Juan Cole

The USG Open Source Center monitored Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s speech at the christening of an Iranian destroyer, Jamaran, on Iranian official radio, in which Khamenei again denied that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons and affirmed that they are illegal in Islamic law because they kill large numbers of innocent non-combatants. “Khamene’i Denies Iran Seeking […]

If you hate the US government for collecting taxes from you and are willing to fly a plane into a Federal building, you just might be a terrorist. But, nah, not if you’re a white guy. Some Tea Partiers, who likewise are outraged at paying taxes, are eager to adopt this domestic terrorist. If he’d […]

A US drone strike on N. Waziristan has allegedly killed Muhammad Haqqani, a son of guerrilla leader Jalaluddin Haqqani. The Haqqani network is considered particularly skilled insurgents, and is the faction closes to both the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence and to al-Qaeda. Jalaluddin’s health is said to be poor and he may have already turned most […]

The great divide between liberal Jewish Americans and the Israeli Right has lurked as an issue since the Likud Party first challenged Labor dominance in the late 1970s. It is now coming to a boiling point, even as Israel’s reputation in the world is sinking. As rightwing policies more visibly fail, the Likudniks are flailing […]

Percentage of Americans who favor socialism: 20 Percentage of Americans involved in Tea Party Movement: 11 (Support for Tea Party is also about 12%). Number of mentions of “Tea Party” past month in Lexis radio and tv transcript search: 1042* Number of mentions of “socialism” past month in Lexis radio and tv transcript search: 69+ […]

As the Marjah campaign continued in Afghanistan, the LAT reports that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was captured in Karachi, Pakistan, in large part because of US electronic surveillance. It sounds as though the National Security Agency accidentally picked up a telephone call between him and someone else, and was able to triangulate his position. The […]

The USG Open Source Center analyzes the stances of the parties representing the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazara Shiite minorities in Afghanistan and finds that they reject President Hamid Karzai’s plans for reconciliation with the Taliban or are lukewarm to it. Some Pashtun parties are enthusiatic about the idea. Although each ethnic group mentioned is a […]

The NYT broke the news that the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence, with the cooperation of US intelligence, captured Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar a few days ago. Baradar, the number 2 man in the Old Taliban led by Mulla Umar, is the equivalent of military chief of staff for the organization. Depending on how much he is […]

In the pincer move of British, US/ NATO and Afghan forces on Marjah in poppy-rich Helmand Province, the Taliban have behaved differently in each area. In the north, as the British approached Nad Ali, the Taliban faded away and there was very light resistance. Afghan authorities charged that 35 Pakistani Taliban were fighting alongside Afghan […]