Middle East

On Sunday, the elected Libyan National Congress acted decisively to hold a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur. The same body had put him in power on September 12, but had grown increasingly impatient with his lack of leadership qualities. They complained that he took too long to form a government, that […]

Iran

Israel Lobbyist suggests False Flag attack to start war with Iran

Juan Cole

Israel lobby flack Patrick Clawson strategizes how to trick the United States into going to war against Iran on behalf of Israel. The ‘Washington Institute for Near East Policy’ is itself one big false flag operation that uses ‘policy analysis’ to push far rightwing Israeli plans for perpetual war and Occupation in key US government […]

Iran

Iran Bazaar Strikes signal Misery, not Sanctions ‘Victory’

Juan Cole

On Wednesday, the Tehran covered bazaar was closed, and the traditional market in some other cities such as Mashhad also went on strike, with demonstrators protesting the collapse of the Iranian currency, the rial. Until last November, the rial was about 10,000 to the dollar. Then it fell to 12,000. Last summer it hit 16,000. […]

Afghanistan

Top Seven Errors President Obama has made on the Middle East

Juan Cole

Yesterday I explored the errors and fantasies in Gov. Mitt Romney’s WSJ op-ed on the Middle East. Here I will briefly go over the mistakes that the Obama administration has made in the region. Unlike the proposed blunders of Romney, I have to say, most of these are errors of omission or of an abundance […]

Afghanistan

Tom Ricks and The Generals: Why the US succeeded in WWII but not Since

Juan Cole

Tom Ricks, award-winning military journalist, gives the Nimitz Lecture on why the US military succeeded in WW II but had so much trouble in the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The book version is out shortly, Tom Ricks, The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today See also Ricks’s invaluable blog

Libya

Did Bashar al-Assad Betray Qaddafi?

Juan Cole

The polemicists of the fringe left and the far right who depict the Baathist regime in Syria as a beleagured victim of Western plotting may have to retool their noise machines. It turns out that the authoritarian government of Bashar joined with France to destroy Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi. An intelligence official for the Libyan rebels […]

Israel/ Palestine

Annals of Settler Colonialism (5): German Namibia #savagesunite

Juan Cole

The German settlers and authorities round up 13,000 of the remaining Herero. They put them in concentration camps, where 4,000 died of mistreatment. Almost all of the Herero were now in camps. Although the Israelis do have large prison camps where they hold thousands of Palestinians for engaging in resistance to Occupation, they haven’t put […]

Israel/ Palestine

Annals of Settler Colonialism (4) German Namiba #savagesunite

Juan Cole

German officers arrive in Southwest Africa from Berlin to deal with the Herero, whose rebellion has died down. Ordinarily a colonial state would now move to negotiations. But Gen. von Trotter had no intention of negotiating or compromising. The Herero were now doomed. Refusing to negotiate in good faith is common among settler colonialists. Being […]

Iraq War

Netanyahu 2002: Iraq has Centrifuges ‘the size of Washing Machines’ to Produce A-Bomb

Juan Cole

Israeli PM Binyamin “Chicken Little” Netanyahu tried to scaremonger about Iraq in 2002, as his contribution to the Anglo-American war of aggression on that country. “there is no question whatsoever,” Netanyahu said, “that Saddam” was seeking nuclear weapons. He said that Israeli intelligence reported to him that Russian scientists and North Korea were on site […]