Juan Cole

On being interviewed by Robert Siegel of National Public Radio on Tuesday, Rep. Jane Harman kept denying she knew which conversations had been referred to by the Congressional Quarterly report, even seemed to question the existence of the conversations. But then Siegel pressed her and she suddenly remembered something about the conversation: ‘ MR. SIEGEL: […]

Jeff Stein of CQ.com reported on Sunday evening that the National Security Agency had picked up a telephone conversation by Representative Jane Harman (D-CA) with a suspected spy for Israel. It is alleged that in the conversation, the spy urged Harman to intervene to stop the prosecution for espionage of Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, […]

Philip J Cunningham writes in a guest op-ed for IC: “Tiananmen” is a taboo topic in China. But even in places where it is remembered and commemorated, the Beijing student movement of 1989 is best known for its bloody ending on June 4, a tragic turning point of unquestioned significance, but one which tends to […]

Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, just convicted of espionage and sentenced to 8 years in prison, should be afforded every opportunity for a thorough legal defense in her appeal, according to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Saberi’s conviction and sentence are an irritant in the attempt to President Barack Obama to improve relations with Iran, and Ahmadinejad, […]

The review by Daniel Levy of the New America Foundation of my new book, Engaging the Muslim World in The American Prospect is now available in full online (click here). Here is one excerpt from Levy’s review: ‘ . .. Engaging the Muslim World is rich in policy prescriptions across a diverse range of subjects. […]

First the Israeli government built a separation wall right through a Palestinian village, Bilin, on the West Bank inside the Palestine Authority (i.e. beyond the Israeli border). Then young people assembled regularly to protest that their village was cut in two, with villagers on each side now unable easily to visit, and with the villagers […]

Iraqi defense ministry spokesman Muhammad al-Askari said Friday that the recent string of bombings in Iraq would not delay the US military withdrawal. He told Agence France Presse, “It would be good for Al-Qaeda if US forces stayed in Iraq, because they could justify their kidnappings, bombings and killings . . .” Aljazeera English reports […]

The Afghan government says that it will amend a recently passed law that puts Afghanistan’s Shiites under the law of their branch of Islam for personal status purposes. The law allowed marital rape and detracted from the rights of women in other ways, as well. The government’s pledge to amend the law so as to […]

A parked car bomb in the northern oil city of Kirkuk killed 10 policemen in a passing convoy and wounded 20 other persons on Wednesday. Kirkuk is the object of a lively struggle among Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen. The Kurdistan Regional Government wants to annex it, and struggles over the status of Kurdistan have delayed […]