Month

Author: Juan Cole

Burma: New Satellite Images Confirm Mass Destruction of Rohingya

Human Rights Watch | - - 288 Villages, Tens of Thousands of Structures Torched (New York) – Newly released satellite images reveal that at least 288 villages were partially or totally destroyed…

ISIL was ended not by Trump or Obama but by Muslims

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Raqqa, the capital of the ISIL phony "caliphate" in eastern Syria, has completely fallen, according to a spokesman for the US-backed Syrian Democratic…

Trump told widow of slain Sgt., he “knew what he was getting into”

CBS News | (Video Report) | - - "U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson said that she was in the car when President Trump called the widow of Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson,…

No, It Wasn’t Iran: Top 7 Reasons Baghdad took Kirkuk

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Iraqi Army and its Shiite militia adjuncts have taken Kirkuk city and raised the Iraqi flag over the state house, taking down…

In Absence of US Leadership, War Breaks out between Kurds and Baghdad

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The "Voice of Iraq" reports that last night artillery duels broke out between Iraqi army forces and Kurdish Peshmerga paramilitary personnel to the…

Nearly 300 dead in Somalia Terrorist Attack (largely ignored by US TV News)

TeleSur | - - "In our 10-year experience as first responders in Mogadishu, we haven't seen anything like this," the Aamin Ambulance service posted on Twitter. Somali officials say the death toll…

Singer Marc Anthony to Trump: You will be held Accountable for needless American Deaths in Puerto Rico

TeleSur | - - Singer-songwriter, Marc Anthony took to Twitter to decry the U.S. administration's "tone-deaf, idiotic, callous and disrespectful approach" to Puerto Rico. Marc Anthony took to social media to decry…

Under Trump, Gitmo continues to Gnaw away at tattered US Rule of Law

By Karen J. Greenberg | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - Eight years ago, when I wrote a book on the first days of Guantanamo, The Least Worst Place: Guantánamo’s First 100 Days,…

Yes, White Supremacists, some Vikings were Muslims & Thor was Brown

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The archeological identification of stylized Arabic text for God (Allah) and Ali (the prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law) in burial garments of the…

Oklahoma’s Ominous Earthquakes: the Price of Fracking (Video)

AJ+ | (Video News Report) | - - "The earth is shaking in Oklahoma, and it’s far from normal—a recent study by Cornell University and the U.S. Geological Survey has linked the…

Elbaradei: Trump Propaganda on Iran Nuclear Deal like Run-up to Iraq War

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Trump administration (actually UN Ambassador and far right Evangelical Nikki Haley) has decertified Iran from compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of…

Painting of the Day: “The Lovers” (Iran, 1630)

Riza-yi `Abbasi (d. 1635) | ( Metropolitan Museum) | - - The Lovers Artist: Painting by Riza-yi `Abbasi (Persian, ca. 1565–1635) Date: dated A.H. 1039/ A.D. 1630 Geography: Attributed to Iran, Isfahan…

Germany: Immediate Danger of Mideast War if Trump dumps Iran Deal

Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Foreign Minister warns that Europe will take the Russian and Chinese side on the Iran issue against the USA. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel…

Trump wants 10-fold increase in Atom Bombs but is after Iran, which has none

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - As far as I can figure, the US presently has about 6,800 nuclear warheads, though it aims at going down to 4018 once…

Corporations Shouldn’t Get to Have ‘Religious’ Objections to Your Health Care

By Martha Burk | (Otherwords.org) | - - Expanding "corporate citizen" rights into health care could ultimately affect everybody, not just women. When Obamacare — aka, the Affordable Care Act — became…

Yemen Cholera cases heading to 1 Mn. amid Saudi-led War

By Edna Bonhomme | (The Conversation) | - - As of October 1, 771,945 people in Yemen have been infected with cholera and 2,134 have died from the disease. The epidemic, rare…

As Trump & Pruitt unleash Climate Demons, Scientists dream of Atlantic Wind Farm

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The debate over whether Donald Trump or Rex Tillerson has the higher IQ, provoked by a Trump tweet that he now says was…

Trump and the Faustian Bargain of Corker and the GOP

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Republican Establishment doesn't want much in life, just for the wealthy to have ever lower taxes, for polluting industries to have ever…

Gerrymandering is about Race even when it seems just “Partisan”

By Olga Pierce and Kate Rabinowitz | ( ProPublica) | - - The Wisconsin case before the Supreme Court claims to be about partisanship. But race is a factor in this case…

Former US Allies peeling off under Trump: Turkey halts US Visas

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The US and Turkey have ceased processing non-immigrant visas for one another's citizens. That's right. If you're an American and were planning to…