Book Review: Vali Nasr, “Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History”, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2025). Munich (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The Islamic Republic […]
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Egypt: Military Pulls the Strings (Tahrir Graffitti)
Photograph by Juan Cole of graffiti, Tahrir Square, mid-May 2012, showing the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces as the puppeteer of Egyptian politics. (Since […]
Syrian Baath Escalates, Uses Jets to Bomb Aleppo
When I was interviewed by the BBC last week about rebel advances in Damascus, I cautioned that putting some armed bands in some neighborhoods would […]
Romney, and Aryan Racial Theory as a basis for Foreign Policy
I heard Mitt Romney’s tepid and unremarkable foreign policy speech, which had a lot of posturing but no substance, on Tuesday. I was taken aback […]
Dear Fox Cable News: Muhammad Morsi is not the new Prime Minister of Egypt (I know you don’t really care, just sayin’)
Egypt’s president, Muhammad Morsi, appointed a new prime minister today, Hisham Qandil. Given that Fox Cable News spends its time falsifying video of president Obama […]
Zorah in a Yellow Robe (Matisse Painting)
. Henri Matisse, Zorah: La Robe Jaune. Oil on Canvass. Morocco, 1912. Collection Cowles it has been argued that Matisse stepped back, on his first […]
Cole Twitter, Facebook,, Email, Books (Repeat)
Some book keeping for new readers. Subscribe to postings by email here You can follow the blog via Twitter @jricole. The Facebook Informed Comment fan […]
The Three Lies Michele Bachmann Tells about American Muslims (Saunders)
Doug Saunders writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: The Three Myths About Muslims That Have Poisoned American Politics The attacks on two of […]
Omar Khayyam (196) “I’m going to completely divorce reason and religion”
I’m going to murder my grief with a bottle of […]
Tunis: View of Coast from Sidi Bu Said (Photograph)
Photograph by Juan Cole, May, 2012
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