Juan Cole

A US predator drone hit a guest house of supporters of Baitullah Mahsud in South Waziristan on Saturday, killing about 20 persons and wounding 15. Mahsud is the leader of the Movement of Pakistani Taliban Those killed were mostly foreign fighters, especially Arabs and Uzbeks. NATO and the Karzai government blame Pakistani tribal agencies like […]

A female suicide bomber detonated her payload in Musayyib on Friday in a tent of pilgrims taking a rest from their walk to the holy city of Karbala, killing 40 persons and wounding 80. The pilgrims were heading to the tomb of Imam Husayn, the martyred grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, in honor of the […]

After attacks on Shiite pilgrims killed 20 on Wednesday, Thursday saw another violent day in Iraq, with bombings in Mosul, a gas cylinder explosion in Karbala and other violence that left 12 dead. McClatchy discerns a return of the Baath Party in new guises in Iraq, with Salih Mutlak’s National Iraqi Project, which did well […]

A coordinated attack in Kabul on two government offices that involved the detonation of two big bombs, killed 20 and wounded 57. The assault shook the Afghan capital Wednesday on the eve of the arrival of President Obama’s special envoy, Richard Holbrooke. The brazen attack was clearly intended to undermine confidence in the government of […]

The outcome of the Israeli election has sounded the death knell for the two-state solution. There are not 61 votes for it in the new Knesset of 120 seats. A good 64 of the just-elected and/or re-elected Members of Parliament favor accelerated Israeli colonization of the West Bank and oppose Palestinian statehood. Most militant of […]

The USG Open Source Center translates Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech offering talks with the United States. ‘Ahmadinezhad Tells US If You Truly Want To Fight Terrorism, Cooperate With IranA speech by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad to a rally of thousands at Tehran’s Freedom Square, to mark the 30th anniversary of the Revolution — liveVision […]

Mitchel Cohen writes in a guest op-ed for IC: All it takes is dragging myself to one local Democratic Party meeting, even one hosted by a progressive and Green-friendly State Assembly member like Bill Colton (47 A.D. – Bensonhurst), to make me again realize two things: 1) How important regular local meetings are for congealing […]

Reuters says that Israel’s elections on Tuesday are too close to call. Binyamin Netanyahu of the far right Likud Party had been the front runner, but the race has recently been tightening. Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu, a far, far-right faction that advocates ethnically cleansing Palestinians, has been drawing votes away from the Likud. If the […]

Chuck Todd thinks that the Great Crash of 2008-2009 was caused by consumer spending??? What the hell? ‘OBMAMA: All right, Chuck Todd. Where’s Chuck? Question: Thank you, Mr. President. In your opening remarks, you talked about that, if your plan works the way you want it to work, it’s going to increase consumer spending. But […]