Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Archives for October 2013

Iran
Netanyahu and Iranian Jeans:  Ironies of Modernity and Tradition

Netanyahu and Iranian Jeans: Ironies of Modernity and Tradition

Juan Cole

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu provoked a lot of mocking humor by saying in an interview for BBC Persian that “if Iranians were free they would wear blue jeans, and listen to Western music.” Iranian youth were surprised and annoyed by the ignorant comment, and responded by posting to the web photos of themselves wearing […]

Environment
Stop it Now!   Keystone XL will Bring Us the Dirtiest Oil on the Planet (Giesen)

Stop it Now! Keystone XL will Bring Us the Dirtiest Oil on the Planet (Giesen)

Juan Cole

Tom Giesen writes in a guest column for Informed Comment The US already imports over 2.5 million barrels of Canadian oil each day. Much of it is tar sands oil. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline in the US for tar sands oil is a huge and irreversible mistake. Tar sands processes have contaminated huge quantities […]

Egypt
Day of Division in Middle East: Bloody Clashes in Egypt, Iraq

Day of Division in Middle East: Bloody Clashes in Egypt, Iraq

Juan Cole

Sunday was another bloody day in the Middle East. In Egypt, the establishment commemorated the success of the Egyptian army 40 years ago in crossing the Suez Canal and taking back most of the Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian territory occupied by Israel in 1967. But the commemorations, which were lively and joyous in Tahrir Square and […]

Energy
The Great Solar Car Race begins in Australia: Can it save Humankind?

The Great Solar Car Race begins in Australia: Can it save Humankind?

Juan Cole

On Sunday, the every-other-year great solar car race (the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge) began in Australia, as vehicles powered by sunlight competed to get from Darwin to Adelaide (3000 km/ 1800 miles) as quickly as possible. An electric car with the right range and speed is crucial to solving the problem of climate change, since […]

Uncategorized
Cole on Middle East Crises (Chuck Mertz interview)

Cole on Middle East Crises (Chuck Mertz interview)

Juan Cole

Here is the interview Chuck Mertz did with me for Saturday’s episode of his long-running dissident show, “This is Hell, ” covering the situation in the Middle East. Episode 769: Enemies Forgotten and … 5 hours ago Episode 769: Enemies Forgotten and … 5 hours ago Juan Cole: “I don’t understand why the Secretary of […]

US politics
Shutdown Anthem:  Boehner & Bachmann “We Can’t Stop” (SNL Miley Cyrus spoof video)

Shutdown Anthem: Boehner & Bachmann “We Can’t Stop” (SNL Miley Cyrus spoof video)

Juan Cole

Miley Cyrus and Taran Killam on Saturday Night Live this weekend as Michele Bachmann and John Boehner in a spoof of the government shutdown to the tune of Cyrus’s summer hit “We can’t Stop” (2013): Warning: the behavior spoofed in this video is often shocking and offensive.

Iran
Iran’s Leader “Optimistic” about Rowhani’s US Diplomacy, but Skeptical of Washington, Israel

Iran’s Leader “Optimistic” about Rowhani’s US Diplomacy, but Skeptical of Washington, Israel

Juan Cole

Iran’s supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, spoke on Saturday to cadets at a military school, and in the course of his speech he referred to the new round of diplomacy with the United States initiated by President Hassan Rouhani with the United States. Khamenei was largely supportive of Rouhani’s initiative, saying “we approve and support […]

Environment
Oceans turning Acid, Lifeless faster than any time in 300 million Years from Human CO2 Emissions (Queally)

Oceans turning Acid, Lifeless faster than any time in 300 million Years from Human CO2 Emissions (Queally)

Juan Cole

Jon Queally writes at Commondreams: The latest audit by an international team of marine scientists at the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) found that the world's oceans and marine life are facing an unprecedented threat by combination of industrial pollution, human-driven global warming and climate change, and continued and rampant overfishing. […]

Egypt
Top Ten Signs Solar Energy is rapidly Winning

Top Ten Signs Solar Energy is rapidly Winning

Juan Cole

The recent UN report on climate change points out that the world does not have much time to switch to renewables if it is to avoid catastrophes stemming from global warming. Climate change is being driven by human beings burning coal, gas and petroleum, and we need to stop doing that ASAP. The most plausible […]

  • « Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • …
  • Page 4
  • Page 5
  • Page 6
  • Page 7
  • Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Israel's Netanyahu banks on TACO Trump as he Launches War on Iran to disrupt Negotiations
  • Iran's Hypersonic Missiles Hit Israeli Refinery, Military Sites, as Israel does the same to Tehran
  • A Pariah State? Western Nations Sanction Israeli Cabinet Members
  • Israel: Will Ultra-Orthodox Jews' Opposition to Conscription Bring down Netanyahu's Gov't
  • Will Iran reply to Israeli Attacks with "War of Attrition?" Will its Nuclear Red Line Hold?

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved