Juan Cole

Friday was the Day of Reviving the Revolution in Egypt, writes al-Hayat in Arabic, with tens of thousands of protesters filling Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. Some 30 political parties participated, including the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis, as did major New Left youth movements such as April 6 and the Movement of Revolutionary Youth. […]

Courtesy Paul Rodriguez Page. This quote appears to come from his stand up routine of 1987 in Los Angeles. It is often misattributed to Ambrose Bierce.

Jack Serle writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism Bird shot, tear gas and truncheon-wielding riot police are not the normal accompaniments to a Grand Prix weekend. Heavy with corporate sponsorship and shielded from the ongoing riots and bloodshed, the most wealthy of motorsports has arrived in the tiny archipelago state of Bahrain. This Persian […]

Protesters in Bahrain on Thursday came out against the holding of the Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday, and met repression by police, who used stun guns and tear gas to clear them away. Bahrain has seen over a year of protests, but the Sunni monarchy has largely managed to quell the Shiite majority (the […]

Yfaat Weiss writes in a guest editorial for Informed Comment Diachronic Neighbors The 26th of April is this year’s Israeli Independence Day. The thoughts expressed here are part of an internal Israeli debate surrounding that day. In March 2011 Israel’s parliament passed a law enabling the Finance Minister to reduce the state’s funding to bodies […]

Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks on the progressive network Current TV gives us an insightful rant on Big TV News’ lack of interest in Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s fatwa declaring making, stockpiling and using nuclear weapons a sin. He points out that you almost never hear about this fatwa on television news, and performs […]