Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The first recorded world-historical pandemic took place (541–750 CE) in the Roman Empire and Sasanian Iran, as well as neighboring […]
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“The Whirling Dervishes” by Mahmud Said (Painting)
Mahmoud Said (Egyptian, 1897-1964) The Whirling Dervishes signed and dated ‘M. SAID 1929’ (lower right) oil on panel 38 3/8 x 27½in. (97.5 x 69.8cm.) […]
Top Ten Reasons Fracking won’t Last Long
Proponents of natural gas fracturing and oil drilling are delirious with joy over the ability to recover shale gas, which has brought down world gas […]
The World’s Super-Rich have Stashed $21 Trillion in Offshore Accounts (Mathiason)
Nick Mathiason writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: Investigative economist James Henry exhaustively trawled through financial information held by the IMF, World Bank, Bank […]
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 […]
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