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Juan Cole

Iraq
Lessons from Past Western Incursions in the Middle East

Lessons from Past Western Incursions in the Middle East

Juan Cole

The video of my appearance at the New America Foundation is now online. Many thanks again to kind host Steve Clemons. The short version, covering some of the same points, can be read at Tomdispatch.com, which is carrying my essay on Bonaparte and Bush.

Uncategorized
Rubin on Narcotics in Afghanistan

Rubin on Narcotics in Afghanistan

Juan Cole

At the Global Affairs group blog, Barnett Rubin gives us the second in a series of three posts on the effort to confront narcotics production and trafficking coming out of Afghanistan. It is an issue intimately tied up, potentially, with counter-terrorism efforts, but is often neglected by analysts. Rubin is among our foremost Afghanistan experts.

Iraq
Surge in Deaths 85 percent in US custody Are Sunni Arabs

Surge in Deaths 85 percent in US custody Are Sunni Arabs

Juan Cole

The Bush administration talking points on the Iraq War are that the troop escalation has reduced violence and made Iraq safer for Iraqis, that the major threat in Iraq is self-avowed al-Qaeda devotees, and that Iran and the Shiites are just as deadly a threat as the Sunni Arab guerrillas. The facts? The Associated Press […]

Uncategorized
Cole on Air America with Sam Seder, Sunday

Cole on Air America with Sam Seder, Sunday

Juan Cole

Catch my interview at Air America with Sam Seder on Sunday, August 26 at 6 pm, regarding my new book, Napoleon’s Egypt: Invading the Middle East.

Iraq
Troops on Ground tune out "Happy Talk" from Bush

Troops on Ground tune out "Happy Talk" from Bush

Juan Cole

Tina Susman of the LAT finds that the privates and specialists among US troops in Iraq are dismissive of the ‘happy talk’ they hear from Bush and some of their commanders about the way the war is going. They see the realities on the ground, they lose friends to roadside bombings, they see evidence that […]

Pakistan
Ahmed on Sharif Decision, Pakistan

Ahmed on Sharif Decision, Pakistan

Juan Cole

Don’t miss Manan Ahmed’s important comment at our Global Affairs group blog on Pakistan’s Supreme Court decision that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif may return to Pakistan. See also Sameer Lalwani’s comments at the Washington Note on the same issue.

Uncategorized
C-Span covers Cole at New America Foundation

C-Span covers Cole at New America Foundation

Juan Cole

This talk will be broadcast on C-Span at some later date, but will be available later on Friday at the web site of the New America Foundation. New America Foundation Juan Cole: Lessons from Past Western Incursions in the Middle East Friday, August 24, 200712:15 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. New America Foundation1630 Connecticut Ave, NW, […]

Iraq
Iranian Troops Come into Kurdistan

Iranian Troops Come into Kurdistan

Juan Cole

Iranian troops came into the Iraqi territory of Kurdistan, seeking revenge on the PEJAK faction of Kurds that has launched terror attacks on Iranian soil. Senator John Warner called Thursday for Bush to take out 5,000 US troops from Iraq before Christmas Day. Although Warner protrayed the move as symbolic,, insofar as it would signal […]

Uncategorized
OSC Press Roundup Maliki visit to Syria

OSC Press Roundup Maliki visit to Syria

Juan Cole

The USG Open Source Center rounds up Iraqi media reaction to the visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to Damascus. Iraq-Syria: Media, Officials Call Al-Maliki Visit ‘Success’ Despite Differences Iraq, Syria — OSC Report Friday, August 24, 2007 Document Type: OSC Report Word Count: 749 Iraq-Syria: Media, Officials Call Al-Maliki’s Visit ‘Successful’ Despite Differences […]

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