Juan Cole

President Barack Obama has scrapped an expensive ($56 bn so far) and probably useless “missile shield” program in the Czech Republic and Poland to which Russia had vehemently objected, and which had increasingly been described as aimed not at Russia but at Iran. In fact, the proposed ten anti-missile missiles in Poland the proposed radar […]

President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he would wait for a while before deciding whether to send more US troops to Afghanistan. The administration is said to be deeply divided on the issue, and Obama says he wants further reports from the State Department and other civilian agencies before he makes a final determination. Obama […]

The Independent reports that a United Nations fact-finding inquiry has found that Israel committed war crimes during its attack on Gaza last winter, as did the Palestinian Hamas. The lion’s share of blame in the report, however, falls on Israeli forces, which stand accused of planning out a disproportionate use of force, the punishing of […]

Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made a formal about-face when testifying before the Senate Armed Services committee, now speaking of the necessity of sending more American troops to Afghanistan. Last February, Mullen had said he did not envisage sending more than 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. Some 17,000 new […]

Iran has agreed to meet with the six world powers in early October. While they want to discuss Iran’s nuclear research program, Iran is insisting that its activities are legal under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and is signalling that it will be reluctant to do anything differently. Eux.tv has video: See Farideh Farhi’s new essay, “Ahmadinejad’s […]

Some 35% of Iraq War veterans returning to the US can be expected to suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, according to a new study, which argues that the Veterans Administration hospitals should devote resources to treating it. Victims of PTSD can experience symptoms such as compulsively reliving the traumatic incident, avoiding persons and places that […]

The USG Open Source Center translates the recently released audio address attributed to Usamah Bin Ladin Bin Ladin Says US Should Stop Supporting Israel or Face ‘War of Attrition’Jihadist Websites — OSC SummaryMonday, September 14, 2009 Document Type: OSC Summary On 14 September, a forum participant posted to a jihadist website numerous links to an […]

Gen. Stanley McChrystal has admitted that there is no significant al-Qaeda presence in Afghanistan. He implies that al-Qaeda does maintain some links to the guerrillas fighting the Karzai government. But McChrystal’s statement rather undermines the hawkish argument of Lindsey Graham, John McCain and Joe Lieberman that the Afghanistan war is being fought against al-Qaeda presence […]

A wave of violence and bombings throughout Afghanistan left some 50 Afghan civilians and security forces and 5 US troops dead on Saturday, along with at least 50 Taliban dead.. The most deadly attacks took place in the Pashtun areas of Uruzgan and Qandahar in the south, and Kunar in the east. The northern province […]