Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Juan Cole

Africa
Kenya: Solar Power on a Pay as you Go Plan gives Light, rechargers to Villagers

Kenya: Solar Power on a Pay as you Go Plan gives Light, rechargers to Villagers

Juan Cole

“Small solar home systems bring good quality light and phone-charging to off-grid households and save them money. Yet their upfront costs render them out of reach for the people who would benefit most from them. UK-based startup Azuri has developed a pay-as-you-go interface which allows households [in Kenya and East Africa] to pay for solar […]

Domestic Surveillance
Obama Explains his NSA Domestic Spying & Why it differs from Bush's (Cartoon satire)

Obama Explains his NSA Domestic Spying & Why it differs from Bush’s (Cartoon satire)

Juan Cole

Cartoon satire: “President Obama explains why Americans should not be concerned about the NSA’s secret data collection program and that he is very different from George W. Bush.” The video is here:

Israel/ Palestine
Israel's District 9:  Its Biggest Ethnic Cleansing since 1948

Israel’s District 9: Its Biggest Ethnic Cleansing since 1948

Juan Cole

30,000 Palestinian-Israelis of Bedouin heritage are are being forcibly transferred by the Israeli government, and thousands of acres of their land is being stolen from them. The 972 article compares it to Apartheid South Africa’s District 6, the inspiration for the film, “District 9” The Palestinian-Israelis are mounting big protests today. Aljazeera English reports Amjad […]

Egypt
The Backlash against Political Islam is not a Backlash against Islam:  Egypt and Bangladesh

The Backlash against Political Islam is not a Backlash against Islam: Egypt and Bangladesh

Juan Cole

There is a big difference between being a believing Muslim and being a devotee of political Islam. Political Islam attempts to make the religion a platform for gaining governmental power. This movement (political Islam or the Muslim religious Right) has been very important in many Muslim countries in the past few decades, but its rise […]

US politics
Guns and Sissified Punks (Friday Scene)

Guns and Sissified Punks (Friday Scene)

Juan Cole

From the 1995 stoner movie “Friday”: The father [John Witherspoon] of Craig Jones [Ice Cube] warns him against carrying a gun in the local neighborhood if he wants to be a real man: The video is here:

Energy
Tiny Cape Verde's Push to be a World Leader in Wind Energy

Tiny Cape Verde’s Push to be a World Leader in Wind Energy

Juan Cole

Finnfund explains: “The windswept islands of Cape Verde lie off West Africa, some 500 km from Senegal. They are the site of Africa’s largest wind power project, which started up in autumn 2011. Generating equipment on four of the islands will produce a greater proportion of electricity from wind than anywhere else in the world…” […]

Domestic Surveillance
A Century of America’s Imperial Deep State (McCoy)

A Century of America’s Imperial Deep State (McCoy)

Juan Cole

Alfred W. McCoy writes at Tomdispatch.com The American surveillance state is now an omnipresent reality, but its deep history is little known and its future little grasped.  Edward Snowden’s leaked documents reveal that, in a post-9/11 state of war, the National Security Agency (NSA) was able to create a surveillance system that could secretly monitor […]

US politics
Whites and African-Americans in America by the numbers

Whites and African-Americans in America by the numbers

Juan Cole

88% of African-Americans in a recent Pew poll said that there was “a lot” (46%) or “some” (42% ) discrimination against them. Only 57% of whites agreed, and only 16% of whites said there is “a lot” of discrimination against African-Americans: Average household net worth of whites: $110,000. Average household net worth of African-Americans: $5000 […]

Egypt
Egypt:  Prosecutor Comes after Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, as Divided Mass Protests Continue

Egypt: Prosecutor Comes after Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, as Divided Mass Protests Continue

Juan Cole

Egypt’s June 30 Movement is calling for big demonstrations on Sunday, saying “no” to “terrorism” and “yes” to the “gains of the Revolution.” The movements appears to be identifying elements of the deposed Muslim Brotherhood government as ‘terrorists’ (as far as I know it is mainly the Sinai Muslim radicals that fit that bill, not […]

  • « Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • …
  • Page 579
  • Page 580
  • Page 581
  • Page 582
  • Page 583
  • …
  • Page 1609
  • Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Juan Cole Fundraiser
DONATED:$12,299
SUPPORTERS:141
TARGET:$30,000
REMAINING:$17,701

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • The Rise and Coming Fall of Trumpian Fascism
  • Hurricane Melissa was 33% more Destructive in Jamaica because of People-Caused Climate Breakdown
  • What I saw in Vietnam, 50 Years after the War and Ecocide
  • Samhain, the Celtic New Year, and Halloween
  • Trump is trying Hard to do a bad Job, and that Works for Him; Not so much, for Us

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved