By Juan Cole President Obama admitted on CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday that the US had underestimated the military potential of ISIL. Obama understands that a generational struggle is going on in the Middle East, but some of his comments in the interview seemed to me to show insufficient appreciation for the true nature of […]
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Featured
Iraq: Shiites Paralyzed by infighting as ISIL menaces Baghdad
By Juan Cole The pan-Arab London daily “al-Sharq al-Awsat” [The Middle East] is reporting from a source inside the new Iraqi government that former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, now one of three largely symbolic vice presidents, is attempting to undermine his successor, Haydar al-Abadi. Al-Abadi has abolished the office or rank of “general commander of […]
Is Mahmoud Abbas right that Israel is Guilty of War Crimes, Genocide in Gaza?
By Juan Cole: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday at the United Nations that Israel was guilty of war crimes in Gaza and even “genocide.” The US and Israel condemned his speech as “offensive” but did not condemn Israel policy toward Palestinians in Gaza as offensive. Palestinian Leader In New UN Bid To End Occupation […]
US strikes ISIL oil fields in Quest to Defund it: But will it Replace oil with Fracking?
By Juan Cole Sawt al-Iraq [Voice of Iraq] reports that during the past two days, Saudi, UAE and American fighter jets attacks small oil refineries originally built for Syria by Turkey, which had been run by ISIL in Deir Ezzor. the day before yesterday the allies struck 12 refineries that ISIL had been in control […]
Syrian Media Hail America as Damascus Ally, Support UN Ban on Foreign Fighters
by Juan Cole Aljazeera Arabic reports on the reaction in Syria to US air strikes against ISIL, which included attacks on Wednesday on their oil installations, an important revenue stream for the terrorist organization. It turns out that the Damascus press is giving President Obama an uncomfortable embrace. This kind of talk is deadly to […]
Syrian regime Propaganda coup as Israel Downs Syrian Plane over Golan
By Juan Cole Israel shot down a Syrian MiG fighter jet on Tuesday, saying it had penetrated into Israeli airspace over the Golan Heights. The regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad took little time to imply that the Israelis were thus protecting the al-Nusra Front, instead of joining in the fight against al-Qaeda offshoots. The […]
Shock & Awe In Syria: It never Works
By Juan Cole The London pan-Arab daily “Hayat” [Life] reports this morning on the air strikes conducted on ISIL positions in Raqqah, Syria, by the United States and several Arab allies. The Syrian government acknowledged that the US gave fair warning it would bomb Raqqah to the Syrian ambassador to the UN. That is, the […]
NYC Climate Demo: Top 5 Massive Rallies that had no Effect
By Juan Cole Don’t get me wrong. I am all for demonstrating and admire everyone who came out in New York City on Sunday (some 400,000 according to Time magazine) to demand that world leaders deal urgently with climate change. But I just do have to point out that holding large rallies doesn’t always result […]
The Arab Political Crisis: It isn’t a Matter of Civilization and it isn’t Unique
By Juan Cole Hisham Melhem has a piece on what he calls the collapse of Arab civilization. The piece is riddled with contradictions and fuzzy thinking and with all due respect to Milhem, who is a knowledgeable and experienced correspondent, I am going to disagree with it vehemently. I think he is arguing that Arabs […]
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