This essay by Juan Cole was originally published in Tomdispatch.com. See the original for a perceptive introductory essay by Tom Engelhardt. This spring, the novel coronavirus pandemic has raised the issue of the relationship between the blindest kind of religious faith and rational skepticism — this time in two countries that think of themselves as […]
Did Trump fire State Dept. Inspector to Protect Shady Arms Deal with Saudi Arabia?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The mystery deepens. Late last Friday, Trump summarily fired the State Department Inspector General, Steve Linick. While in US law as it now stands, the president has the power to fire pretty much anyone in the executive, if he fired Linick as an act of retaliation for one of Linick’s […]
Iran et États-Unis: l’ironie d’une curieuse affinité
Introduction par Tom Engelhardt 19 mai 2020. Traaduit de l’américain par Jean Granoux Nous sommes dans un moment religieux étrangement viral. Récemment encore, une Maison Blanche dans laquelle peu de choses, y compris la mort d’Américains, comptent plus que le soutien des évangélicaux, a rejeté les directives initiales préparées par les Centers for Disease Control […]
Top 3 Ways Netanyahu’s New Gov’t in Israel is a Catastrophe Waiting to Happen
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israel’s leaders have finally formed a government, after three elections that left the country in a political quagmire. The new government is a catastrophe in the following ways: 1. It will encourage Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu to continue to dismantle Israeli democracy. He will seek to have the corruption charges […]
Omar Khayyam Day (5/18) in Lockdown: “My Diamond is your Ecstasy”
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Quatrain of the Day For the earliest collection of verse attributed to Omar Khayyam see my just-published The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: A New Translation from the Persian (NB: the poem above isn’t in this collection– there are lots of such anthologies, and Whinfield favored the late Indian manuscripts.) Here […]
Male Face Masks have been the Height of Masculinity for Centuries: Why see Coronavirus Masks as Wimpy?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A recent study of the way Americans are adapting to the coronavirus found that “Men more than women agree that wearing a face covering is shameful, not cool, a sign of weakness, and a stigma”. The study indicated that American men resist wearing face masks more than do women, partly […]
I guess “Islam” doesn’t Hate us After All: Trump pins hopes for Vaccine on Muslim-American Slaoui
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump became president in part by playing on fears, resentments and outright hatred among some segments of the American public, especially of a racial and religious sort. He bashed Mexican-Americans as drug dealers and rapists, and recently blamed Chinese-Americans for the coronavirus. But no group came in for so fierce […]
Dr. Bright to Congress: With 85,000 already Dead, US Gov’t Coronavirus Inaction threatens us with “Darkest Winter in Modern History”
The testimony of Dr. Rick Bright on Thursday was a remarkably low-key affair given the bombshell revelations Ruiz divulged of the paralysis, inaction and frankly stupidity of the Trump administration regarding the looming coronavirus catastrophe back in January and February. We all saw Trump himself say stupid things like that the virus was a hoax […]
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: “All those whose Names are Written in Love’s Book”
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Quatrain of the Day All hearts that shine with passion’s radiance, no matter if they pray in mosque or church– all those whose names are written in love’s book have been set free of hell and paradise. trans. Juan Cole, (Whinfield 60) هر دل که در او نور محبت بسرشت گر […]
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