Juan Cole

10. Saudi Arabia opened its first coeducational college campus, the King Abdullah Science and Technology University. In a country where the sexes have been so separated in public that some have spoken of ‘gender Apartheid,’ this move, which came from King Abdullah, provoked raging controversy. When a prominent cleric criticized having male and female students […]

New Year fireworks in Dubai End/ (Not Continued)

Eugene Robinson – Dick Cheney's lies about President Obama – washingtonpost.com Excellent demolition of Dick Cheney’s shameful attack on the president in the wake of the Detroit attempted attack. Cheney wanted to use the nonsensically phrased ‘war on terror’ as a wedge to destroy the Bill of Rights and permanently undermine the US constitution, and […]

Today’s dramatic events in Iran reminded me a little bit of the dueling demonstrations mounted by the Lebanese in spring of 2005, when pro-Syrian forces brought out nearly 1,000,000 protesters, only to be answered by crowds nearly as large mobilized by Hizbullah. In Iran on Wednesday, the regime bussed in tens of thousands of supporters, […]

I hear these on tv or from Reps. Pete Hoekstra and Peter King and Sen. Joe Lieberman. 1. President Obama did not speak publicly swiftly enough. In fact, Bush was silent for 9 days after the shoe bomber attack in 2001. 2. Bush would have tried Abdulmutallab as an enemy combatant. Well, he tried Richard […]

The bombing of a Shiite Ashura procession in Karachi, Pakistan, on Monday, which killed 40 and wounded 60– as horrific as it was– was only the beginning of the paralysis of this major port city and financial center larger than New York. In response to the bombing or encouraged by it, arsonists set fire to […]

Majority Of Tea Party Group's Spending Went To GOP Firm That Created It | TPMMuckraker So let us get this straight. Iran is capable of throwing up a genuine grassroots democratic movement. But supposed US populism is just a project of some corporation aimed at fleecing ordinary people. End/ (Not Continued)

10. Dubai, a financial hub of the Gulf, collapsed economically, and worries were raised that Dubai World could default on billions in loans. Only the likelihood that oil-rich sister emirate, Abu Dhabi, would likely bail Dubai out at least to some extent kept there from being a panic. 9. That Iraq is still far from […]

Conflict Grows Between Pakistan's Taliban and Shi'ites – TIME Omar Waraich argues that Monday’s horrific bombing in Karachi of a Shiite mourning procession signals a deepening Taliban/Shiite struggle in Pakistan. Pakistani analysts also considered that the bombing, which killed 40 and sparked riots in the country’s largest city, may have been intended tactically to provoke […]