By Juan Cole |. (Informed Comment) | – – Trump has been tweeting again, this time about his unlimited ability to pardon people according to the Constitution. That part is correct. He seems to be talking about pardoning himself, though, which the Constitution does not allow him to do. Also, what is he guilty about […]
How our Intel Agencies Screwed us by Letting Sessions, Trumpies get away with Russia Scheme
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller at WaPo report from a US intelligence source that former Russian ambassador to the US, Sergei Kislyak, told Moscow that he had discussed campaign-related matters with Jeff Sessions twice in the summer of 2016. This revelation directly contradicts Sessions’ […]
Top 4 Lessons Trump can Learn from Napoleon in Russia
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump’s New York Times interview can only be understood, to the extent that it can be understood, as the ramblings of someone suffering from delusions of grandeur. It is rambling, full of non sequiturs, and of bizarre allegations. Trump said that he regretted appointing Jeff Sessions […]
Empire of Destruction: Mosul reveals Myth of Precision Bombing
By Tom Engelhardt | (Via Tomdispatch.com ) | – – You remember. It was supposed to be twenty-first-century war, American-style: precise beyond imagining; smart bombs; drones capable of taking out a carefully identified and tracked human being just about anywhere on Earth; special operations raids so pinpoint-accurate that they would represent a triumph of modern […]
Trump hands Putin gift, cancels Support for Syrian Rebels
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Greg Jaffe and Adam Entous at WaPo report that Trump cancelled the CIA program to support the remnants of the Free Syrian Army a month ago. The decision was made in a meeting of Trump with CIA director Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser H. R. […]
Saudi, slamming Qatar for Extremism, arrests Model for wearing Skirt in Public
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The intrepid Yaroslav Trofimov of WSJ said it all: Good luck to the Saudi PR campaign about how Qatar is the source of religious extremism in the Middle East. https://t.co/cgGW7ytMiu — Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) July 18, 2017 Saudi Arabia is leading a propaganda campaign falsely accusing […]
Unpopular: Trump’s low Polls one reason for Healthcare Defeat
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – For now, the second GOP attempt to replace Obamacare with Trumpcare has failed, with two more senators defecting (one saying the bill does not go far enough in getting rid of Obamacare.) There are lots of reasons for the failure of Trumpcare 2.0. A big one […]
Did UAE plant Fake News about Qatar to Fool Trump?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The intrepid Karen DeYoung and Ellen Nakashima report at WaPo that anonymous US intelligence officials have decided to go public with what they know about the attempt of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to frame Qatar. The hacking attack on May 23 that planted fake news, […]
Turkey: Erdogan Marks Coup anniversary with more Crackdowns
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey commemorated on Saturday the anniversary of the failed coup in that country. The coup attempt was genuinely unpopular. Erdogan blames it on the Gulen movement, a shadowy cult-like organization that for years was allied with Erdogan. But in the aftermath, Erdogan […]
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