Juan Cole

Falwell on Muhammad Jerry Falwell’s absurd charge on CBS’s Sixty Minutes on Oct. 6 that the Prophet Muhammad was a terrorist was leaked late last week and has attracted some reaction in the Gulf region and farther afield. According to Agence France Presse, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi responded by saying, “This insult of the […]

The Real Reasons for the Iraq War Jay Bookman of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (9/29/02) argued that the Iraq war is actually aimed at securing an empire for the United States, and that the other reasons given are a cover: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/sunday/issue_d369495ba6c610e900c3.html I agree with Bookman that the reasons the Bush administration has been giving for going […]

Iraqi Shiites [Question:] >In an op-ed in NYT today Frank Smyth says the great majority of Iraqi >Shi’is are Akhbaris, and hence do not follow the clerical leadership >characteristic of the rival school, dominant in Iran, the Usulis. >(Akhbaris believe in the ability of all believers to interpret the >Traditions, akhbar, of the Imams, while […]

More on Pakistani Elections There is increasing speculation in the Pakistani press that of the 272 seats in the Pakistani parliament, nearly half (around 120) will go to the Muslim League (QA), led by Mian Azhar. This wing of the Muslim League represents itself as hearkening back to the secular principles of Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad […]

History News Network 9-30-02: Culture Watch The Misuses of Anti-Semitism By Juan Cole Mr. Cole is professor of Middle Eastern and South Asian History at the University of Michigan and author of Sacred Space and Holy War (I.B. Tauris, 2002). His website is: www.juancole.com. Harvard President Lawrence Summers has equated favoring university divestment from Israeli […]

1) Yemen has arrested four French nationals of Arab origin in a town 400 kilometers south of the capital of Sanaa on suspicion of having links to al-Qaeda. French officials say the 4 were studying at an Islamic Institute. French Muslim fundamentalists, especially those connected to the radical Armed Islamic Group, have been an important […]

There has been fighting south of Mazar-i Sharif in Samangan province between commanders loyal to Uzbek leader Abdul Rashid Dostam and others loyal to Tajik warlord Ustad Atta Muhammad. 17 were killed late last week in the clashes. On Friday a powerful bomb destroyed 4 video shops in Gardez, in Eastern Afghanistan, but no one […]

It is reported in Asharq al-Awsat that Copenhagen’s more prominent Jewish notables called for and organized a demonstration on Saturday September 28 against against the policies of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. They were careful to say that this demonstration was not against the state of Israel, but against government policies of brutality against Palestinians, which […]

EAST GERMANY’S SPY FILES: COMPETING ISSUES OF PRIVACY AND OPENNESS Thought for the day: “Neighbours spied on the people living next door and there were instances of one spouse spying on the other, Dr Alexander Dix, Brandenburg’s Commissioner for Data Protection and the first in Germany with responsibility for access to information, told the International […]