Featured

Vancouver (Feature, Special to Informed Comment) – It’s true – Russian president Vladimir Putin is a war criminal. As I wrote when the conflict with Ukraine began: “the attack on Ukraine was a clear violation of international law, and there is absolutely no excuse for this invasion.” In fact, launching a war of aggression is […]

Featured

No, Mr. Smotrich, Palestinians are not New in History, and all Nationalisms are Modern, including the Israeli

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Bezalel Smotrich in a speech in Paris over the weekend maintained that there are no Palestinians and that the whole notion of Palestine is no older than a century. This cliocide, a form of genocide involving wiping out the history of a people, has been a common narrative among Zionists […]

China

Juan Cole: The Meaning of Historic China-Brokered Deal Between Saudi Arabia and Iran (Robert Scheer Interview)

Juan Cole

Transcript of Interview from Scheerpost , where you can also find the audio if you want to listen to the interview. Host: Robert Scheer | Producer: Joshua Scheer | – Transcript Robert Scheer: Hi, this is Robert Scheer with another edition of Scheer Intelligence, where the intelligence comes from my guests and someone I’ve had […]

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Why the Int’l Criminal Court’s Arrest Warrant for Putin should make Israeli PM Netanyahu Afraid, Very Afraid

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The specific statute under which the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on war crimes concerned The Rome Statute, 8, 2, a, (vii) “Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement” and (viii) “Taking of hostages.” ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim A. Khan, a prominent British […]

Bush

20 Years Ago, the Bush Administration Launched the Iraq War: Juan Cole: “I Have a Bad Feeling About This”

Juan Cole

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War, here are some brief blog entries Juan Cole made in the run-up to the war expressing caution and pessimism about the triumphalist rhetoric issuing from the White House and many US news organizations. Juan Cole 01/28/2003 (Remarks delivered in late 2002). The Journal of the International […]

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A Crucial Year: Turkey at a Turning Point

Marc Martorell Junyent

Reviews of Gönül Tol, Erdoğan’s War: A Strongman’s Struggle at Home and in Syria (London: Hurst and Co., 2022) and Dimitar Bechev, Turkey Under Erdoğan: How a Country Turned from Democracy and the West (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2022). Augsburg, Germany (Feature: Special to Informed Comment) – At the beginning of […]

Authoritarianism

Iranians are done with Kings and Ayatollahs, and look back to Mosaddegh for a Way forward

Fariba Amini

Newark, Delaware (Feature — Special to Informed Comment) – The debate over the coup 1953 still lingers on especially now that there are discussions whether the Shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, after forming a coalition with a few opposition figures, might even seek the return of monarchy, the monarchy which ended in 1979. On Facebook, clubhouse […]

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Israeli President cautions against Complacency and Warns of Real Possibility of Civil War

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – All of a sudden, civil war is on the minds of prominent Israeli politicians, who warn that if the current impasse between the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Israeli people is not resolved, it could come to that. Last Sunday an estimated half a million demonstrators came […]

Featured

Boycotters of Israel were denounced as Antisemites, but now 255 US Jewish Businessmen Threaten to pull Investments over Netanyahu’s Plan to gut Courts

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Times of Israel reports that 255 American Jewish businessmen, who have billions of dollars invested in the country, have warned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that they will cease investing in Israel if he goes forward with his plans to gut the Israeli judiciary. The huge irony is that pro-Israeli […]