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Anton Lavrov, a military analyst, writes in the pro-Putin Russian newspaper Izvestia that the withdrawal of US troops from northeast Syria will mainly affect the fate of the Kurds (via BBC Monitoring). He notes that the US has provided the YPG with armored vehicles and antitank missiles and a great deal of ammunition. These medium […]

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Shiite Parties Decry Trump’s ‘Arrogant’ and ‘Disdainful’ Visit to Iraq, Ignoring Iraqis

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump’s surprise visit to a US military base in Iraq on the day after Christmas has provoked a strong critique among some Iraqis, who mind that Trump slipped in and out to visit the Ain al-Assad base in al-Anbar Province but did not bother to meet with any Iraqi officials. […]

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Biggest Stories of 2018: Israel announced Apartheid, Shot Thousands of Civilians

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – 2018 was in many ways a turning point for the position of Israel in the system of Western, liberal, capitalist democracies. It had long sat uneasily among France, Britain, and the United States, inasmuch as it was founded on a formal racial supremacist principle that Jews must rule the state. […]

Assyrians

Middle East Christians, with the population of Sweden, Celebrate Christmas

Juan Cole

I do a column like this one from time to time, fighting back against the ‘veil of tears’ approach to the study of Middle Eastern Christians. Some have argued that Christianity is declining in the Middle East, and this allegation is certainly true in some ways and in some places. If Egyptian Christians declined from […]

Christianity

Christmas and Sufism: Rumi on the Nativity and the Christ Within

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The great medieval Muslim mystic and poet, Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273), interpreted the birth of Jesus as an allegory of the soul. Rumi was born in Balkh in northern Afghanistan, but his family fled the Mongol invasions and settled in Konya in what is now Turkey. Rumi was a refugee […]

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With Trump leaving, Syrian Kurds seeking Support of Damascus, Moscow against Turkey

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Secretary of Defense James Mattis resigned on Thursday in part because he felt his president was violating the code of the Marines, that no man should be left behind. In abruptly pulling out of Syria, Trump was abandoning the Syrian Kurds, the only allies the US could find in the […]

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Putin: ISIL Defeated; “Right” for “unneeded” US Military to Depart Syria

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sarah Sanders, Trump’s spokesperson, alleged that the Russians are unhappy with Trump decision to get out of Syria. As usual, Ms. Sanders is building sandcastles in the sky with no foundation. BBC Monitoring reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at a news conference on Dec. 20 on Rossiya 1 […]

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Mattis was no Shining Knight: From backing Yemen War to Whitewashing Khashoggi Murder

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment): Official Washington was horrified at the resignation on Thursday of Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who wrote Trump a letter (below) that said “Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right […]

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A New Middle East: Winners and Losers from Trump’s Abrupt Syria Withdrawal

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump shook up the Washington establishment and Middle Eastern and world politics on Wednesday by abruptly announcing by Tweet a full and immediate withdrawal of US military forces from northeast Syria. Trump’s motives for what he does are never easy to fathom. He may have been driven by a desire […]