Middle East

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has made no secret of his dismay that the Obama administration is entering into what look like serious negotiations with Iran over the latter’s nuclear enrichment program. Israeli hawks such as Netanyahu want the US to bomb the Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities in Natanz near Isfahan and in Fordow near […]

Iran

Is Iran out of the US War Queue? The Twilight of the Hawks

Juan Cole

The short telephone conversation between US President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Friday may or may not lead to a successful diplomatic resolution of US-Iranian conflicts, especially over Tehran’s nuclear enrichment program. But if it does, how will the hawks in Washington survive? The US is an unusually war-like country. Since 1963 […]

Syria

Where did Syria get its Chemical Weapons in the First Place? (Brühl)

Juan Cole

Jannis Brühl writes at ProPublica In the wake of a recent Russian-U.S. deal averting American airstrikes, Syria has begun to answer questions about its chemical weapons stockpile. One thing inspectors don’t have the mandate to ask is where those weapons came from in the first place. But evidence already out there suggests Syria got crucial […]

Climate Change

With a Solar Minimum and La Nina’s, Why isn’t it Really, Really Cold?

Juan Cole

2013 is witnessing another year of very low sunspot activity, showing that we are in a years-long solar minimum. It may not last much longer, but something is going on more than just the usual drop in solar activity every 11 years. Even that 11-year cycle affects the weather. But we’ve seen remarkably low sunspot […]

Afghanistan

Dear President Obama: Some American Exceptionalism is nothing to be Proud Of (Engelhardt)

Juan Cole

Tom Engelhardt writes at Tomdispatch.com “But when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death, and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should act. That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional. With humility, but with resolve, let us never […]

al-Qaeda

Taliban on the Euphrates: Syria fighters Dump Moderate SNC, Aim for Fundamentalist State

Juan Cole

The pan-Arab daily al-Hayat [Life] reports that 14 bands of fighters in Syria have broken with the moderate Syrian National Council led by Ahmad al-Jarba and have repudiated its Free Syrian Army. The importance of this development should not be underestimated. It will throw a scare into Baghdad and Amman, and will provoke serious thought […]

Iran

US, UN Sanctions on Iran Hurt Most Vulnerable

Juan Cole

In smug Washington-speak, US ‘sanctions’ on Iran have forced it to the negotiating table, making it possible to ‘stop’ the Iranian ‘nuclear weapons program.’ Even President Obama has started talking this way. They leave out the story of the children who die because they can’t afford medicine. The US doesn’t just have sanctions on Iran, […]

Iran

Iranian President Rouhani acknowledges Holocaust as Crime against Jewish People

Juan Cole

The speech of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to the UNGA pledged that Iran has no nuclear weapons program and said that Iran never would. The new Iranian president said he was committed to a time-bound set of negotiations over the country’s nuclear enrichment program. His remarks were encouraging, but unspecific about the ways he could […]

Iran

Is Iran Ready to do a Deal with Obama over its Nuclear Program?

Juan Cole

The United States, France, Germany, the UK, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE form a bloc that are convinced that Iran’s nuclear enrichment program is intended ultimately to produce a bomb. Iran maintains that the program is solely intended to produce fuel for nuclear reactors, which will allow it to avoid using its petroleum for […]