Middle East

Iranian expatriates don’t agree on much. But as this video interview with a range of high-powered thinkers by the National Iranian-American Council shows, they all agree that the very severe US sanctions, which amount to a kind of financial blockade, are harming ordinary Iranians and not the regime.

Iraq

What we Did to Iraq

Juan Cole

Sunni radicals hit Baghdad Tuesday morning on the anniversary of the beginning of the US war on Iraq, killing over 50 people in attacks on soft targets (shopkeepers, pedestrians) in Shiite areas of the capital. They were signaling their continued die-hard opposition to the new Iraq, which is dominated by Shiite political parties, in which […]

Arab World

UAE Launches 100 Megawatt Solar Energy Plant, Largest in Mideast

Juan Cole

Although the Gulf makes its way in life by selling petroleum, countries like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates don’t engage in that sordid game of the American rich, of climate-change denial. The emirs are in no doubt about its dangers to their region and the need to use their current wealth to move to […]

Iraq

What we Lost: Top Ten Ways the Iraq War Harmed the US

Juan Cole

As the tenth anniversary of the launching of the Iraq War approaches, I’ll be making some comments about the episode at this blog, which for the years 2003-2010 intensively covered events in Iraq. A decade is long enough for some things to become clear. The first set of issues I want to discuss has to […]

Iraq

Iraq’s Teens Drowning in Hopelessness (Arwa Damon)

Juan Cole

CNN’s Arwa Damon reports from Baghdad on the sense of hopelessness among even upper-class Iraqi teens today. AFP gives support to Ms. Damon’s findings: a 2011 poll of Iraqi men under 30 found that 89% of them wanted to emigrate from the country. A more upbeat treatment by the Associated Press turns out to depend […]

Israel/ Palestine

Remembering Rachel Corrie, 10 Years Later

Juan Cole

Rachel Corrie’s parents speak out on the tenth anniversary of her killing by the Israeli operator of a military bulldozer, who ran over her as he approached a Palestinian home he intended to demolish. There were two men in the cockpit, one to observe and the other to drive the machine. Rachel risked her her […]

Egypt

Pope Francis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Women’s Equality: Why Must Religion be Patriarchal?

Juan Cole

The selection of the new pope was carried out by a conclave of elderly men, and the only candidates were men. The new pope is a staunch social conservative who opposes women’s ordination as priests and women’s right to control their own bodies and limit family size, key issues for women’s health and well-being. It […]

Iraq War

Falsity of Nuclear Accusation against Iraq Was Known before Bush’s Invasion

Juan Cole

As we approach the ten year anniversary of the launching of George W. Bush’s war on Iraq, it is worth my pointing out that I concluded even before the war began that the main rationale then given for it, Iraq’s alleged nuclear weapons program, was a fiction. I was following the inspectors which Bush had […]

Syria

Syrian Regime running out of Troops as Britain Threatens to arm Rebels

Juan Cole

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday that he would veto the renewal of a European Union ban on weapons exports to Syria, and hinted that Britain might go it alone in supplying rebels with arms. The Syrian opposition wants the ban lifted, arguing that the rebels would benefit more than the regime (which is […]