Juan Cole

You can’t see me, but I’m talking to Clint Eastwood sitting spectrally in an empty chair, and I am replying to his confused rant. 1. Mr. Eastwood, you called the failure to close the Guantanamo Bay penitentiary a broken promise. President Obama was prevented from closing Guantanamo by the Republicans in Congress, which refused to […]

As the deleterious effects of hydrocarbons like coal, gas and oil continue to be felt in the world, the peculiar US dedication to these poisons that produce illness and climate change will increasingly disadvantage it. The US will be open to lawsuits or diplomatic and trade reprisals for acid rain, ocean acidification, rising sea levels, […]

This year’s Republican campaign may be the most dishonest in history. A couple of weeks ago I listed 10 major falsehoods and gaffes of Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan. He repeated several of them in his Tampa speech, and added a few more. In honest political debate, when a candidate says something that is not […]

Will Fitzgibbon writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism . . . . the last four weeks have largely been a positive time for whistleblowers and their supporters. In late July, America’s newest whistleblower protection programme celebrated its first anniversary. The Obama administration promised the post-financial crisis legislation, introduced under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, would […]

The American Republican Party Convention in Tampa ironically coincides with the Non-Aligned Movement meeting in Tehran, Iran. Were nominee Mitt Romney to win, he has signaled a willingness to take military action against Iran’s civilian nuclear enrichment facilities, which the Iranians say are for the production of electricity via nuclear reactors, but which Romney claims […]

A white terrorist cell on a military base in Georgia plotted to assassinate President Barack Obama and stage a military coup. It murdered two former members of the cell. It bought $87,000 of military grade weaponry and land in Washington state. It planned to bomb a dam in Washington and poison its apple crop. It […]

In recent months, the uprising in Syria has become bloodier and bloodier. In the beginning, in spring and summer of 2011, the crowds were largely peaceful. The Baath regime of Bashar al-Assad responded by placing snipers on rooftops of tall buildings and having them fire randomly into the protesting crowds. They would kill 5-10 people […]

1. Ron Paul declined the opportunity to speak at the Republican Convention because he does not “fully support” Mr. Romney. Paul as the leader of the Libertarian wing of the party and as someone who appeals to youth may just have done some damage, fomenting division at Tampa in Republican ranks. 2. Romney staffers were […]