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Featured

Featured
Bernie Sanders: Give Aid to Gaza; & It isn't  Anti-Semitism to Say Netanyahu Gov't Racist

Bernie Sanders: Give Aid to Gaza; & It isn’t Anti-Semitism to Say Netanyahu Gov’t Racist

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Bernie Sanders has almost single-handedly changed the discourse on Israel in the Democratic Party and in the United States more generally. But his appearance at the J-Street conference was a further tour de force, and the positions he has staked out clearly have put pressure on the other Democratic candidates […]

al-Qaeda
Death of al-Baghdadi: ISIS Grew Out of U.S. Invasion of Iraq: Cole @ Democracy Now!

Death of al-Baghdadi: ISIS Grew Out of U.S. Invasion of Iraq: Cole @ Democracy Now!

Democracy Now!

Democracy Now! | Video Interview and Transcript | – Amy Goodman kindly had me on Democracy Now! Monday to discuss the US raid that killed ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and its broader context in Middle Eastern and US politics. Transcript below the video. Democracy Now! “Death of al-Baghdadi: ISIS Grew Out of U.S. Invasion […]

al-Qaeda
US Militarism, having Provoked ISIL into Being, Kills Cult Leader Baghdadi

US Militarism, having Provoked ISIL into Being, Kills Cult Leader Baghdadi

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” the nom de guerre of the notorious Iraqi terrorist Ibrahim al-Samarrai, is dead, killed in a US special forces raid on his compound in Syria’s northwest Idlib province. Declared a “caliph” in 2014, this minor cultist helped turn the Fertile Crescent into a charnel house. From a […]

Featured
Did US Officials Manipulate Trump into Sending Back Troops from Iraq to Syria "for the oil"?

Did US Officials Manipulate Trump into Sending Back Troops from Iraq to Syria “for the oil”?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) | – NBC reports that a US convoy of light armored vehicles carrying special operations forces has been sighted heading from Iraq into northeast Syria and then south to the oil-rich Deir al-Zor province, with attack helicopters hovering above. You have to wonder if the Kurds pelted them with rotten vegetables […]

Donald Trump
Iran seeks to Take advantage of Trump's Exit from Syria to become Diplomatic Power Broker

Iran seeks to Take advantage of Trump’s Exit from Syria to become Diplomatic Power Broker

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – How has Trump’s impetuous invitation to Turkey to invade Syria and displace America’s allies against ISIL, the Syrian Kurds, issued nearly two weeks ago, been taken advantage of by Iran? It should be noted in the first instance that Iran has its own restive Kurdish province and is no more […]

Donald Trump
New War for Oil? Trump to Occupy Oil-Rich Syrian Province with Tank Corps, Asks for Kurdish Displacement There

New War for Oil? Trump to Occupy Oil-Rich Syrian Province with Tank Corps, Asks for Kurdish Displacement There

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump said he talked to Syrian Democratic Forces leader Gen. Mazloum Abdi on Thursday. As usual, Trump’s report of the conversation is marred by outright lies and bizarre allegations. He said, I really enjoyed my conversation with General @MazloumAbdi. He appreciates what we have done, and I appreciate what the […]

Donald Trump
Did Trump just reward Turkish Pres. Erdogan for Obeying Putin?

Did Trump just reward Turkish Pres. Erdogan for Obeying Putin?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I asked last week how it could be that Trump greenlighted the Turkish invasion of northern Syrian and the ethnic cleansing of Syrian Kurds along the Turkish border, but at the same time announced sanctions on Turkey for doing just that. On Wednesday, Trump announced that there wouldn’t be any […]

Donald Trump
Unlike Trump, Putin faces down Turkey on Plans for Massive Syria Incursion

Unlike Trump, Putin faces down Turkey on Plans for Massive Syria Incursion

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – With Trump and his special operations troops out of Syria, it fell to Russia to deal with Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria to push back from its border the leftist Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Trump has not only become irrelevant, but the troops formerly stationed in Syria now seem […]

Featured
As Netanyahu Era Ends in Israel, Anti-Arab Racism Causes Political Deadlock

As Netanyahu Era Ends in Israel, Anti-Arab Racism Causes Political Deadlock

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Former Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the far right Likud Party, has failed to form a government. His rival, former general Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White party, will now get a chance. In the US, the two big parties make their coalitions before the election, […]

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