History

“Russia’s role in Iranian history since the nineteenth century is well known, to be sure. But especially for the period until World War I, it tends to be narrated in a patterned and somewhat reductionist manner, typically through the lens of the ‘Great Game,’ with Iran a mere buffer state between Russia and Great Britain, […]

Archaeology

Genetic Study shows “Phoenicians,” like all “Nations” were a Multi-Ethnic Franchise

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Harald Ringbauer et al. writing in Nature report on a genetic study of the ancient Phoenicians that is really going to anger Lebanese Christian nationalists. In fact, it contains a profound lesson for nationalists and nationalism in general, which is that the whole thing is a scam thought up in […]

Archaeology

Genetic Study finds Echoes of the Early Modern Ethnic Cleansing of Spain’s Muslims

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A genetic history study of Spain by Gonzalo Oteo-Garcia et al. in Genome Biology eloquently confirms the story of the great seventeenth-century ethnic cleansing of the remaining crypto-Muslims of Spain. As Mar Jonsson writes in his 2007 “The expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain in 1609–1614: the destruction of an […]

Colonialism

500 Years of Inflicted Horrors, from the New World to Israel

Greg Grandin

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Leon Golub once related a story to a mutual friend. A Chicago artist famous for large canvases depicting crimson torture rooms in Central America, Golub had been asked what it meant to him to be a “Jewish political artist.” The painter’s quick reply was that he wasn’t a “Jewish political artist,” he […]

Arab World

The Making of the Modern Middle East: Juan Cole on History, Politics, and Today’s Turmoil – Tamooda Interview

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Juan Cole interviewed by Martin Asser at Tamooda : “The Making of the Modern Middle East: Juan Cole on History, Politics, and Today’s Turmoil” According to LinkedIn, “ TAMOODA is a new digital, independent, liberal, and secular platform in the Arab world for opinion. It is is a non-profit initiative […]

Colonialism

Back to the Bad old Days of Empire and Self-Destructive Tariffs: Trump as McKinley Redux

Hugh J. Curran

Orono, Maine (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Among tariffs, territorial ambitions and other threats to America’s well-being by Pres. Trump, one of the more severethreats may be his willful ignorance concerning the severity of climate change. Michael Mann, one of America’s most highly regarded climatologists, noted that the Trump Administration has given polluters and fossil fuel promoters, “the keys to the fossil fuel car […]

Germany

Weimar’s Lesson: It’s the Violence, Not the Speech

Jeffrey Rudolph

( Detailed Political Quizzes ) – As comparisons between contemporary American politics and the rise of the Nazi Party are frequently invoked in the media, it’s crucial to draw one specific lesson from the history of Weimar Germany, the democratic state that existed from 1918 to 1933. The rise of Hitler and the Nazis was […]

Colonialism

Palestine Through the Lens: A Visual Chronicle of a Vibrant Society (1898-1946)

Middle East Monitor

Book Author(s): G. Eric and Edith Matson Published Date: 2023 Publisher: Karama Paperback: 215 pages ISBN-13: 9798885892421 by Jamal Kanj ( Middle East Monitor ) – This is a review of an exceptional photo book, Images of Palestine (1898-1946). The book is a collection of photographs that spans nearly five decades, captured in the period […]

Cold War

Trump, an American Stalin? Massive Population Transfers were a Feature of Communist Dictatorship

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump’s proposal to ethnically cleanse Gaza of its 2.3 million Palestinians constitutes a profound reversal of post-1945 U.S. norms, which condemned such mass relocations of indigenous populations. It is the sort of thing Soviet dictator Josef Stalin used to do, and Trump has to decide if he wants his legacy […]