By Juan Cole | Informed Comment | – – The Arabic press is reporting that a high Chinese official on a visit to Damascus has announced that Beijing intends to strengthen its military relationship with the current Syrian government. At the same time he affirmed that China would avoid involvement in the civil war. Reuters […]
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Featured
Does this Change Everything? Russia’s first strikes on Syria from Iran Airbases
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Russian bombers for the first time have taken off from bases in Iran to carry out air strikes on rebel targets in Syria. The US military is complaining that under a Russian agreement with the US, it was supposed to get a timely notification of Russia […]
Trump and Extreme Vetting of Muslims
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In an attempt at a foreign policy speech in Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday, Donald Trump attempted to get back to his fearmongering roots by focusing on the threat of ISIL, which he depicted as a hydra-headed menace with tentacles in a range of Western countries including […]
Top 5 Ways Olympian Ibtihaj Muhammad is a Better American than Trump
Ibtihaj Muhammad, the first American woman athlete to compete in the Olympics wearing the hijab or Muslim head-covering, is a fatal complication to Donald Trump’s Islamophobia. Opening Ceremonies! One of the best days of my life! #TeamUSA?? pic.twitter.com/nbV1kEWO9g — Ibtihaj Muhammad (@IbtihajMuhammad) August 6, 2016 Ms. Muhammad shared in a team bronze medal in the […]
People in Syria’s Manbij Rejoice by Shaving, throwing off Veil as ISIL fighters Flee
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – People in Syria’s norther town of Manbij, now entirely liberated from the rule of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), rejoiced on Saturday. Men shaved their beards (which had been imposed on them by the fundamentalists) and women threw off their burqas (full-face veils) and burned them. The burqa […]
ISIL fighter number falls to 15,000 as Manbij capture Cuts off Route to Europe
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | AP is reporting that Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland maintains that the number of ISIL fighters in Syria and Iraq is in steep decline, having fallen to as little as 15,000, down from 25,000 at the organization’s height. In Iraq the organization has lost Tikrit, Beiji, Mt. Sinjar, Sinjar, […]
Monsters to Destroy: Top 7 Reasons the US could not have forestalled Syrian Civil War
by Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The interventionist temptation, muted since the Iraq imbroglio, is now returning. Sec. Clinton’s team are already talking about taking steps to remove Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad from office as soon as they get into the White House. An excellent and principled NYT columnist called the non-intervention […]
No, Obama did not found ISIL, Mr. Trump: That was the GOP
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump in his daily free association exercise accused President Obama of creating Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) in Iraq by withdrawing troops from that country in 2011. It is an accusation he has in past made against Sec. Clinton, but now he is shifting blame to Obama. Obama […]
Trump threatens Sec. Clinton with Gun Nuts, imitates Tinpot 3rd World Regimes
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Donald Trump said Tuesday there was nothing that his supporters could do if Hillary Clinton won and got “to pick her judges.” Then he “thought” a moment and amended his pessimism: “Though the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.” Former CIA director Michael […]
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