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Archives for May 2010

Afghanistan
Suspect Arrested in Times Square Bomb Plot; Afghan anger at NATO Grows

Suspect Arrested in Times Square Bomb Plot; Afghan anger at NATO Grows

Juan Cole

As US authorities arrested Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-American recently returned from Peshawar, on suspicion of ties to the Pakistani Taliban and involvement in the Times Square bomb plot, bad news is coming from Afghanistan itself. Pashtuns in the affected areas appear to be angry at the US invasion of Marjah this winter and convinced that […]

al-Qaeda
From Waziristan to New York

From Waziristan to New York

Juan Cole

It is a measure of the inter-connected character of our globalized world that the security of New York may be tied to events in distant, rugged and mysterious South Waziristan, Pakistan– a remote area even most Pakistanis know little about. And, US security may depend more on school-building and improving lives in South Waziristan than […]

Energy
I want My Country back from Big Oil

I want My Country back from Big Oil

Juan Cole

I want my country back. I want back the country of Teddy Roosevelt, who cared about our natural environment. I want back the country of Harry Truman, who wasn’t afraid to give em hell. I don’t want an administration that authorizes offshore drilling to make political deals with the most despicable forces in American society. […]

Uncategorized
Can “Proximity Talks” Avert Boycotts of Apartheid Israel?

Can “Proximity Talks” Avert Boycotts of Apartheid Israel?

Juan Cole

President Obama threatened that he would take over the Israel-Palestine peace process himself, along with European allies, and recognize a Palestinian state, if Israeli-Palestinian negotiations had not begun by September 1. Despite the howls of outrage from the far right Israeli government and its American acolytes, the threat seems to have worked. The Israelis have […]

Islam
Veiling ban in Belgium:  It is all about the State

Veiling ban in Belgium: It is all about the State

Juan Cole

The bill proposing a ban on the niqab or the kind of Muslim veil that covers the entire face, passed by the lower house of the Belgian parliament, is not really about religion, crime or even immigration. It is about the primacy of state interests over individual preference. James Scott in his Seeing like a […]

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