Middle East

Peter Van Buren writes at Tomdispatch.com Once again, we find ourselves at the day after 9/11, and this time America stands alone. Alone not only in our abandonment even by our closest ally, Great Britain, but in facing a crossroads no less significant than the one we woke up to on September 12, 2001. The past 12 […]

Syria

Top Ten things Americans need to Know about Syria if they’re going to Threaten to Bomb It

Juan Cole

Ambrose Bierce is said to be the author of the saying “War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” Despite the vigorous national debate about intervening in Syria, there is some reason to think that most Americans could not find it on a map. Here are some key points about Syria that this blog has […]

Government surveillance

US NSA Gives Israel Raw Intelligence on US Citizens (Chamberlain)

Juan Cole

Jacob Chamberlain writes at Commondreams.org The National Security Agency openly shares unfiltered intelligence files with the Israeli government, according to a classified document leaked to the Guardian newspaper by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. As the Guardian reports Wednesday, the NSA memorandum details an "intelligence-sharing agreement" between the two countries and shows that the "US government […]

Syria

President Obama’s Doubtful Grounds for Military Action against Syria

Juan Cole

In his speech to the nation on Tuesday evening, President Obama laid out his case for military action against Syria, even as he hit the ‘pause’ button to allow for further diplomacy in light of the Russian proposal to sequester Syria’s chemical weapons. I don’t disagree that units of the Syrian military deployed chemical weapons […]

Syria

How US Grand Strategy in Syria led to the idea of Missile Strikes

Juan Cole

Are there any grand strategy considerations behind the Obama administration’s desire to bomb Syria? Yes, though they rest on doubtful premises. The increasing importance of al-Qaeda-linked radical Sunni fundamentalist groups to the civil war in the north of Syria has posed a dilemma for the Obama administration, which began calling for the ouster of President […]

Syria

Congress Could now Alter our Militarized approach to the Middle East– But likely Won’t (Bacevich)

Juan Cole

Andrew J. Bacevich writes at Tomdispatch Sometimes history happens at the moment when no one is looking. On weekends in late August, the president of the United States ought to be playing golf or loafing at Camp David, not making headlines. Yet Barack Obama chose Labor Day weekend to unveil arguably the most consequential foreign […]

Gulf

Can you Pass the Qatar Quiz? (Rudolph)

Juan Cole

CAN YOU PASS THE QATAR QUIZ? By Jeffrey Rudolph Qatar, once one of the poorest Persian Gulf states, has become one of the region’s wealthiest countries and also one of the most active in regional affairs. However, Qatar, like the other Gulf states, faces meaningful internal and external challenges, which require more than energy wealth […]

Syria

When Syria was a US Ally (or at Least Helpful)

Juan Cole

One of George Orwell’s keenest insights in 1984 is the kaleidoscopic character of modern state-to-state relations, wherein countries go from being allies to enemies and back again, and government spokesmen and the press report on each situation (friendship or enmity) as though it was eternal. As the US prepares a possible missile attack on Syria, […]

Israel

American Jews Divided on Syria Strike, Many Oppose AIPAC

Juan Cole

That the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is pushing Congress toward attacking Syria is no secret. As usual, however, AIPAC is out of touch with Jewish Americans. There is a good reason for which the proper diction for AIPAC is “an Israel lobby” rather than “a Jewish lobby.” AIPAC doesn’t represent the views of […]