Is Rula Jebreal right about US Media Bias against Palestinians?
By Juan Cole Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal points to the overwhelming bias in US media against…
By Juan Cole Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal points to the overwhelming bias in US media against…
By Juan Cole You always wonder where John Kerry the anti-Vietnam War activist went, who compared…
By Juan Cole For the first time in nearly 2000 years, there are virtually no Christians…
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…
By Juan Cole The United States has been continually at war since October of 2001. In many of the succeeding years, until Dec. 31 2011, The US was at war in both…
John Oliver: “Cable companies are trying to create an unequal playing field for internet speeds, but they’re doing it so boringly that most news outlets aren’t covering it. John Oliver explains the…
By Trevor Timm: The Supreme Court today rejected New York Times reporter James Risen’s appeal of a 4th Circuit decision that ruled the government can compel him to reveal his source under…
By Juan Cole President Obama’s decision to unleash the Environmental Protection Agency on US carbon dioxide emitters is a sea change in environmental policy and is extremely welcome to any who care…
By Rebecca Solnit via Tomdispatch.com It was a key match in the World Cup of Ideas. The teams vied furiously for the ball. The all-star feminist team tried repeatedly to kick it…
Republicans love waging wars, but they sure don’t seem to love America’s soldiers and veterans. Whether they’re getting our soldiers killed in Iraq or cutting their food stamps here at home, here are the 15 top ways the GOP screws those who serve…
By Harold R. Wanless, University of Miami It is amazing for me to see the very aggressive building boom underway in south Florida; on the beaches and barrier islands, throughout downtown and…
The negotiations that led to the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl represent one thing to Republicans: another excuse to attack President Obama. “Trading five senior Taliban leaders from detention in Guantanamo Bay for Berghdal’s release may have consequences…
Matthew Hagee, son of fire and brimstone preacher John Hagee, says don’t believe those climate scientists who say things that are against the Bible, and this against the word of God. What the changes in climate mean is that Jesus is coming. And soon…
Fox News ratings dropped 27% in May, and there were double-digit falls across many of their top shows. The ratings drop is year over year, with a 27% drop in total viewership, but a 25% drop among younger viewers. With the younger viewers, these are…
By Juan Cole As the price of solar panels drops, they increasingly are being spontaneously bought and installed by villagers throughout the world, who are often ill-served, or not served at all,…
Foreign Policy
Barzani: Kurdish Rule To Stay In Kirkuk
Via RFE/RL Iraqi Kurdish leader Masud Barzani has said that there is no going back on autonomous Kurdish rule in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and other northern towns that Kurdish fighters…
The Fate of Dissenters in Al-Sisi’s Egypt: The New “Disappeared”
By Jihad Abaza As Abdel Fattah el-Sissi assumes his new role as Egypt’s president, enforced disappearances are on the rise in the Middle East’s most populous country, according to a recent press…
Baghdad Strikes Back: Al-Maliki Launches Battle for Tikrit
By Juan Cole Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki is fighting for his political life as well as for the territorial integrity of Iraq. On Saturday he launched a large military operation in an…
Iraqi Mosul’s Child Soldiers: ISIS Trickily recruits 10-year-olds
niqash | Special Correspondent | Mosul | Much to the horror of the city’s adults, children and teens in masks, carrying guns, are becoming an increasingly common sight on Mosul’s streets. NIQASH…
Sunni Radicals of ISIS seek showdown with Lebanon’s Hizbullah
By Radwan Mortada The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has decided to instigate a full-scale conflagration in Lebanon. All indications show that the al-Qaeda offshoot is resolved to bring back…
Top 5 Reasons US Aid to “Moderate” Syrian Fighters is Quixotic
The Obama administration’s fruitless search for effective Sunni “moderate” fighters in Syria continues, with the announcement of a $500 million grant to them for training and weaponry. This policy seems in part…
Iraqi Idol: Tikrit Woman who Confronted ISIS Becomes Internet Sensation
By Osama Hassan | Tikrit Sad story: Tikrit woman Umiyia Jibara was killed by an ISIS sniper. In a country currently full of sad tales, the tragic death of a Tikrit women’s…
Dear Neocons: Why we’re not Sending Combat Troops to Iraq no matter how much you Pout
By Scott Corey There are only three things wrong with the idea of sending combat troops to Iraq at this time, as a range of hawks from Bill Kristol to Sen. John…
July 1: Juan’s new Book, “The New Arabs” hits the Shelves
By Juan Cole For those of you who like “long reads,” my new book will be out next Tuesday. For those of you intending to buy it, let me suggest that you…
Is Russia Replacing US in Iraq?
By Juan Cole Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Thursday told BBC Arabic that he was buying used fighter jets from the Russian Federation and from Belorussia. He said it had been…
Is it ISIS? French, Saudi Suicide Bombers Target Beirut
Via al-Akhbar English: A suicide bomber blew himself up as security forces raided his hotel room in Beirut’s Raouche district Wednesday evening, injuring at least 11 people, in the third such blast…
Does an Independent Kurdistan make Sense?
By Mohammed Shareef and Janroj Yilmaz Keles By invading Iraq and mismanaging the aftermath, the United States precipitated Iraq’s collapse as a unified state, but it did not cause it. Erbil aims…
What Drove Iraqi Sunnis to Revolt and ally with ISIS?
By Charles Recknagel via RFE/RL As Sunni insurgents have swept across northern Iraq, they have sought to win support by portraying themselves as the liberators of the country’s Sunni population. One of…
Iraq’s PM al-Maliki Rejects Gov’t of Nat’l Unity as Sunnis Demand he step Down
By Juan Cole Secretary of State John Kerry is an experienced and knowledgeable diplomat, but the difficulty of the situation in the Middle East right now is demonstrated by the repeated reversals…
Obama could “Open” Iran over Iraq: Don’t Let the Hawks Ruin It
By Neil Thompson (Special to Informed Comment) As news arrives that the last of Syria’s of chemical weapons stocks have been removed from the country and talks between the West and Iran…
Iraq Crisis: It’s the Oil, Stupid!
By Michael Schwartz via Tomdispatch Events in Iraq are headline news everywhere, and once again, there is no mention of the issue that underlies much of the violence: control of Iraqi oil.…
Iraq in last Throes as Kurdistan Seeks Independence, Syria & Iran intervene
By Juan Cole Former Vice President and unindicted felon Richard Bruce Cheney (they always give the criminals’ names that way, in full) once said that he was sure that the Sunni Arab…
Egypt Sentences Journalists to 7 Years for Crime of Practicing Journalism
By Aidan White The draconian treatment of three Al Jazeera journalists who have been sent to jail by a Cairo court amidst worldwide condemnation is a sharp reminder to aspiring democrats in…
How WW I, British Greed, and Oil Distorted Modern Iran
By Farhad Malekafzali With one hundredth anniversary of the start of WWI fast approaching, the consequences of the war for Iran deserves attention. When it comes to European role in shaping Middle…
Why you need an EV: Radicalism in Iraq Menaces the World’s most Important Oil Fields
By Juan Cole The virtual collapse of the Iraqi army and its inability to take back any territory from Sunni forces coordinated by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria brings into…