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Juan Cole

Culture
Pakistani Sufi Anthem:  Jhule Lal Dam Mast Qalandar by Nusrat Fateh Ali

Pakistani Sufi Anthem: Jhule Lal Dam Mast Qalandar by Nusrat Fateh Ali

Juan Cole

Qawwali is the South Asian Muslim equivalent of African-American Gospel music. This particular song celebrates the thirteenth-century Sindhi mystic, Sayyid `Uthman Marwandi, known as Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (1177 – 1274 AD), a Sufi master of the Suhrawardi order. His epithet means “Red Royal Falcon, the wandering mystic.” He was one of four great masters at […]

Featured
ABC:  Bush's Neocon Spokesman for Illegal US Occupation of Iraq Slams Russia for Crimea

ABC: Bush’s Neocon Spokesman for Illegal US Occupation of Iraq Slams Russia for Crimea

Juan Cole

It just baffles me that failed Neocons like Dan Senor are still given a hearing inside the Beltway. ABC News actually interviewed Senor, the spokesman for the Bush administration’s illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq on the Crimea crisis! Senor had the unmitigated gall to blame President Obama for “Iraq unraveling”!! Let’s see. The American […]

media
TYT: MSNBC's Chuck Todd Rips CNN for "Breaking News" Malaysia Plane Fraud, Discovers MSNBC Doing it Too

TYT: MSNBC’s Chuck Todd Rips CNN for “Breaking News” Malaysia Plane Fraud, Discovers MSNBC Doing it Too

Juan Cole

Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks says when she was a guest on another cable news channel, the producer told her, “remember: our viewers are stupid.” The Young Turks: “MSNBC Host Rips CNN Flight 370 Coverage”

Iraq
Are Some Iraqi Politicians being Disqualified because they Criticized PM Nouri al-Maliki?

Are Some Iraqi Politicians being Disqualified because they Criticized PM Nouri al-Maliki?

Juan Cole

(From a Niqash Special Correspondent in Baghdad) A number of high profile MPs have been banned from running in Iraq’s upcoming general elections – allegedly because they contravene an electoral rule about good conduct. However there is also another thing they all have in common: They are all vehement critics of the current Prime Minister. […]

Climate Change
5 Signs Solar Power is Taking over the World

5 Signs Solar Power is Taking over the World

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Burning fossil fuels (coal, natural gas and oil) is putting 32 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually into the atmosphere. Since CO2 is a greenhouse gas that traps heat from the sun on earth and prevents it radiating back out to space, this unprecedented human output is causing climate disruption, a […]

Environment
Maddow: Duke Energy busted in N Carolina for Toxic Dumping as Enviro Groups Targeted

Maddow: Duke Energy busted in N Carolina for Toxic Dumping as Enviro Groups Targeted

Juan Cole

Rachel Maddow follows up on a report from earlier in the week about environmental activists who accused a Duke Energy power plant of dumping toxic liquid into public waterway, that has prompted state officials cite Duke Energy for violations: Duke Energy busted after activists’ red flag Commondreams.org’s Sarah Lazare adds, Internal emails released [last week] […]

Domestic Surveillance
Google Follows Snowden’s Advice, Encrypts All Gmail Messages

Google Follows Snowden’s Advice, Encrypts All Gmail Messages

Juan Cole

Whether you think former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden is a hero or a traitor, at the very least you now know that the National Security Agency has expanded the scope of its surveillance of American citizens quite a bit. The government…

Israel/ Palestine
Massive increase in Israeli Squatter settlements in West Bank blamed for Collapsing Peace Talks

Massive increase in Israeli Squatter settlements in West Bank blamed for Collapsing Peace Talks

Juan Cole

Israel settlements led to peace talks impasse: Palestinians (via AFP) US-sponsored peace talks with Israel have reached an impasse because of Jewish settlement activity, a Palestinian spokesman said, as plans for over 2,000 West Bank units were moved forward. The latest crisis comes as Washington scrambles for a formula…   —— Related video: AmnestyInternational: “Trigger-happy […]

Dissent
Top attempts by Dictators to Shut down Twitter in Mideast (including Turkey’s PM Erdogan)

Top attempts by Dictators to Shut down Twitter in Mideast (including Turkey’s PM Erdogan)

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Trying to close down social media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube has been a desperate ploy of dictatorial regimes throughout the world. It doesn’t work very well, since typically users find workarounds. But what is interesting is why authoritarian regimes make the attempt in the first place. At midnight last night, […]

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