Baghdadi alive? The loathsome ISIS cult may be nearly dead, at least in its present form as a territorial state. However its so-called "caliph," Abu Bakr Baghdadi may still be alive. New audio of a man who sounds like Baghdadi has been posted to an ISIS-affiliated website. In it, the speaker mentions recent events such as North Korean saber-rattling and the Battle for Mosul. Although the US Department of Defense is still analyzing the recording for authenticity, it appears that Russian claims of having killed Baghdadi in a May airstrike are greatly exaggerated.
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Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly vote for secession: The Kurdish Autonomous Region held a referendum on Monday on seceding from Iraq and establishing an independent nation. 3.3 million people—73% of the electorate—turned out at the polls. The referendum passed by a whopping 92% of the vote.
The Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East (after Arabs, Persians, and Turks) and the only one out of the four without a state of their own.
The referendum is non-binding and will not lead immediately to independence, but it should give the Kurds considerable leverage to negotiate with Baghdad for their departure.
The bid for Kurdish independence has almost no support among the governments of the world, especially Turkey and Iran, who worry that their own Kurdish populations will get ideas. Other nations, including the United States, oppose Kurdish independence on the grounds that it will be destabilizing. One of the few supporters is Israel, which sees in the Kurdish quest for a homeland a reflection of its own cause.
In a related story, the Turkish and Iraqi armies have begun joint exercises near the Kurdish border.
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Saudi women to be permitted to drive: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—notorious for its restrictions on the freedom of women—announced a historic reversal of policy on Tuesday: starting next June, the gentle sex will be allowed to drive.
Around the kingdom, and around the world, women took to social media to celebrate. Many activists tempered their jubilation with caution: women still have a long way to go in the kingdom. In particular, the “guardianship” system still persists. Under this system, women need permission from their male custodians to travel, marry, start businesses, and many other common activities.
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Palestinian gunmen murders three: On a sadder note, a Palestinian man, identified as 37-year-old Nimer Jamal, shot and killed two Israeli security guards and a border policeman at the gate of the Har Adar Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The Information Office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah Party blamed Israel.
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Egypt arrests seven for displaying rainbow flag: The government of President Abdel Fattah this week continued to pile up its abysmal human rights record. In the latest incident, seven individuals were arrested for “promoting sexual deviancy” after raising the LGBT rainbow flag at a Cairo concert.
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Michael Isenberg writes about the Muslim world, medieval and modern. His forthcoming novel, The Thread of Reason, is a murder mystery that takes place in Baghdad in the year 1092. It depicts the war for the Muslim soul between those who seek to enforce shari’a strictly, persecute Jews and Christians, and stamp out "un-Islamic" science, and those who wink at a few sins, tolerate their non-Muslim neighbors, and write books about science instead of burning them.
Photo credit: BBC/Shaweesh/Gharem Studio
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