referred to as ISIL, ISIS, and IS. Which is it? ISIL is short for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. ISIS is short for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and IS is short for the Islamic State. The difference, of course, is in the words…
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Crises of Nationalism
BY JOE LENOFF In the aftermath of the First World War, the European states dismantled the Ottoman Empire and designed a system by which the Middle East would be carved into separate states ruled by people the Europeans themselves hand-picked. Although there were a series of agreements between the Europeans, such as the Sykes-Picot Agreement…
