by News Decoder | 21 Apr 2016 | Discovery, Islam, Middle East
By Nelson Graves Beware misconceptions about Islam that can mar Western accounts of society and politics in Muslim-majority nations. That was the advice of Jonathan Lyons, an expert on the Islamic world, in a mini-course for students in News-Decoder’s pilot...
by Rashad Mammadov | 6 Apr 2016 | Asia, Conflict, Indiana University
By Rashad Mammadov Forgotten by most outsiders for the past 22 years, a frozen conflict between two former Soviet states, Azerbaijan and Armenia, flared up unexpectedly last week in the volatile Caucasus. At least 30 military and several civilians lost their lives and...
by News Decoder | 23 Mar 2016 | Uncategorized
Crude oil is arguably the most important traded commodity. Despite efforts to switch to other energy sources, most countries — particularly in the West — still rely heavily on oil to fuel transport, heating and industry. In the past, industrial nations had...
by News Decoder | 21 Mar 2016 | Human Rights, Middle East
By Alistair Lyon A year ago, Saudi Arabia and its allies unleashed a Western-backed military intervention in Yemen’s civil war. It has gone horribly, and predictably, wrong. Twelve months of bombing, backed by a naval blockade and some ground troops, have failed...
by News Decoder | 16 Feb 2016 | Indiana University, Middle East, Syria
Fighting rages in Syria despite international efforts to impose a ceasefire and advance a peace plan. How remote are the prospects for peace in Syria? A hospital destroyed in northern Syria, 15 February 2016 (EPA/Sam Taylor/Médecins Sans Frontières handout) Fighting...