Mosul, from diversity and tolerance to dogmatic fanaticism and ruthless war
Danilo Anton

Mosul is a city in Iraq capital of the province (Governorate) of Nineveh, on the west bank of the Tigris River in a semidesert area, where the river is being used for irrigated agricultural production, particularly through the damming of the fluvial water. The city is also near oil fields of high productivity.
Before the occupation by the ISIS there were about two and a half million people. From the population point of view is the second largest city in Iraq, the most important of the northern region (400 km from Baghdad). Is the heir to the ancient city of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire in the first millennium B.C. whose ruins are on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, now covered by the metropolitan growth of Mosul.
Until recently, only a few decades, Mosul and the surrounding area had an ethnically and religiously diverse population. Arabs, Assyrians, Armenians, Kurds, Turkmen, Yazidis, Shabakis, Mandaeans, kawliyas, Circassians and other ethnic minorities who lived a peaceful coexistence in the city. There were also several religious orientations: Sunni, Salafi, Shi'a, Sufi, Christian Armenians and Assyrians, Yazidis, Shabakites,Yarsanites and Mandaeistes. The once large Jewish community had emigrated (mostly to Israel) from the 1950s due to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Once ISIS arrived, with its policies of persecution and intolerance, in 2014, more than half a million people fled the city, the rest was prisoner of a dogmatic regime, deeply intolerant and cruel.
Now, finally, after many hesitations and diplomatic discussions, a large army is advancing on the city. The invading forces include the Iraqi government, Kurdish peshmerga and other allies, with air support from the US and Western European countries. Surely thecity will finally conquered but not without fighting bloody battles for control of all its neighborhoods. Probably, like Homs and Aleppo in Syria, Mosul will be destroyed, reduced to ruins.
In a few decades, the city where a great diversity of ethnicities, religions and cultures, with varied customs lived in peace, has become a place of dogmatism, perverse intolerance, war and destruction.
More info at daniloanton@blogspot.com and in the book "Tierras de Pocas Lluvias y Mucha Sangre" (order in dantonster@gmail.com).

Intolerance and genocide in the Middle East
D.Antón
In the Middle East Asia there are many cultures, b

eliefs and religions. For various reasons, generally political and economic onrd, a mutual intolerance between different groups has developed and led to discrimination, persecution and even genocide. These religions are generally monotheistic and supposedly tolerant. However they, have resulted in discrimination, ethnic cleansing and even genocides. I take three examples of some cruelly persecuted minority groups in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan: the Yazidis, Assyrians and Hazaras.
The  Yazidis are an ancient religious ethnic community linked to the ancient Mesopotamian religions. They mainly inhabit northern Iraq where where there are more than half a million. Another half million is distributed in Syria, Turkey, Iran, Armenia and several European countries, especially Germany. Although they are ethnically Kurds, the Yazidis are a distinct and independent religious community with their own culture. They live mainly in the province of Nineveh in Iraq although there are some communities in neighbouring countries. The number of Yazidis in their homeland has been declining since the 1990s as a result of persecution and discrimination. Many  have migrated. Yazidis are monotheists, believe in God as creator of the world, which is placed under the care of seven holy beings, the main of which is Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel, which makes both good and evil. Due to having different beliefs other local religious groups reject them and from August 2014, the Yezidis were attacked by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in its campaign to "purify" Iraq and eliminate these "devil worshipers". They killed several thousand Yazidis and kidnapped and enslaved many women. To avoid this cruel genocide many Yazidis had to emigrate from their traditional territories.

The Assyrians or Syriacs, also known as "Chaldeans" are a very ancient Christian ethno-religious group that inhabits northern Iraq, Syria and southeastern Turkey. During World War I they experienced a systematic attack, considered genocide by the Ottoman Empire, suffered the repressive policies of the Islamic revolution in Iran, the authoritarianism of the Baathist regimes in Syria and Iraq and the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. More recently from the 2003 war in Iraq and since 2011 the Syrian Civil War they have faced ethnic and religious persecution at the hands of Islamic extremists. Among the million or more people who have fled Iraq since the US occupation nearly 40% are Assyrian. According to an official report of 2013 it was estimated that only 300,000 Assyrians remained in Iraq.
The Hazaras are an ethnic-religious group that apparently are descendants of the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan who remained in Afghanistan after his withdrawal and mixed with the local population. They inhabit a central mountainous region in the country called Hazarjat of about 50,000 km2. While they have certain traits that show their Mongolian origin speak a dialect (Hazaragi) which is a language related to Farsi (Persian) and practice the Shia version of Islam. Although they were the dominant group before the nineteenth century many were killed in 1893. Currently there are approximately 2.7 million Hazaras representing 9% of the population. After they were displaced from positions of power in the late nineteenth century they began to be discriminated against and occupy the bottom of the social hierarchy in today's Afghanistan. They have remained relatively isolated and their identity has been maintained. They suffer permanent social discrimination, aggression and even physical elimination. Many Hazaras have been killed by the Taliban (Sunni) over the past two decades because of their Shia religious affiliation.