Informed Comment - Part 1839

China’s New Soft Power: Transformers 4, X-Men & Hollywood

By Chris Homewood, University of Leeds What do The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Godzilla have in common? Aside from belonging […]

contributors

Iran

How are Iran’s Special Forces intervening in Iraq?

By Golnaz Esfandiari To help Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government battle militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Iran could […]

contributors

Climate Change

Unitarians divest from Fossil Fuels: Clear Commitment on Climate Change

By Robyn Purchia In some good new in the fight against climate change, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) passed a resolution calling for divestment of […]

contributors

Featured

In Midst of Tikrit Campaign, al-Maliki refuses to step Down

By Juan Cole Despite the Iraqi parliament’s failure to reach a quorum on Tuesday, in a clear slap in the face to Prime Minister Nouri […]

Juan Cole

India

Inside the Mosul of the ‘Islamic State’: Manhunts, Salafi Coercion and Fired Christians

Niqash | Special Correspondent | Mosul | It has been several weeks since Sunni Muslim extremists took over the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Locals […]

contributors

Algeria

Algerian Soccer/ Football and the Black Box of French History

By Francis Ghilès Senior Research Fellow, CIDOB When Algeria qualified for the knockout stage of the World Cup by winning against Russia, the Algerian press […]

contributors

Barack Obama

If you read Boing Boing, the NSA considers you a target for deep surveillance

By Cory Doctorow via Boing Boing In a shocking story on the German site Tagesschau (Google translate), Lena Kampf, Jacob Appelbaum and John Goetz report […]

contributors

Apartheid

Americans need to Answer: When Will Palestinians get their Fourth of July?

By Juan Cole Americans are commemorating the Fourth of July today, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The grievances that the four million inhabitants […]

Juan Cole

science