Juan Cole

The selection of rightwing expansionist Binyamin Netanyahu to form the next Israeli government is being greeted with dismay by the Egyptian government, which remembers him for having derailed the Oslo peace process in the late 1990s. Netanyahu has vowed to abandon negotiations with the Palestinians, and says he will expand the program of Israeli colonization […]

Sunni fundamentalists used a suicide bombing to attack a Shiite funeral in the western Punjabi town of Dera Ismail Khan on Friday, killing 32 and wounding 145. Here is video from Pakistani television: Angry Shiite crowds went on a rampage against Sunnis in the city. The Pakistani authorities stepped in to impose a curfew. The […]

In a major blow for the US and NATO military effort in Afghanistan, the parliament of Kyrgyzstan voted Thursday formally to end US use of Manas Air Force base to resupply troops in nearby Afghanistan. With the effective closure of the Khyber Pass route into Afghanistan from Pakistan, this step endangers the logistics supply line […]

Murtaza Haidar shares with IC his letter to the editor of the MIT International Review [pdf] Gillespie et al. Finding Osama Bin Laden : An application of biogeographic theories and satellite imagery. MIT International Review. Feb 17, 2009. Dear Editors and founders of the MIT International Review: Professors Gillespie et al. while writing in MIT […]

McClatchy is alarmed at the rapid deterioration of relations between Kurds and Arabs in the north of Iraq. The victory of the Sunni Arab nationalist party, al-Hadba’, in Ninevah Province has dealt a setback to the Kurds, who initially controlled the province’s governing council and whose paramilitary, the Peshmerga, was deployed in parts of the […]

President Barack Obama has decided to send 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, on the grounds that “the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan demands urgent attention”. Civilian deaths from political violence increased about 40% in 2008 over 2007, reaching over 2000. They will be sent to the Pushtun south and east of the country, where guerrilla […]

The US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) has issued a report on as much as $125 billion unaccounted-for reconstruction and military equipment money in Iraq. Patrick Cockburn at the Independent quotes a US businessman active in Iraq after the US invasion who observed that Iraq was looted alright, but the big looting did […]

The demonstrating crowds have gone home. The blog postings have tapered off. The pundits have moved on. Congress is back to its old tricks, ignoring public opinion in favor of the lobbyists and money men. The US public is worried about losing its job or getting back the one it lost. Gaza here is a […]

Blogs are not the best vehicles for narrow-casting, but for readers in my area, I wanted to bring to your attention The Ann Arbor Palestine Film Festival, which begins March 11 at the Michigan Theater. End/ (Not Continued)