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Archives for July 2012

Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyam (170) “For a hand … which always grips a wine glass”

Omar Khayyam (170) “For a hand … which always grips a wine glass”

Juan Cole

For a hand like mine,  which always grips a wine glass, it would be a shame  to put scripture or a rosary in it. You’re a dry ascetic,  and I’m a soused rascal,  but don’t worry– I’m too well watered to burn in hell. Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 170

Uncategorized
Dear ExxonMobil: This is What Global Warming Looks like

Dear ExxonMobil: This is What Global Warming Looks like

Juan Cole

This summer is what global warming looks like: Increased average temperatures, forest fires, extreme weather episodes. Climate change is gradual and a matter of averages. Different parts of the globe will be affected differently. We could have a cold wet summer along the way. But on average, the summer of 2012 is what climate change […]

Uncategorized
Syria Spirals down

Syria Spirals down

Juan Cole

The news out of Syria is bad and worse. The regime is being accused of widespread torture, and it is having to fight the rebels on the doorstep of the capital. Human Rights Watch has mapped out the torture centers used by the Syrian government and identified the various techniques used on dissidents by the […]

Uncategorized
On Dogmatism (Ambrose Bierce Poster)

On Dogmatism (Ambrose Bierce Poster)

Juan Cole

Uncategorized
Aphorisms:  Outrage

Aphorisms: Outrage

Juan Cole

When you see some politicians reacting with outrage to a new law, ask yourself which firms face a loss of profits from it.

Israel/ Palestine
Hajizadeh: If Israel attacks Iran, it will be Destroyed

Hajizadeh: If Israel attacks Iran, it will be Destroyed

Juan Cole

On Sunday, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Aerospace Force gave a speech about Iran’s ballistic missile capability. At the very end of it, he said that if Israel attacked Iran (as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have repeatedly threatened to do), Iran would […]

Uncategorized
Flow Chart of Authority in Today’s Egypt (!!!)

Flow Chart of Authority in Today’s Egypt (!!!)

Juan Cole

Egypt
Top Five Things Morsi has to Do if Egypt is to Succeed

Top Five Things Morsi has to Do if Egypt is to Succeed

Juan Cole

For understandable reasons, analysis of the political changes in Egypt has focused on personalities (new president Muhammad Morsi is not charismatic); on ideology (how far can he depart from his sectarian commitments as a hard line Muslim fundamentalist truly to be president of all Egyptians?); and on military-civilian relations. But those questions are not the […]

Iraq
Cole’s Opposition to Iraq War in January, 2003

Cole’s Opposition to Iraq War in January, 2003

Juan Cole

The Neocons, masters of disinformation, keep trying to put it about (and it is in the current Wikipedia article on me) that I somehow was initially supportive of the idea of going to war with Iraq. I was not. I thought it was a horrible idea and would end badly. Basically my position was the […]

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