By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, 30, the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia laid out his vision for Saudi Arabia on Monday in a plan called “Vision 2030.” He wants to get Saudi Arabia off its oil dependence in only 4 years, by 2020, and wants to […]
ISIL Endgame: Obama to send 250 more US Troops into Syria
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – President Obama is announcing Monday morning in Hanover, Germany, that he will send another 250 US troops, likely mostly special operations, into Syria, bringing the total to 300. The 50 troops already there are embedded with the YPG or People’s Defense Units of the leftist Democratic […]
US finally acknowledging al-Qaeda factor in breakdown of Ceasefire
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – One of the frustrations of following the Syria conflict from the Arabic press is that when you then turn to the English language accounts, they tend to play down the importance of al-Qaeda or the Support Front (al-Jabha al-Nusra). In American parlance, there have just been […]
Caravan Schools and educating Syrian Refugee Children
By Samantha Schmidt | ( Yes | – – In response to overcrowded public schools in countries neighboring Syria, caravan schools provide refugees with free education to keep them from falling behind. ZAATARI, Jordan – In a tiny classroom in a metal trailer, the 11-year-old Syrian refugee writes his name on the chalkboard, practicing the […]
After Paris COP21: Top 6 Green Energy good News Stories Today
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – World leaders signed the COP21 Paris climate accord on Friday, Earth Day. Whether it will be meaningful in stopping carbon dioxide emissions and emissions of other dangerous greenhouse gases that are warming our planet remains to be seen. But there is some good news on the […]
Prince’s Islamophilia as a Problem: “It’s fun to be in Islamic Countries”
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – in a 2011 interview in The Guardian, the late musician Prince said something that surprised his interviewer, Dorian Linskey: “It’s fun being in Islamic countries, to know there’s only one religion. There’s order. You wear a burqa. There’s no choice. People are happy with that.” Mr. […]
Top 7 ways Harriet Tubman is the most Badass Spy & Warrior ever to grace US Currency
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Despite US schools’ tendency to give students several years of American history, over and over again, most of us probably have only a foggy idea who Harriet Tubman, chosen to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, was. That she was an abolitionist and helped out […]
What GOP New Yorkers just voted for: Torture, Syria Intervention, murder of innocents
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In the wake of his big win in New York, I want to push back once more against the normalization of Trump as a legitimate presidential candidate, given his policy positions. Let us remember what the Republicans of New York voted for (there are hardly any […]
6 Policies Obama wants Saudi Arabia to Change
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – After his critical comments in an interview in The Atlantic last month, Barack Obama’s visit to Saudi Arabia is going to be awkward, as DPA rightly says. The president accused the Gulf states of always trying to push the US into war for the accomplishment of […]
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