Israel Bombs Gaza back to Stone Age: Razes only Power Plant & Plunges Strip into Darkness
By Juan Cole Israel launched a 7-hour campaign of intensive bombing of Gaza on Tuesday, destroying…
By Juan Cole Israel launched a 7-hour campaign of intensive bombing of Gaza on Tuesday, destroying…
By Juan Cole The United Nations Security Council is theoretically a sort of sovereign in international…
By Juan Cole The United States as a great Power is facing a large number of…
Posted on 12 June 2014 by John Abraham One benefit of working in the climate science arena is that I have the privilege to interact with some of the world’s most talented individuals. I have learned their stories while we have shared hypotheses about…
In a blog post entitled “All Our Patents Are Belong To You”, Elon Musk has once again done something revolutionary; opened Tesla’s patents for use by any other automaker. This guy is the real deal. When’s the last time a billionaire CEO quoted…
No incumbent majority leader had lost a seat in Congress since 1899, when the post was first created. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) broke that streak last night. He’s announced that he’ll step down from leadership within weeks. Cantor’s stunning defeat…
By Chris Edwards, University of East Anglia The economic and political focus is increasingly on the inequality of income and wealth as they both rise in Europe and the US. At a…
Award-winning proposed Aktivhaus apartment tower at Skyline Plaza complex in Frankfurt (skyscrapercity.com) The European residential high-rise boom has a green twist these days. Magnus Kaminiarz & Cie unanimously won this spring’s design award for…
Book review and discussion questions for reading groups In No Place to Hide, Glenn Greenwald shows that a modern investigative reporter doesn’t just need the courage to take on the United States government and established media. He also needs a whole…
Vegas cop killers ‘had pro-gun militia links’ (via AFP) A gun-toting couple possibly linked to anti-government militias killed two US cops execution-style and left a swastika on the bodies, in America’s latest…
By Juan Cole Our capitalist class may be becoming an absolute danger to ordinary Americans. By promoting a doctrine of absolute right to gun ownership (which rather helps gun manufacturers) and at…
They shouted, “This is a revolution!” ABC News: “Deadly Shooting Spree in Las Vegas” Related posts: Fox News asks Rand Paul if Reid is right to “call Americans” “Domestic Terrorists” and: “Top…
By Juan Cole In honor of President Obama’s support for Senator Elizabeth Warren’s bill to address the student debt crisis by offering students with older debt loads lower interest rates [see video…
By Cindy Cohn and Nadia Kayyali Over the past year, as the Snowden revelations have rolled out, the government and its apologists have developed a set of talking points about mass spying…
Despite dire predictions by anti-marijuana activists, overall crime rates in the city of Denver are down more than five months after legal marijuana sales began in the Rocky Mountain state. According to the Denver Department of Public Safety, rates…
The following is an excerpt from Harvey J. Kaye’s The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great (Simon & Schuster, 2014). On June 6, 1984, President Ronald Reagan went to Normandy, France, to speak at events…
Harvard University scientists have confirmed that a 19th century French treatise in its libraries is bound in human skin, Harvard University said this week, after a bevvy of scientific testing. Arsene Houssaye’s “Des destinees de l’ame” (On the destiny…
By Juan Cole That didn’t take long. The Georgia GOP rushed into law an ‘open carry’ provision in April allowing people to tote around guns in bars and churches (apparently these are…
In his new book, Ken Vogel claims that President Barack Obama told Democratic donors he believes he is in a good position to pass a constitutional amendment to repeal Citizens United. The book, entitled “Big Money: 2.5 Billion Dollars, One Suspicious…
By William Espinosa President Obama’s proposal to modestly curb carbon emissions from power plants is – if carried out—a serious one. But opposition was immediate, so is there reason to think anything…
By Juan Cole Media Matters for America put together a collage of Fox Cable News commentators smearing the father of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl as having a Taliban-like beard and maybe even being…
By Jon Queally Both issues show clearly that ‘we have a rigged system, where a handful are able to reap benefits at the cost of everyone else.’ Sharing a stage with French…
By Peter van Buren via Tomdispatch Last year eight Americans — the four Waltons of Walmart fame, the two Koch brothers, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett — made more money than 3.6 million American…
Foreign Policy
Shiite Volunteers: Asset for Iraqi Army or Drawback?
By Daoud al-Ali | Baghdad | niqash | Volunteers on the streets of Baghdad who have responded to the call to defend Iraq. Thousands of Shiites have volunteered to fight Sunni extremists…
Egypt’s Generation Gap over Gen. al-Sisi: Arguing with your Mom
By Amr Kotb This conversation about the political situation in Egypt provides a good example of the generational gap numerous young Egyptians are struggeling with. My mother and I have been arguing…
Can Palestinians ever Get a Break in the American Press?
By: Yazan al-Saadi As tragedy and uninterrupted terror strikes the besieged Palestinian population once more, Western media outlets have been busy producing and presenting articles and television reports on the events taking…
Bring Back our Children: Palestine-Israel Children’s Crusade by the Numbers
By Juan Cole The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian people and the conflict it produces has in the past week taken on a horror-film aspect, as reprisal killings against children and teens…
Top Things you need to know about the next Israeli-Palestinian crisis
By Hugh Lovatt “Destroying Hamas infrastructure and removing its leaders could also lead to de-centralisation” The abduction and killing of three young Israelis has brought to the fore painful memories for Israelis…
How are Iran’s Special Forces intervening in Iraq?
By Golnaz Esfandiari To help Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government battle militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Iran could potentially offer significant assistance through its powerful…
In Midst of Tikrit Campaign, al-Maliki refuses to step Down
By Juan Cole Despite the Iraqi parliament’s failure to reach a quorum on Tuesday, in a clear slap in the face to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other incumbents running for another…
Inside the Mosul of the ‘Islamic State’: Manhunts, Salafi Coercion and Fired Christians
Niqash | Special Correspondent | Mosul | It has been several weeks since Sunni Muslim extremists took over the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Locals continue to adapt to their new circumstances;…
Algerian Soccer/ Football and the Black Box of French History
By Francis Ghilès Senior Research Fellow, CIDOB When Algeria qualified for the knockout stage of the World Cup by winning against Russia, the Algerian press celebrated their team’s qualification as the greatest…
Americans need to Answer: When Will Palestinians get their Fourth of July?
By Juan Cole Americans are commemorating the Fourth of July today, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The grievances that the four million inhabitants of British North America had in 1776…
As Israeli Vigilantes pursue revenge killing of Palestinian Children, Troops Go on Unlawful Rampage
Via Human Rights Watch (Jerusalem) – Israel’s military operations in the West Bank following the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers have amounted to collective punishment. The military operations included unlawful…
As Hundreds of US Troops are Sent to Iraq, Fears of Mission Creep
By Lauren McCauley Lawmakers and anti-war groups raise flags about additional troop deployments and calls for executive "flexibility" As the number of American troops sent to Iraq nearly doubled on Monday and…
Can Tony Blair Mess up Egypt even Worse?
By Juan Cole Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has agreed to advise the government of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Blair maintains that he will not be paid to do so,…
Juan’s Interviews re: “The New Arabs,” Majority Report, The World, Daily Beast
By Juan Cole Today is the anniversary of the overthrow of Muhammad Morsi in Egypt, one year ago. I have a detailed account of this event and of the movement that led…
Israel’s search for missing settlers shines light on depth of the West Bank’s occupation
By: Ola al-Tamimi Ramallah – What does the occupied West Bank look like 47 years into the occupation? The Palestinian state was about to be announced but negotiations failed again. The two…
Syrian Opposition: Baghdadi “Caliphate” lame attempt to take Spotlight off his Crime Spree
By Juan Cole Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s proclamation of himself as “caliph” is rather like the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan declaring himself the Holy Roman emperor. A small criminal/ terrorist…
Ruling Hindu Tea Party wants to “Develop” India for its 1%
By Gyanendra Pandey New Delhi Through the President’s address to Parliament on June 9, 2014, the newly elected Indian Government has officially outlined its short and longer-term agenda. The emphasis, as expected,…
Uneasy Caliphate: Inside Hawija in Iraq
By Shalaw Mohammed | Hawija NIQASH visited Hawija, a large northern Iraqi town near Kirkuk, which is currently controlled by Sunni Muslim extremists and local tribes. The town is dominated by ISIS’…
In the Deaths of 3 Israeli Teens, Likud Policies are also Implicated
By Juan Cole The kidnapping and killing of three Israeli squatter youth whose parents usurped Palestinian land has produced a paroxysm of hatred and calls for reprisals in Israel. Whoever is responsible…
What the Arab Youth Movements have Wrought: Don’t Count them Out Yet
By Juan Cole via Tomdispatch.com Three and a half years ago, the world was riveted by the massive crowds of youths mobilizing in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to demand an end to Egypt’s…