A new poll shows that 81% of Turks favor invading northern Iraq, up from 46% in July. ‘ The number of people saying Turkey should conduct a cross-border military operation against militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) stood at 81 percent, up sharply from 46 percent in the last poll in July.’ . […]
Cole on Academic Freedom
The Monreal Mirror carries an interview with me by Samer Elatrash, in honor of the holding of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Conference in Montreal. MESA has over 2700 members among teachers and researchers at colleges and universities, mainly in North America. Elatrash writes: ‘ . . . The biggest problem facing Middle East […]
The Democratic Debate seen from San Francisco, Boston and Des Moines
Everyone reads the NYT and WaPo, so I thought it might be interesting to see how some other newspapers covered the Democratic debate. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Carla Marinucci awards the Las Vegas debate to Hillary Clinton. Clinton had to come back from her poor performance in Philadelphia. So in that sense she won if […]
OSC: Russia Seeks Political, Economic Dividends from Syria Ties
The USG Open Source Center analyzes Russia’s renewed ties of patronage with Syria. The analysts look at arms sales, energy deals and port access for the Russian navy, among other dimensions of the relationship, and also trace the ways in which Russia has attempted to defend Syria in international forums. ‘OSC Analysis 15 Nov: Russia […]
3 US Soldiers Killed Blackwater Blues Dems Try Again to Bring Troops Home
An FBI investigation has found that the Blackwater Security guards who killed 17 Iraqis in mid-September had broken laws and regulations on the use of deadly force in 14 of the shootings. Fred McKay argues that Blackwater combines the two constituencies of Bush’s wing of the Republican Party, the privatization of Everything and Christian fundamentalism. […]
Jama’at Demands Restoration of the Pakistani Judiciary
The USG Open Source Center translates an interview given by the leader of Pakistan’s oldest and largest Muslim fundamentalist party, the Jama’at-i Islami [Islamic Society], Qazi Husain Ahmad. The Jama’at had been willing to be part of the government since 2002, and [the coalition to which it belongs] had held about a fifth of the […]
Sunni Party Joins Call for New Elections in Iraq
Turkish aircraft struck at targets inside Iraqi Kurdistan on Tuesday, seeking to inflict damage on the Kurdish Worker Party guerrillas who have crossed over into Iraq in search of safe haven. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars (mostly the Iraq War) have cost the US taxpayer $1.8 trillion, twice what Bush has alleged. Al-Hayat reports in […]
Like, Bad Vibes, Man, in Pakistan: Musharraf; Bhutto: Musharraf must Go
The Pakistani public is generally outraged at the repressive measures implemented by Gen. Musharraf, which now include forbidding the importation of satellite dishes to Pakistan. Musharraf seems to think he is dealing with Uzbekistan or something; Pakistanis are far more sophisticated than that, and Lahore can always get Indian t.v. stations– and the word spreads […]
US Drawdown Begins Sadrists call for New Parliamentary Elections
The US military has begun to reverse last year’s troop escalation, which brought the number of combat brigades in Iraq up to 20. It is now going back down to 19, and will stand at 15 in July of 2008 if things go according to plan. That is, the number of US troops in Iraq […]
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