Juan Cole

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, head of US forces in Afghanistan, admitted in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Monday that the Taliban have gained the upper hand in fighting in Afghanistan. They are deploying small units that combine suicide bombings and ambushes, killing US troops at an unprecedented rate. McChrystal wants an addition 10,000 […]

Pepe Escobar on Iran-Chinese relations and the New Silk Road. this is part 3 of a series at The Real News Network Note also that Iran and China just signed a $3 bn. deal for China to help develop Iran’s refinery capacity in Abadan and the Gulf. China now imports 3.8 million barrels a day […]

In the wake of the death of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mahsud in Wednesday, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn writes that a power struggle broke out between two other Mahsud leaders: ‘ According to sources, commanders Hakeemullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman, the two leading contenders for the chief slot, exchanged hot words at the shura meeting […]

Ahead of January’s parliamentary elections, Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that Jalal al-Din al-Saghir, a leader of the Islamic Supreme Council in Iraq (ISCI) announced that the United Iraqi Alliance will announce five coalition partners next week. They include the Sadr Movement of Muqtada al-Sadr, the Islah Party of former Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, the Badr […]

Sunni Arab guerrillas bombed a Shiite Turkmen mosque in a village outside Mosul on Friday, killing 39 persons and wounding dozens. Other attacks targeted Shiites in Baghdad. On the other hand, the big attack was on a village mosque, a very soft target, and it is unlikely to accomplish any significant political work in Iraq. […]

The leading Pakistani newspaper, Dawn, reports that there “is no doubt” that a US drone strike killed Baitullah Mahsud, the leader of the Taliban Movement of Pakistan. The report says that the US shared with Pakistan officials video from the drone that clearly showed that Mahsud’s body had been torn in half by the blast. […]

Statement by 40 Engaged Scholars ‘Human Beings are Members of a Whole’ Protecting the Iranian Civil Society Human beings are members of a whole, In creation of one essence and soul. If one member is afflicted with pain, Other members uneasy will remain. If you have no sympathy for human pain, The name of human […]

Some experts are raising the question about whether Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will serve out his four year term. They wonder if the instability and substantial opposition to him from reformists as well as the hostility of some conservative hard liners will undermine him. CSM on why the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps relentlessly cracks down. […]

The allegation that a US drone strike in Waziristan killed the leader of the Pakistani Taliban Movement, Baitullah Mahsud, cannot be dismissed but it has to be taken with a grain of salt. The strike on the house of Baitullah’s father-in-law, Ikramuddin, killed Baitullah’s wife. But it is now being thought that it may have […]