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Juan Cole

Syria
Rush to Western Strike on Syria slows, but does not Stall

Rush to Western Strike on Syria slows, but does not Stall

Juan Cole

What is known is that during heavy bombardment of Ghouta in Rif Dimashq on August 21, rockets were fired that did not explode and instead released gases that killed several hundred people, most of them non-combatants, and injured hundreds of others. US intelligence agencies released an intercept on Wednesday showing that after the attack, a […]

Government surveillance

NSA Spying Abroad isn’t OK Either (Kurzman)

Juan Cole

Charles Kurzman writes at ISLAMiCommentary: Caption for graphic: NSAW SID Intelligence Oversight (IO) Quarterly Report – First Quarter Calendar Year 2012 (1 January – 31 March 2012) – Executive Summary, May 3, 2012, compiled by Kurzman from pages 5-6 of 13. http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/nsa-report-on-privacy-violations-in-the-first-quarter-of-2012/395/ Many Americans were upset to learn this month that the National Security Agency […]

Syria
The Kosovo Fallacy and Syria (Axworthy-Cole Debate)

The Kosovo Fallacy and Syria (Axworthy-Cole Debate)

Juan Cole

I was on the CBC’s excellent The Current to discuss former Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy’s proposal that Western action in Syria should resemble the Kosovo campaign of the 1990s. I disagreed, pointing to the many differences between the two situations I come in about halfway through. Click on the image below to go to […]

Iran
US Protected Iraq at UN from Iranian Charges of Chemical Weapons Use

US Protected Iraq at UN from Iranian Charges of Chemical Weapons Use

Juan Cole

Reprint edn., from my article in Truthdig, where you can find the hyperlinks giving the documentation. I thought these findings by Joyce Battle from the documents she FOIA’ed ad posted at the National Security Archive worth revisiting given the current controversy over Syrian use of chemical weapons: In the 1970s, Iraq under Baath Party dictator […]

Environment
Oceans Turning Acid with CO2 at Rate Unseen in 250 million Years, Threatening Further Warming (Queally)

Oceans Turning Acid with CO2 at Rate Unseen in 250 million Years, Threatening Further Warming (Queally)

Juan Cole

Jon Queally writes at Commondreams.org In both a new study published Monday and in a newspaper interview over the weekend, German marine biologist Hans Poertner warns the world that the crisis of ocean acidification—an intricately woven aspect of global warming and climate change—is now happening at a rate unparalleled in the life of the oceans […]

Syria
Kerry signals US Intervention in Syria, but to What End?

Kerry signals US Intervention in Syria, but to What End?

Juan Cole

Secretary of State John Kerry strongly suggested in remarks on Monday that President Obama has concluded that the ruling Baath regime in Syria was responsible for poison gas attacks last Wednesday that reportedly left hundreds dead, including non-combatant women and children. He further suggested that the Obama administration intended to respond in some way to […]

Bahrain
Gulf Arab Press Condemns Alleged ‘Bloody’ Chemical Weapons attack in Syria (OSC)

Gulf Arab Press Condemns Alleged ‘Bloody’ Chemical Weapons attack in Syria (OSC)

Juan Cole

The USG Open Source Center translates or paraphrases comment in the Gulf Arab press on the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Baathist regime. Note that these governmental establishments are Sunni, Wahhabi or Ibadi and often have a hostile attitude to Shiite Islam and Iran, and generally support the rebellion against the regime, […]

Energy
Not Markets but the People are making the Green Energy Revolution

Not Markets but the People are making the Green Energy Revolution

Juan Cole

The propaganda against the green energy revolution contains all the same predictable elements as the propaganda against anti-slavery movements or later against anti-tobacco findings. We are told that everything is determined by markets, which are the most efficient way to make decisions. So when the markets want green energy we’ll have it. But markets are […]

Domestic Surveillance
Top 13 Surveillance Secrets the Gov’t Doesn’t want You to Know About (Quigley)

Top 13 Surveillance Secrets the Gov’t Doesn’t want You to Know About (Quigley)

Juan Cole

Bill Quigley writes at Commondreams.org “We believe most Americans would be stunned to learn the details of how these secret court opinions have interpreted…the Patriot Act. As we see it, there is now a significant gap between what most Americans think the law allows and what the government secretly claims the law allows. This is […]

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