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 June 2014

Iraq
Iraq: 450,000 have fled al-Anbar as Gov't Deploys Militias against al-Qaeda

Iraq: 450,000 have fled al-Anbar as Gov’t Deploys Militias against al-Qaeda

contributors

Euronews reports: “Security slips further in Iraq as car bombs hit Baghdad” Ahmad Hadi gives the background at Niqash.org Members of an extremist Shiite Muslim militia have been recruited to fight Sunni Muslim rebels and militias in Iraq’s Anbar province. But for some Baghdad-based fighters the battle is taking place too close to home: They’re […]

Barack Obama
Student Debt: Blame Law-Makers, Tax-Shirking Rich, War on Drugs, not Universities

Student Debt: Blame Law-Makers, Tax-Shirking Rich, War on Drugs, not Universities

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole In honor of President Obama’s support for Senator Elizabeth Warren’s bill to address the student debt crisis by offering students with older debt loads lower interest rates [see video below], I’m reprinting this golden oldie. The statistics in it have only gotten worse from a social point of view in the past […]

Afghanistan
Dear Sen. McCain:  No, the Taliban Prisoners didn’t Carry out 9/11; but you Supported Muslim Radicals

Dear Sen. McCain: No, the Taliban Prisoners didn’t Carry out 9/11; but you Supported Muslim Radicals

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Sen. John McCain on Sunday maintained that President Obama, in releasing the five officials who had served in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in the 1990s and until 2001, had released people who were “hard core al-Qaeda who were responsible for 9/11.” I am shocked and dismayed that the knowledgeable Sen. McCain […]

Constitution
5 Falsehoods Defenders of NSA keep Repeating that Destroy their Credibility

5 Falsehoods Defenders of NSA keep Repeating that Destroy their Credibility

Juan Cole

By Cindy Cohn and Nadia Kayyali Over the past year, as the Snowden revelations have rolled out, the government and its apologists have developed a set of talking points about mass spying that the public has now heard over and over again. From the President, to Hilary Clinton to Rep. Mike Rogers, Sen. Dianne Feinstein […]

Economy
Despite dire predictions, Denver crime falls over 10 percent in wake of pot legalization

Despite dire predictions, Denver crime falls over 10 percent in wake of pot legalization

Juan Cole

Despite dire predictions by anti-marijuana activists, overall crime rates in the city of Denver are down more than five months after legal marijuana sales began in the Rocky Mountain state. According to the Denver Department of Public Safety, rates…

Apartheid
Prelude to Ethnic Cleansing?  Israel Plans 3200 more Squatter homes on Palestinian Land

Prelude to Ethnic Cleansing? Israel Plans 3200 more Squatter homes on Palestinian Land

Juan Cole

Israel huge new settlement push raises Palestinian ire (via AFP) Israel unveiled plans for 3,200 settler homes Thursday in retaliation for the formation of a Palestinian unity government backed by Hamas and the international community, raising the Palestinians’ ire. Tenders for nearly 1,500 new settlement houses…   ——- Related Video: Press TV: “Israel announces 1500 […]

Arab Spring
Egypt, Syria, Libya . . . . What is the Appeal of Phoney Elections in the Middle East?

Egypt, Syria, Libya . . . . What is the Appeal of Phoney Elections in the Middle East?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The world has been treated to a whole series of “elections” in the Middle East recently. Iraq had parliamentary elections, Libya’s parliament voted for a new prime minister, and Egypt and Syria had presidential elections. This summer, Turkey will have elections. It would be nice if all these elections signaled a turn […]

Christians
How Reagan subverted the meaning of D-Day & the New Deal of the Greatest Generation

How Reagan subverted the meaning of D-Day & the New Deal of the Greatest Generation

Juan Cole

The following is an excerpt from Harvey J. Kaye’s The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great (Simon & Schuster, 2014). On June 6, 1984, President Ronald Reagan went to Normandy, France, to speak at events…

Books
Harvard confirms antique book is bound in human skin

Harvard confirms antique book is bound in human skin

Juan Cole

Harvard University scientists have confirmed that a 19th century French treatise in its libraries is bound in human skin, Harvard University said this week, after a bevvy of scientific testing. Arsene Houssaye’s “Des destinees de l’ame” (On the destiny…

  • « Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • …
  • Page 11
  • Page 12
  • Page 13
  • Page 14
  • Page 15
  • …
  • Page 17
  • 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

  • American Psycho: Trump's Delusional Crusade Transforms America into a Pariah State
  • Antisemitism Awareness Act – Protecting Jews from What?
  • When Politics Leaves Reality Behind
  • The Real Evil Empire May Surprise You
  • The Obscenity of Collective Punishment in Gaza

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