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Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has announced that he will indict Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu on bribery and fraud charges. I think it should be underlined that two of the charges have to do with tampering with press coverage of the prime minister, which is to say, tampering with the Fourth Estate, one of […]

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Racism v. Racist: Why Brenda Lawrence and Rashida Tlaib are Right

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As I noted yesterday, in Michael Cohen’s opening statement during his public testimony to the House Oversight and Reform Committee, he alleged that Donald Trump is a racist, saying: ‘ He once asked me if I could name a country run by a black person that wasn’t a “shithole . […]

Donald Trump

Top Six Pieces of Dirt Cohen Dished on Trump in his Opening Statement

Juan Cole

Michael Dean Cohen’s prepared remarks for his public congressional testimony on Wednesday were obtained by Politico. Here are what struck me as the top 6 most egregious revelations about Trump’s venality: 1. Trump running for president was just a public relations stunt. He expected to benefit financially “Mr. Trump would often say, this campaign was […]

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A Victim of Trump? Iran’s Centrist Foreign Minister Mysteriously Forced Out

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif resigned via Instagram on Monday, apologizing for his inability to continue in office and for any shortcomings in his past service to the nation. A member of parliament said that Zarif had submitted letters of resignation to President Hassan Rouhani on several occasions but […]

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Not Trump’s America: On How the Oscars looked Like the Real America this Year

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump calls women he finds uppity “pigs,” he discriminated against African-American tenants, he slapped a visa ban on Muslims and Arabs, and he denigrates Mexican-Americans as rapists and drug dealers against whom he intends to build a wall. Trump’s America is a thin, diminished slice of the country, the barracuda […]

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Can AIPAC sell Netanyahu’s Kahanist Terrorists to Middle America?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – American television news, having fainted with the vapors at the very idea that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) might openly say that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobby for Israel that directs money to the campaigns of American politicians, has abruptly fallen silent on the issue of Israel’s […]

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Leftist Syrian Kurds Rejoice that Trump will Keep Hundreds of US Troops in Syria

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The left wing Democratic Union Party of Kurds in Northeast Syria and its paramilitary, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), warmly welcomed President Trump’s about-face and decision to keep at least 200 US troops in Syria on Friday. A YPG militia commander said that this American step “will prevent the region […]

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Israeli PM Netanyahu partners with Kahanist Terrorist Elements, seeking another Term

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday formed an electoral coalition with the extremist Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) Party, thus giving followers of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane a bigger role in Israel politics. Kahane, a major violent hate group leader, founded the Jewish Defense League, seen by the FBI […]

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How Kushner and other Key Trump Officials Plotted to Give Saudis the Atom Bomb in Return for Billions

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Reform has issued a Report on a plot to make billions of dollars by selling Saudi Arabia sensitive American nuclear technology that could allow the Kingdom to develop nuclear weapons. The scheme required breaking US law, which forbids technology transfers that might […]