In Quentin Tarantino’s camp noir classic, Pulp Fiction, the Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames characters have an altercation and one chases the other into a pawn shop, the proprietor of which is a Maynard who has a friend Zed. They capture Marsellus (Rhames) and have their way with him as a man in a bondage […]
Archives for November 2010
Arabs Urged US to Launch Attack on Iran, but Talk is Cheap: Cole in the Guardian
My essay on the implications of the wikileaks revelations about Sunni Arab states urging the US to launch a surgical strike on Iranian nuclear facilities is up at The Guardian. (Scroll down). Excerpt: ” The WikiLeaks revelation that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia repeatedly urged Washington to “cut off the head of the snake” and […]
Wikileaks on Israel, Iraq and the Iranian Specter
A 2007 cable from then US ambassador to Israel to Secretary of State Condi Rice shows a) that the Israeli leadership did not want the US to withdraw from Iraq and b) that Israeli politicians think that even if Iran never used a nuclear weapon, just for it to have one would doom Israel. Since […]
Wikileaks Gates: No Iranian Help to Taliban
What they tell us: In summer of 2009, it was revealed that Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair informed the US Congress that, according to Marcus Baram at HuffPo, “Iran is covertly supplying arms to Afghan insurgents while publicly posing as supportive of the Afghan government.” That includes the provision of small arms, mines, rocket-propelled […]
Blair, Hitchens Debate Religion
Here is the transcript of the debate between Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens on the motion, “Be it resolved, religion is a force for good in the world”. It is being said that after-event polling suggests that Mr. Hitchens demolished Mr. Blair with the audience attending. The form of the proposition was unfortunate, since it […]
Political Cartoon: Obama’s Stitches
President Obama received 12 stitches for a busted lip after being elbowed on the basketball court Friday. In other news, the Pentagon has been dressing up the Afghanistan debacle as best they can. © Juan Cole. May be used with a link back.
149 Alleged Terrorists arrested in Saudi Arabia
Authorities in Saudi Arabia, according to Al-Sharq al-Awsat writing in Arabic, have arrested 149 persons organized in 19 cells on charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism. The cells were operating independently of one another. Among their alleged targets were Saudi government buildings and military installations. Aljazeera Arabic is reporting that some intended to hit petroleum […]
Iran Must Free Josh and Shane Now
CNN has a report on the situation of two American hikers kidnapped by Iran, who are being held on false charges of crossing the Iranian border (they were on the side of Iraqi Kurdistan). The Iranian judiciary has postponed the trial until February 18, 2011. Sarah Shourd, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer were kidnapped by […]
Swanson: “‘Freedom Watch’ Threw a War and Nobody Came”
David Swanson writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: The Neoconservatives, despite wandering in the wilderness after their Iraq debacle, are trying to keep the dream of serial wars in the Middle East alive. Freedom Watch and the Foundation for Democracy in Iran sponsored a National Press Club event on November 17, in which […]
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