By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – When I trained as a lifeguard they warned us that you have to be very careful how you approach a drowning victim flailing around. They will be so happy to be rescued that they will grab you and pin your arms and freeze up, and then […]
War within War – Iraqi PM: We don’t want to fight Turkey but we’re Ready
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – AFP Arabic reports that Iraqi PM Haydar al-Abadi said Tuesday that “We do not want a war with Turkey, and do not want a confrontation with Turkey, but if a confrontation takes place, we are ready for it.” He added that if Turkey “attacks Iraq, it […]
Hizbullah’s Candidate becomes Lebanese President after Sunni Compromise
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Lebanon finally has a president, Michel Aoun. In accordance with the country’s national pact, he is a Maronite Christian (a Catholic uniate church), and happens to be a former general. The US and Israel won’t be pleased that he is a strong ally of the Shiite […]
Emails and Groping: Our Halloween Election keeps Scaring us to Death
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – All Hallow’s Eve, contracted now to Halloween, became conflated with the Scottish and Irish pagan Samhain, the harvest festival marking the end of autumn and the beginning of winter. It was an in-between time, when the barrier between this world and the next shimmered and let […]
“The Meaning of Peace in the Quran” – Juan Cole @ PBS
Juan Cole | PBS | Religion and Ethics Newsweekly (Video Interview) | – – Via Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, PBS On my new book, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires, coming out October 9 Available for pre-order at Barnes and Noble And Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor And Hachette And Amazon “Juan […]
Another Saudi War Crime in Yemen as 43 Prisoners dead in Airstrike
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Saudi airstrikes targeting a judiciary building in al-Hudayda, a port on the western coast of Yemen under Houthi control, have killed some 43 people and wounded dozens of others, most of them prisoners. The strike on the judiciary building, which had a prison attached, could have […]
Humanitarian Crisis In Mosul as Half of Displaced are Children
By Golnaz Esfandiari | ( RFE/RL ) | – – . . . “There’s no question that, in the worst case, Mosul will represent the single largest, most complex humanitarian crisis in the world in 2016,” United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande said on October 18, hours after an Iraqi-led coalition launched its […]
10 Things Weiner did Worse than Storing H. Clinton Emails on his computer
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – WaPo is reporting that it was the FBI investigation of Anthony Weiner that caused new emails between Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin to come to light, which apparently might include forwarded State Department memos or correspondence related to State. Nothing produces upchuck in the throat like […]
Iraq: Barzani pledges Kurdish forces won’t Enter Mosul
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Masoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (a super-province of Iraq) said Thursday that the KRG paramilitary, the Peshmerga, will not enter Mosul. He also remarked that last week’s Daesh attack on Kirkuk was an attempt to divert attention from the terrorist organization’s failures […]
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