Juan Cole

Blagojevich (v.) To sell public office for a profit. (n.). Corruption of a particularly blatant and stupid sort. synonym Venality. President John Adams warned of blagojeviching in his inaugural address: “The existence of such a government as ours for any length of time is a full proof of a general dissemination of knowledge and virtue […]

Pakistani security forces made a sweep in Pakistani Kashmir, arresting two dozen members of front groups for Lashkar-e Tayiba. The offices of the Jama’at al-Da’wa were targeted and among those arrested was “top Lashkar commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.” The US is applauding the rumored strike by the Pakistani military.

The International Council on Security and Development has issued a new report alleging that the Taliban are now active in three quarters of Afghanistan, up from half the country a year ago. They say that three of four major roads in and out of the capital, Kabul, are now insecure. Their criterion is that there […]

Unidentified militants attacked a NATO forward storage center at the ring road (beltway) of the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Sunday morning. They destroyed some 150 trucks loaded with materiel and supplies, including humvees, intended for NATO troops in Afghanistan. Peshawar is the capital of one of four major Pakistani provinces, the North-West Frontier […]

Unidentified militants attacked a NATO forward storage center at the ring road (beltway) of the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Sunday morning. They destroyed some 150 trucks loaded with materiel and supplies, including humvees, intended for NATO troops in Afghanistan. Peshawar is the capital of one of four major Pakistani provinces, the North-West Frontier […]

Andy Worthington writes in a guest op-ed for IC: During the election campaign, one of the sticks with which John McCain’s team attempted to beat Barack Obama was a claim that he was soft on terrorism, or, as Senator McCain’s national security director Randy Scheunemann declared to reporters in June, “Senator Obama is a perfect […]

Andy Worthington writes in a guest op-ed for IC: During the election campaign, one of the sticks with which John McCain’s team attempted to beat Barack Obama was a claim that he was soft on terrorism, or, as Senator McCain’s national security director Randy Scheunemann declared to reporters in June, “Senator Obama is a perfect […]

Barack Obama will put forward retired Gen. Eric Shinseki as Secretary of Veterans Affairs in his cabinet.. WaPo quoted me: ‘Juan Cole, a University of Michigan history professor who writes about the Iraq war and Islam, called Shinseki’s appointment ironic. “If Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and [former undersecretary for defense Douglas J.] Feith had listened to Shinseki, […]

Barack Obama will put forward retired Gen. Eric Shinseki as Secretary of Veterans Affairs in his cabinet.. WaPo quoted me: ‘Juan Cole, a University of Michigan history professor who writes about the Iraq war and Islam, called Shinseki’s appointment ironic. “If Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and [former undersecretary for defense Douglas J.] Feith had listened to Shinseki, […]