By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Bad news came out of Syria for Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) on two fronts Friday: Aleppo and, in Syria’s far east, Hasakah. This has been a war with a lot of seesawing, so it is premature to make any decisive pronouncements. But this is an election year, […]
Why Trump’s tiff with the Pope endangers his Political Future
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Billionaire bigot Donald Trump’s tiff with Pope Francis continued on Thursday, though Trump appears to have gotten cold feet about taking on the Pontiff toward the end of yesterday. The reason this dispute is important is that Trump cannot win the presidency with only the backing […]
Syria: 500 Turkey-backed Sunni Arab Fighters Cross to defend Azaz from Kurds
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – This morning, according to the Syria Observatory and the Arabic press some 500 Sunni Arab rebels based in Turkey crossed back into Syria to help defend the town of Azaz from the YPG miitia of Syrian Kurds, which is advancing on the city. They were allowed […]
The Chinese are Coming: First ‘New Silk Road’ Train reaches Iran’s Capital
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In a sign of China’s increasingly powerful role in Central Asia and the Middle East, on Tuesday a Chinese train arrived in Tehran after a 14-day journey. The freight train just used existing rail links to go from China to Kazakhstan, then to Uzbekistan, then Turkmenistan, […]
George W. Bush, who Mirrored & Inflamed Public passions, attacks Trump for It
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – George W. Bush came out of political exile on Monday to be his brother JEB!’s surrogate in attacking Donald Trump. W. allowed as how “These are tough times and I understand Americans are angry and frustrated, but we do not need someone in the Oval Office […]
Could a post-Scalia court restore Campaign Finance Sanity & pull back from Plutocracy?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – There is no guarantee that the successor to the late Justice Antonin Scalia will be a liberal. But only if Cruz wins the presidency can we expect a nominee as hard right as Scalia. In all likelihood, the court has just shifted at least somewhat to […]
Top 5 Scalia Rulings that helped Progressives
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Justice Antonin Scalia died in Texas on Saturday. IC sends condolences to his family. Scalia is widely recognized as having been a brilliant legal thinker and a fine and passionate prose stylist. He was the first Italian-American to serve on the Supreme Court. It is worth […]
Despite Syria Cease Fire, Belligerents Plot military Victory
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Despite the announcement at Munich of a cessation of hostilities in Syria, to be implemented in the next week or so, all the major fighting forces in Syria have announced a determination to soldier on. According to the London pan-Arab daily al-Hayat [Life] , Russian foreign […]
Clinton and Sanders on Mideast War and Kissinger’s Legacy (PBS Debate)
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Both the Middle East conflicts and the ghost of the Vietnam War haunted the PBS Democratic debate Thursday evening. Vietnam was symbolized by Henry Kissinger, former Nixon National Security Adviser (1968-1975) and Secretary of State for Nixon and Gerald Ford (1973-77). In the last Democratic debate, […]
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