Paul Notar writes a guest column for Informed Comment: Palestine: Bashar Assad’s Ace in the Hole? by Paul Notar There has been much speculation in the media that the Assad regime in Syria will be the next to fall in what has been called the “Arab Spring”. Many analysts conclude that Sunni elements in the […]
The Audacity of the Gaza Flotilla
A new Gaza aid flotilla is set to take off from Greece on Sunday, including 600 persons representing 22 countries, on ten ships. Pulitzer-prize winning author Alice Walker is among them. (Swedish author Henning Mankell participated in the 2010 flotilla). Yonatan Shapira explains why he is taking part in the new flotilla: The US State […]
House Libya Vote: Anti-War or Just Anti-Obama?
The Republican-dominated US House of Representatives voted down an authorization for President Obama to have the US participate in the Libya War on Friday. (Many Democrats also joined in). The House did not agree to cut off funding for the war. With regard to US domestic politics and the rule of law, the vote would […]
Afghanistan: How will Taliban React to Obama Drawdown?
Aljazeera English reports the Taliban have rejected President Obama’s plans for Afghanistan, but that President Hamid Karzai welcomed steps that would return the country to Afghan rule. Still, this report says that Mullah Omar himself has given his blessing to US-Taliban direct talks. Hard to know which one is right (both are unlikely to be). […]
Kukis: Leave Iraq, Too
Mark Kukis writes a guest column for Informed Comment: Leaving Iraq: Why total U.S. military withdrawal is best By Mark Kukis The Obama administration’s move to accelerate a U.S. withdrawal in Afghanistan inadvertently highlighted an unsettled question about American forces in Iraq. Will U.S. troops leave Iraq entirely at the end of 2011, as outlined […]
Cole/Goodman Interview on the Obama Drawdown and the Afghanistan War
Amy Goodman of DemocracyNow! interviewed me Wednesday on the significance of President Obama’s announcement of a significant drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan. Here is the video (it may display also the day’s headlines; if so, move the black line at the bottom about two-thirds over to find the segment on Afghanistan): And here is […]
DemocracyNow! On Bush/CIA Spy Mission against Juan Cole
Amy Goodman devoted her whole program on Wednesday to an interview with Glenn Carle and me, much of which centered on Mr. Carle’s revelations about the Bush White House asking the CIA to discredit me and destroy my reputation by gathering up any information it had about any unsavory personal failings I had. (Luckily for […]
Obama: The Tides of War are Receding
June 22, 2011 Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery On the Way Forward in Afghanistan Washington, D.C. June 22, 2011 As Prepared for Delivery— Good evening. Nearly ten years ago, America suffered the worst attack on our shores since Pearl Harbor. This mass murder was planned by Osama bin Laden and […]
The End of the Beginning in Afghanistan
Breaking news: CNN is reporting that President Obama has decided to take 30,000 troops out of Afghanistan over the next year eighteen months, including 10,000 by the end of this year. Military commanders had requested that he limit this first draw down to as little as 5,000, so this step was unexpected. There are 100,000 […]
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