(By Juan Cole) Republicans like Marco Rubio are making hay of a Senate report on the Benghazi attack on a US consulate that left 4 Americans dead, including Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, on Sept. 11, 2012. The report doesn’t seem to me very good. Some of its positions are contradicted by solid reporting from […]
The Great Urban-Rural Struggle over the Constitution in Egypt
(By Juan Cole) The tale of two constitutions, 2012 and 2014, in Egypt has to be seen in my view as significantly an urban-rural struggle. Neither referendum had a big turnout, but the one in 2012 only attracted 32.8% of the electorate, while apparently the turnout in the referendum just held was slightly higher at […]
Obama NSA Defense FAIL: The al-Mihdar Red Herring
In his speech on the National Security Agency domestic surveillance program on Friday, Obama offered an explanation of its origins: “The program grew out of a desire to address a gap identified after 9/11. One of the 9/11 hijackers – Khalid al-Mihdhar – made a phone call from San Diego to a known al Qaeda […]
Pension Managers should divest from Fossil Fuels: UN Official
(By Juan Cole) Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, told investors at a conference on Wednesday that they should move pension funds out of fossil fuels. After all, she pointed out, pension funds are for retirement, and future retirees won’t get to enjoy their golden years if the average […]
Colbert: Christie Bridgegate a diversion from Obama’s Afghanistan War
Stephen Colbert reports on Robert Gates’s criticisms of President Obama, noting that Gates said he though Obama made the right decisions, but was beset by second thoughts. He contrasted him to President George W. Bush in this regard. Colbert: Yes, Bush had no second thoughts. He had no first thoughts, either.
The Ruling that Endangers the Internet as we Know It
(By Juan Cole) A Washington D.C. federal panel has struck down the Federal Communication Commission position on net neutrality, threatening the corporatization of the internet. The reason readers of Informed Comment can reach it as quickly and conveniently as they can reach a multi-billion dollar corporate web site is the principle of internet neutrality, built […]
3 Years after Democratic Revolution, Egypt Decides it Prefers North Korean Model
(By Juan Cole) The title of this piece is provocative and a little tongue in cheek. Were I in Egypt as I publish it, I’m not sure, though, that the authorities would get the joke. The 2011 revolution, which was in part about dignity and personal autonomy and censorship and police torture, apparently went too […]
Dubai Calls for End to Iran Sanctions, Says no Nuclear Threat
(By Juan Cole) Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum of Dubai has called in a BBC interview for an end to economic sanctions on Iran if the civilian character of their nuclear enrichment program can be proved. He pointed out that the sanctions also inflict economic pain on the United Arab Emirates, a major financial center attempting to […]
“Fox was Romney’s War Room”; GOP being run by Fox News: Zucker & Gabriel Sherman Agree
The new head of CNN, Jeff Zucker, replied to Fox News’ Roger Ailes obituary for CNN by alleging that the Republican Party is being run out of Fox. Then Gabriel Sherman, author of a new biography of Ailes, weighed in, saying that Fox was the “War Room” of the 2012 Romeney campaign. Ailes decided, he […]
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