By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Despite Russian airstrikes, Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) has made some advances in November. One place it has had some success is Homs province, which is vulnerable because Daesh has a position in Palmyra. At the beginning of November, Daesh took Maheen and advanced toward the major Christian […]
What Obama should tell Netanyahu this Week (But won’t)
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Far right Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is arriving in Washington, D.C., Monday, and will apparently ask the US to almost double its $3 bn. a year in aid to $5 bn. Netanyahu has been a constant thorn in the US side and has done absolutely […]
In ‘Spectre,’ James Bond becomes Edward Snowden
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The latest entry in the Daniel Craig reboot of the James Bond film franchise, Spectre , turns Bond into more muscular version of Edward Snowden, as he takes down a vast 9-nation attempt at electronic surveillance and information-sharing that would also benefit a criminal cartel. Tooling […]
Netanyahu taps Squatter who called Obama Muslim hate sympathizer, as he demands $5 bn./yr. from U.S.
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appointed West Bank squatter Ran Baratz to be his director of communications on the eve of his procession Monday to Washington to demand a vast increase in annual US aid to Israel, which includes civilian as well as military grants of […]
Bush Sr. Blames Neocons for Ruining W.’s Presidency: Is he Warning Jeb?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In interviews given for a new biography, George H. W. Bush, 91 lets loose against Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, whom he clearly blames for many of the failures of the presidency his son, George W. Bush. But if you attend carefully to what he said, […]
In Rare Victory, Syrian Army breaks ISIL siege of West Aleppo
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The extensive Russian bombing campaign in support of the Syrian Arab Army of the Bashar al-Assad regime has yielded fewer victories than Moscow had hoped, and some of them have been reversed by al-Qaeda, ISIL or other fighters. But on Wednesday it was reported that the […]
With Ahmad Chalabi’s Death, Passing of an Age of Lies
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Ahmad Chalabi (1944-2015) died of a heart attack in Iraq on Tuesday. Clarence Darrow, the great trial lawyer and orator, said, “I’ve never killed anyone, but I frequently get satisfaction reading the obituary notices.” I don’t get any satisfaction from this obituary. In the first Star […]
Shimon Peres doubts Israel can win Permanent war or Survive Annexation of West Bank
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Former Israeli president Shimon Peres, 92, gave an interview with the Associated Press Monday in which he spoke bluntly about the mistakes of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, without naming him. Of the Greater Israel project of the country’s right wing, which aims at annexing the Palestinian […]
Al-Zawahiri Calls for al-Qaeda- ISIL Axis against Russia & US
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – al-Hayat [Life] reports that on Sunday, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, called for unity between al-Qaeda and Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) in the face of American, Russian and Shiite forces in Syria. Al-Zawahiri, a mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the US, succeeded Usama Bin Laden when […]
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