By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – President Obama met with Cuban President Raoul Castro for an hour on Saturday, and the two made progress on plans to restore diplomatic relations. Before the meeting, Obama said, “I think that after 50 years of policy that had not changed on the part of the United States, […]
Spain at 70% non-Carbon Electricity: Will it be 1st Net Carbon Zero G-20 State?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – CleanTechnica reports that Spain got nearly 70% of its electricity from plants that did not generate carbon dioxide in March. The two biggest non-carbon energy sources were nuclear and wind. In recent years, the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy cut some government subsidies and other help to the […]
Iran: What did Khamenei really say about the Lausanne Agreement, and Why?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s paramount leader, spoke out on Thursday about the framework agreement for Iran’s negotiations over its nuclear enrichment program with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5 + 1). The speech is all over the place and seems to me to […]
Top Ten Ways Islamic Law forbids Terrorism
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 21, has been convicted on all counts in the Boston Marathon bombings. Dzhokhar and his brother Tamerlan were from a mixed Chechen and Avar family. Dzhokhar was born in Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian republic that had been part of the Communist Soviet Union. Being from a […]
President Rand Paul’s Middle East Policy
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) declared his candidacy today to be the Republican standard bearer in the 2016 election. So what would a Rand Paul presidency look like with regard to Middle East policy? Although Paul has a reputation as a Libertarian non-interventionist, he isn’t actually either one. As […]
Netanyahu slips, Reveals reason for Opposition to Iran Deal
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – US television news isn’t very good and it has clearly gotten worse over the past 20 years. In the aftermath of the Kerry-Zarif initial framework deal on nuclear energy in Iran, it seems obvious that an interview with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif would be newsworthy. But […]
Do GOP Frontrunners have an Iran policy besides Sanctions and Bombs?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – President Barack Obama’s negotiations with Iran to ensure that its nuclear enrichment program remains purely civilian, for generating electricity, ought to be bipartisan in spirit. Achieving that goal would benefit all Americans. The GOP presidential field in particular and the Republican Party in general have decided to treat […]
Yemen: Russia, Red Cross Demand halt to Bombing to Avert Humanitarian Catastrophe
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The Red Cross and the Russian Federation are both demanding a temporary cease-fire in the aerial bombardment of Yemen by a Saudi-led coalition, to allow delivery of needed humanitarian goods. Two weeks of bombing have left some 500 Yemenis dead and 1700 more wounded. Dozens of the killed […]
What if US & UN Sanctioned Israel over its Nukes as they did Iran over Enrichment?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – There is a lot of talk about nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and the ways in which an Iranian bomb would provoke Saudi Arabia and others to acquire nuclear warheads of their own. But for decades, the primary impetus to a nuclear arms race in the region […]
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