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Juan Cole

Israel/ Palestine
Wagging the Dog in Gaza: Netanyahu’s Skirmish of Fear (Sternfeld)

Wagging the Dog in Gaza: Netanyahu’s Skirmish of Fear (Sternfeld)

Juan Cole

Lior Sternfeld writes in a guest column for Informed Comment Israel has embarked, with its Gaza attack, on the all-too-well-known elections routine. Before the 2009 elections, the defense minister, Ehud Barak, who then led the Labor party, saw his party performing poorly in the national polls. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert needed some public support as […]

Israel/ Palestine
Noam Chomsky on Gaza (Democracy Now!)

Noam Chomsky on Gaza (Democracy Now!)

Juan Cole

At Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now!, Noam Chomsky discusses his recent trip to the Gaza Strip: Here is DM’s blurb for the piece: World-renowned political dissident, linguist, author and MIT professor Noam Chomsky joins us to discuss his recent trip to the Gaza Strip, where he publicly called on Israel to put an end to the […]

CIA
The Arab Reading of the Petraeus/Allen Affair:  Jill Kelley is Gilberte Khawam, a Lebanese

The Arab Reading of the Petraeus/Allen Affair: Jill Kelley is Gilberte Khawam, a Lebanese

Juan Cole

The headlines about the Petraeus affair in the Arab world this morning almost universally read something like “Lebanese woman brings down CIA.” The woman who seems to have destroyed three careers and kicked off the FBI investigation of Gen. David Petraeus, ex-director of the CIA, goes by Jill Kelley. But her maiden name is Gilberte […]

Uncategorized
Why did the Press Mythologize Gen. Petraeus in the first place?:  Michael Hastings @ Piers Morgan

Why did the Press Mythologize Gen. Petraeus in the first place?: Michael Hastings @ Piers Morgan

Juan Cole

Journalist Michael Hastings asks some quick, sharp questions about press deference to power. Hastings is the author of The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan

Afghanistan
Afghanistan Commander Gen. John Allen Investigated; Meanwhile, Afghanistan sinking

Afghanistan Commander Gen. John Allen Investigated; Meanwhile, Afghanistan sinking

Juan Cole

The emails to Jill Kelly of Gen. John Allen, US commander in Afghanistan and a friend of ex-CIA chief David Petraeus, are being investigated as possibly inappropriate. Meanwhile, actual Afghans face a difficult and perhaps bleak future because the way over-ambitious American project in their country is failing. And US veterans of the war struggle […]

Energy
The Tesla S and World Peace:  Can American Green Energy End the Gulf Oil Wars?

The Tesla S and World Peace: Can American Green Energy End the Gulf Oil Wars?

Juan Cole

Petroleum makes the world go round, with 70% of it used to power automobiles. About a fifth of the world’s 90 million barrels a day of oil production comes out of the Persian Gulf/ Arabian Gulf. A large part of the US stand-off with Iran has to do with petroleum. The US doesn’t want a […]

Afghanistan
Juan Cole: Real Petraeus Failure Was Counter-Insurgency in Iraq, Afghanistan (Democracy Now!)

Juan Cole: Real Petraeus Failure Was Counter-Insurgency in Iraq, Afghanistan (Democracy Now!)

Juan Cole

Here is Amy Goodman’s interview with me, which was broadcast on Democracy Now! This morning. Via YouTube here Here is DN’s lead-in: CIA director David Petraeus has resigned following revelations of an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, a married U.S. Army reservist. "This personal issue that cropped up that ruined his career at […]

Iran
Drone, Sanctions affecting Medicine, Intensify US-Iran Tensions

Drone, Sanctions affecting Medicine, Intensify US-Iran Tensions

Juan Cole

Among President Obama’s first decisions after his reelection was to further increase already severe sanctions on Iran. Just before that, Iran shot at a US drone it claims was spying on Iranian vessels in the Gulf. Russia Today reports: Obama’s sanctions regime, it is argued, is already damaging Iranian public health. Medicines are not getting […]

Uncategorized
Bradley Manning would Cop to Wikileaks if Spying, Aiding Enemy charges are Dropped (DemocracyNow!)

Bradley Manning would Cop to Wikileaks if Spying, Aiding Enemy charges are Dropped (DemocracyNow!)

Juan Cole

Mirrored from DemocracyNow! Accused U.S. Army whistleblower Bradley Manning has offered to submit a partial guilty plea on charges of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks in return for the government agreeing to pursue lesser charges. Manning’s attorney David Coombs says he is prepared to plead guilty to some of the charges, but not the entire […]

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