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 […]
Top 7 Reasons Israel must give back the Occupied Golan to Syria
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The far right wing regime of Binyamin Netanyahu pulled the stunt of holding its first cabinet meeting in the Occupied Golan Heights on Sunday, and Netanyahu engaged in some grandstanding, declaring that Israel will never relinquish this patch of Syria. Israeli propaganda maintains that Israel is […]
Arab-Americans, including ‘Watan’ Newspaper, Endorse Bernie Sanders
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Many Arab-Americans want the Jewish candidate to be president. The prominent Arabic-language newspaper for that community in Southern California, Watan (“A Nation”), has endorsed Bernie Sanders. This outcome is not as strange as it might appear. Arab-Americans (who include Christians and Muslims) had been split between […]
Saadi on Impatient Love (Poem of the Day)
By Muslih al-Din “Saadi” Mushrif ibn Abdullah Shirazi | Trans. Reynold A. Nicholson | – – The heart that loves with patience — a stone ’tis, not a heart; Nay, love and patience dwell of old a thousand leagues apart. O brethren of the mystic path, leave blame and me alone! Repentance in the way […]
Thousands protest Gov’t in Egypt over Saudi Hegemony
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Thousands of Egyptians came into the streets Friday in the first major demonstrations in 2 and a half years, to protest the bestowal of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir on Saudi Arabia. Many Egyptians believe that the islands belong to Egypt, and it is unconstitutional […]
The Bernie Sanders Miracle: American Crowd in Brooklyn Cheers Palestinian Dignity
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Democratic debate in Brooklyn last night took an unusual turn when a grumpy old Jewish American upbraided a slightly younger Illinois Methodist for not respecting the dignity of the Palestinian people. BLITZER [Used to work for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobby] : . […]
Michigan faculty Support Muslim Students on Campus in face of Trumpian Hate-Chalking
Dear Members of the U-M [University of Michigan] community We stand with our friends/students/colleagues and with the Central Student Government (CSG), Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA), and Senate Assembly in condemning the recent anti- Muslim, anti-immigrant, and anti-activist chalkings on the Diag. Whatever the political motivations of those engaged in such acts, their […]
Negotiations, “Elections,” and al-Qaeda’s assault on Syrian Ceasefire
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – There were five major stories in the US and European press about Syria today: 1. The cessation of hostilities is in danger of breaking down (typically Western politicians and press blame this on the Syrian regime, but as far as I can tell, it is because […]
Arab Youth view ISIL as major Mideast Obstacle, want less Religion
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The annual Arab Youth survey conducted by pollsters Burson-Marsteller is out, reporting on 3500 interviews with Arabs 18-24 years of age in 16 countries. Those of you who have read my recent book, The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East , […]
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