Juan Cole

As the Arab Spring blossomed and President Obama hesitated about whether to speak out in favor of protesters seeking democratic change in the Greater Middle East, the Pentagon acted decisively…

Lowes should be ashamed of itself for bowing to hate speech. Well, there is always Home Depot. Detroit’s Channel 7 has a video report from Dearborn, Michigan: The grounds on which the Florida Family Association, a far right wing hate group, ordered Lowe’s to drop its advertising on TLC’s “All-American Muslim,” were reminiscent of the […]

Saudi Arabia’s news service announced that the kingdom has executed a Saudi woman for the practice of sorcery, according to the BBC. Amina bint Abd al-Halim b. Salim Nasir was arrested in 2009. Amnesty International condemned the execution as a violation of the woman’s human rights. The BBC gives some details on this case that […]

The global summit on climate change and curbing carbon emissions at Durban in South Africa ended on a positive note diplomatically. The international community rededicated itself to binding emissions limits and pledged four years of studies and assessment. Ambassador Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, the head negotiator for Brazil, summed up the positive case: “This is a […]

From Democratic Underground: Each star is a US base. But just to be clear, Iran is the one that is threatening us.

Newt Gingrich has been trying for the monetary backing and votes of Jewish Americans and Christian Zionists by taking up the positions of the Israeli far Right. He promises to move the US embassy to Jerusalem (disputed territory under international law) just because right wing Jewish nationalists insist that all of Jerusalem belongs to them […]

Reports that the Syrian military is bringing up armor and heavy weapons to Homs has sparked fears that the regime intends to invade the city, as happened in 1982 when the military brutally went into nearby Hama to crush a Muslim fundamentalist revolt. Some 10,000 or more persons were killed in that action, most of […]

Iran said Thursday that it had hacked into the unmanned RQ-170 Sentinel US spy drone flying over eastern Iran and brought it down that way. The Iranians have complained to the United Nations about the drone’s invasion of Iranian air space. Aljazeera English has video: The Iranians displayed the drone on Thursday, and it seemed […]

Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks discusses two of the worst pieces of legislation before Congress with Glenn Greenwald. They are the so-called “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA), on the one hand, which holds hosts responsible for any copyright infringement by anyone on their site. And the other is the provisions in the National Defense […]