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Archives for October 2011

Uncategorized
Is an Iranian Drug Cartel Behind the Assassination Plot against the Saudi Ambassador?

Is an Iranian Drug Cartel Behind the Assassination Plot against the Saudi Ambassador?

Juan Cole

As many observers have pointed out, the story given us by Attorney General Eric Holder about the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, D.C., makes no sense. Veteran CIA operative Bob Baer, now retired, notes that Iranian intelligence is highly professional and works independently or through trusted proxies, and this sloppy […]

Egypt
Why did the Egyptian Military Attack the Copts?

Why did the Egyptian Military Attack the Copts?

Juan Cole

Monday saw clashes yet again between Coptic Christians and Egyptian police, when a crowd of mourners gathered outside a hospital where the bodies of some of the over 30 protesters killed Sunday night are being kept because relatives haven’t yet given permission for them to be sent for autopsies. The protesters threw stones at police. […]

al-Qaeda
Ballen: Terrorism Can’t be Taken out and Shot

Ballen: Terrorism Can’t be Taken out and Shot

Juan Cole

Ken Ballen, author of Terrorists in Love: The Real Lives of Islamic Radicals, writes in a guest column for Informed Comment : The policy of targeted assassinations and drone strikes as the cornerstone of an evolving U.S. counterterrorism policy carries some short-term tactical benefits but little in the way of lasting strategic success. Rather, the […]

Yemen
Tawakul Karman, Yemen mother of 3, among winners of Nobel Peace Prize

Tawakul Karman, Yemen mother of 3, among winners of Nobel Peace Prize

Juan Cole

One of the three women awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year is Tawakul Karman, 32, a Yemeni activist and mother of 3. Aljazeera has an interview with her in English about how she carries on demanding democracy in Yemen in the face of threats to herself and her family. For videos of her leading […]

Uncategorized
Pro-Perry Evangelical Leader says Romney not a Christian, Mormonism a Cult

Pro-Perry Evangelical Leader says Romney not a Christian, Mormonism a Cult

Juan Cole

The evangelical pastor Robert Jeffres, introduced Rick Perry at the Values Voters conference on Friday, He strongly implied in his introduction that evangelicals would have a choice between a non-Christian ‘good man’ and a ‘born-again Christian.’ In later comments he explicitly called Mitt Romney a “non-Christian” and termed Mormonism “a cult.” Perry tried to dissociate […]

al-Qaeda
Palin was Right About those Government Death Panels

Palin was Right About those Government Death Panels

Juan Cole

Well, the death panel has nothing to do with universal health care. But apparently it does exist, sited in the National Security Council. I discussed the assassination of Anwar al-`Awlaqi last Saturday, just trying to reason through the moral, legal and constitutional issues as a layperson. When I got to the end of the posting, […]

Uncategorized
Best of the Web on Widening Wall Street Protests

Best of the Web on Widening Wall Street Protests

Juan Cole

The Occupy Wall Street protests spread Thursday to Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Philadelphia, though these rallies were relatively small compared to the estimated 20,000 who came out in New York on Wednesday. Aljazeera English reports on the Thursday protests, in which some protesters tried to breach the steel barriers police have erected around Wall […]

Uncategorized
Steve Jobs:  Arab-American, Buddhist, Psychedelic Drug User, and Capitalist World-Changer

Steve Jobs: Arab-American, Buddhist, Psychedelic Drug User, and Capitalist World-Changer

Juan Cole

The culture wars kicked off by the 1960s are still with us. Indeed, much of the discourse of contemporary American conservatism can be boiled down to “damn liberal hippies ruined the country and they were wrong about x, y and z.” Fox Cable News and other conservative mouthpieces go to extraordinary lengths to badmouth the […]

Energy
China and Iran, Green Together

China and Iran, Green Together

Juan Cole

China says it is planning joint projects with Iran on solar and wind energy. This news is potentially very important. I once took a 24-hour bus trip through the Great Salt Desert (Dasht-i Kavir) from Tehran to Zahedan, and I guarantee you there is lots of space there for solar panels, and lots of sunlight […]

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