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Total number of comments: 1542 (since 2013-04-13 18:28:29)

Juan Cole

is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Website: http://juancole.com

Showing comments 300 - 201
Page: 16 15 14 ... 5 4 3 2 1

  • Egypt: Youth Remember Martyrs, Reject both Army and Muslim Brotherhood
    • Juan Cole 11/19/2013 at 12:18 pm with 4 replies

      There may be a point at which the Muslim Brotherhood gives up its inner Secret Apparatus and tries to join the democratic process. At the moment they've revealed themselves little different from the stealth Stalinists of the 1940s who made coups in eastern Europe from the covert positions into which they wormed themselves. I gave them the benefit of the doubt in 2012 and they behaved badly.

    • Juan Cole 11/19/2013 at 11:32 am with 1 replies

      The announcement of Mubarak's 'resignation' happened before Military Directive no. 1

    • Juan Cole 11/19/2013 at 11:31 am with 2 replies

      Matt also thinks Congress was wrong to move to impeach Nixon, who was legitimately elected twice.

  • Guinness World Record Day shows Human Spirit Indomitable and Silly
    • Juan Cole 11/17/2013 at 11:09 pm

      thanks Ron. But I'm 61 & this may be as good as it gets

  • 43 Dead, 500 Wounded in Tripoli attack by militia on peaceful Protesters
    • Juan Cole 11/17/2013 at 3:11 am

      The uprising had already been going on for a month before the French stopped Gaddafi from massacring Benghazi, and much of the country had revolted. The Eastern army had defected. Gaddafi had an advantage in armor, but once NATO leveled the playing field, the rebels won handily. NATO did almost nothing for Misrata, which fought off Gaddafi's brutal siege for 6 months mostly on its own.

    • Juan Cole 11/17/2013 at 1:41 am

      Gaddafi was for the last part of his career on the CIA payroll.

    • Juan Cole 11/16/2013 at 12:41 pm

      Well I think its borders had something to do with the Ottoman Empire

    • Juan Cole 11/16/2013 at 11:47 am with 2 replies

      give it a rest, Mike. The people of Libya got rid their government; all NATO and the Arab League did was destroy some arms depots, tanks and SCUDs, levelling the playing field. If they hadn't intervened, Libya would have turned into Syria. As for Zeidan, he was elected free and fair by the Libyans.

  • Our Gasoline thirst fuels Mideast Fundamentalism, Violence - EVs are the Answer
    • Juan Cole 11/16/2013 at 12:58 am

      I'm planning for the end of petroleum as a fuel all over the world.

    • Juan Cole 11/15/2013 at 2:37 pm with 2 replies

      Bill, the argument is not that oil causes fundamentalism or violence but that it is funneled to Wahhabi & Salafi areas, unbalancing the region

    • Juan Cole 11/15/2013 at 10:01 am with 1 replies

      The 19.5 million barrels a day is all burned as fuel. Petrochemicals are counted separately.

  • Take that, France: Iran has Halted Expansion of Nuclear Facilities: IAEA
    • Juan Cole 11/14/2013 at 11:23 pm

      Kerry was sharing with Ashton as head of European Union negotiating team. The press has suggested that Fabius felt upstaged.

  • American Writers are Self-Censoring to Avoid NSA Scrutiny (McCauley)
    • Juan Cole 11/14/2013 at 1:06 pm with 1 replies

      The writers are saying they are not writing the same things for publication they might have if they weren't afraid.

  • Is the White House Right that More Iran Sanctions put US on "Path to War?"
    • Juan Cole 11/14/2013 at 5:37 pm with 1 replies

      The US knew all about the Pakistani program in detail. I asked a USG person at the Lahore embassy about this in the 1980s & he said we told Islamabad not to assemble the bomb. We needed Pakistan in 1980s versus Soviets in Afghanistan.

    • Juan Cole 11/14/2013 at 12:23 am

      No, I'm saying that a financial blockade that prevents oil sales goes beyond being sanctions and is dangerous because blockades are acts of war.

    • Juan Cole 11/13/2013 at 2:05 pm

      I am saying that his premises ( that like Dr Strangelove we eon't be able to restrain our aggression) are outrageous and also that in Washington they may work.

  • Will Avigdor Lieberman's return as Israeli Foreign Minister scupper Talks with Palestinians?
    • Juan Cole 11/13/2013 at 11:15 am with 1 replies

      Olmert is on the Right!

  • US loses UNESCO Voting Rights: How Kow-Towing to Israeli Policy Weakens America
    • Juan Cole 11/09/2013 at 8:25 pm with 1 replies

      it's not marked as a Paypal link!

  • Top Reasons Israel's Likud Really Opposes an Iran Nuclear Deal
    • Juan Cole 11/08/2013 at 1:17 pm with 1 replies

      Don't be silly. the Likud position is that Barak made a huge mistake.

      link to israelnationalnews.com

  • Record High Warming Gases in Atmosphere: Earth Losing Race Against Time (McCauley)
    • Juan Cole 11/08/2013 at 8:20 am

      I'll blog the hell out of it in a month or two.

  • Ms. Marvel and the Rise of the Muslim Superhero in America
    • Juan Cole 11/07/2013 at 9:37 am

      I'm grateful for the detailed comments, which, however, seem to me to address a small part of my posting, which was about the significance of the launch for American culture.

      I called Ms. Marvel an homage to Captain Marvel, and she certainly was, which you implicitly acknowledge by bringing up the potential copyright issues.

      I hyperlinked to my sources, which appeared just after the Marvel press release, and they did not at that time mention Ms. Wilson by name. Subsequent reporting has highlighted her, which is all to the good. It is often the case that my pieces are ahead of the news curve and naturally later reporting is fuller with regard to some details.

      Ms. Marvel will be the first Muslim-American superhero with her own comic book, which is what my title refers to and I would defend it. I was aware of the Green Lantern Muslim and Dust; they don't have the same significance as this title.

    • Juan Cole 11/06/2013 at 6:11 pm with 1 replies

      If only I could get as informed and helpful comments on foreign policy as I got on the pop culture entry.

    • Juan Cole 11/06/2013 at 4:37 pm

      what a great comment!

    • Juan Cole 11/06/2013 at 10:36 am with 3 replies

      Thanks so much, Waseem. But I still think that the Ms. Marvel character created by Roy Thomas was sometimes referred to as Captain Marvel and is clearly a Silver Age homage to the Golden Age icon.

  • Dear Press: Stop Enthusing About Habitable Planets until People like Va.'s Cuccinelli Stop Destroying this One
    • Juan Cole 11/05/2013 at 10:28 am

      Best comment you've ever made, JT. We are coming more to resemble the looting aliens in "Independence Day" than the plucky Will Smith character.

  • Scrooge Republicans prefer Pentagon White Elephants to Food Stamps for Poor Children
    • Juan Cole 11/01/2013 at 10:29 am

      thanks for such an informed comment!

  • Elites Stick together against Us: Feinstein Slams NSA Merkel Tap
    • Juan Cole 10/29/2013 at 7:09 pm with 1 replies

      Actually I think she is upset that she was *not* briefed on the Merkel tap and has begun to realize that the NSA hasn't told her a fraction of what it has been up to.

  • America's Secret 4th Branch of Government: The NSA kept even Obama in the Dark
    • Juan Cole 10/29/2013 at 8:21 am with 2 replies

      Spitzer's misconduct was discovered when US officials monitoring his bank account saw sums of $4,500 regularly coming out of it. They had no warrant to monitor his bank account in the first place. Movement of sums over $10,000 may be monitored to fight drug money laundering. But Spitzer's wounds were not self-inflicted. He was spied on illegally and outed by Federal employees who had no business doing so.

  • The American Quagmire in Afghanistan by the Numbers (21,565 US Troops Dead or Wounded)
    • Juan Cole 10/28/2013 at 12:53 pm

      There is no evidence that Afghanistan knew about al-Qaeda plan for 9/11

  • Why the US needs Electric Cars: Saudi Arabia threatens Pivot away from US
    • Juan Cole 10/23/2013 at 5:33 pm

      Converting cars to natural gas would destroy the world's climate. Plus who wants to drive around a bomb?

    • Juan Cole 10/23/2013 at 5:31 pm

      Most people don't drive those kind of miles daily, on average. You're not thinking about the whole country. In fact because of the high price of gasoline, most young people have moved to cities and many are using public transport to get to their jobs, where they have one. Others are just driving less. That is one reason our national consumption of petroleum has fallen 3 million barrels a day since 2007.

    • Juan Cole 10/23/2013 at 5:27 pm

      4 wheel drive plug in hybrids are on the way!

    • Juan Cole 10/23/2013 at 8:09 am

      Thanks, Jim. They came along after I did my initial research, but I'm sure they are great vehicles too. That people should be buying plug-in hybrids is the point.

    • Juan Cole 10/23/2013 at 8:07 am with 1 replies

      Plug-in hybrids switch to gas after the battery runs down, so they don't have the problem you suggest. But most drives for most Americans are 5 miles are less, so even a pure EV like a Leaf would be good enough for most people most of the time.

      220 volt rechargers, which are installed in Ann Arbor public parking garages, only take 4 hours to recharge and it happens while you're parked and at work. You're about 4 years out of date in your prejudices.

  • The American Genocide Against Iraq: 4% of Population Dead as result of US sanctions, wars
    • Juan Cole 10/19/2013 at 2:15 am

      If you deliberately launch an illegal war of aggression on a nationality, which causes the death of half a million civilians, and you could reasonably have expected that launching the war would indeed result in very large numbers of deaths among the nationality that you illegally attacked without any casus belli, it seems to me that you had the intent of killing off part of that ethnic group, which in the Genocide Convention equals... genocide

    • Juan Cole 10/17/2013 at 12:14 pm with 3 replies

      if you launched an illegal war of aggression on Iraq, what could a prudent person expect to happen to *Iraqis*?

  • Top Ten Signs Solar Energy is rapidly Winning
    • Juan Cole 10/05/2013 at 9:12 pm

      you are being too literal minded

      I said 'analogy' not exact parallel

      costs of solar energy are falling rapidly & with more investment in R& D that will accelerate

      I added a link to a recent discovery that doubles efficiency. I understand that it takes time to bring this to market but the lab breakthroughs are very encouraging

  • Militant Secularism in the Middle East?
    • Juan Cole 10/04/2013 at 2:48 pm

      Pew polling found MB favorability rating fell from 50% to 18% during Morsi's presidency

    • Juan Cole 10/04/2013 at 2:45 pm

      wasn't celebrating; just analyzing

  • On how American Jews are Mostly the Opposite of Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu
    • Juan Cole 10/03/2013 at 2:22 am

      I agree. I didn't say anything about the Israeli public as opposed to the ruling party.

  • Israeli Nuclear & other Arms compared to Iran's
    • Juan Cole 10/01/2013 at 8:07 pm

      all of those types of considerations could be laid against Israel as well. E.g. intelligence support for Baluch rebels of Jundullah who have blown up Shiite mosques. As for Hizbullah, it was created by Israeli occupation and continued Israeli threats to Lebanese territorial integrity.

  • With a Solar Minimum and La Nina's, Why isn't it Really, Really Cold?
    • Juan Cole 09/28/2013 at 12:17 pm

      Anthropogenic; but let us just say human-caused

  • Iranian President Rouhani acknowledges Holocaust as Crime against Jewish People
    • Juan Cole 09/26/2013 at 12:08 am

      There were 18 million Jews before 1940 by our best demographic projections.

      There were 12 million after World War II.

      Hmmm.

  • Is Iran Ready to do a Deal with Obama over its Nuclear Program?
    • Juan Cole 09/25/2013 at 3:29 am

      Well Wiki is wrong. 19.75% is not considered Highly enriched uranium. Above 20% is.

    • Juan Cole 09/24/2013 at 10:56 pm with 4 replies

      19.75% LEU is not bomb grade!

  • Alshabab attack on Nairobi a Sign of Political Defeat
    • Juan Cole 09/24/2013 at 2:42 am with 1 replies

      As horrible as these attacks on soft targets like malls are, they are typically signs of desperation and failure, not of success. Alshabab cannot get back Mogadishu this way, and, if anything, has stiffened Kenya's resolve to root them out. They may give some cultists temporarily inflated egos because of the attention, but there is no strategic advance to be had here. The economic effect is ephemeral and minor.

    • Juan Cole 09/23/2013 at 2:30 pm

      Nope. Glad to have good comments from a whole range of points of view.

  • Top Five Wind Energy Successes Today
    • Juan Cole 09/22/2013 at 4:29 pm with 1 replies

      Since the wind turbines are getting significantly bigger, more efficient and cheaper by the year, the challenge gets easier as time goes on. Your cost figures for a project begun in 2004 become ridiculous if used now. And 5 years from now they will be even more absurd. Same of solar panels, where something like Moore's law has begun to operate and they are rapidly falling in price and increasing in efficiency. As the market expands it will create more and more efficiencies and R&D will be better funded. Arguing for the next decade from figures such as you presented is at the best a form of anachronism and at worst a form of trolling.

  • Israeli Troops attack European Diplomats on Aid Mission
    • Juan Cole 09/21/2013 at 8:06 pm with 1 replies

      Thanks, Bibi. Was that before or after he threw the sound grenade at her? And that petite French woman must have had some right hook to menace the Israeli army. Maybe the commandos need to be trained in fending off tossed hors d'oeuvres.

  • I lived to See the Day when the Pope and the President of Iran are more doctrinally Flexible than the GOP
    • Juan Cole 09/21/2013 at 7:49 pm

      boy was that an understatement. It got on Reddit's front page! Plus it went viral elsewhere. It is by now among the most read columns I've written. As for thick skin, this stuff is like playing video games for me. (Yes, I have an X-Box).

    • Juan Cole 09/21/2013 at 2:33 pm

      Ben had some household slaves as almost all wealthy Americans then did but he freed them and advocated abolition.

    • Juan Cole 09/21/2013 at 2:32 pm

      Ben had some household slaves as almost all wealthy Americans then did, but he freed them and advocated abolition.

  • Brazilian President Snubs Obama: How US Cyber Espionage will Destroy the Internet
    • Juan Cole 09/18/2013 at 3:11 pm

      no this does not work. email services pass the drafts through their servers. this was Petraeus's technique, which failed.

  • Solar Car of the Future: Sunswift Solar Two-Seater looks like an ordinary Coupe
    • Juan Cole 09/18/2013 at 3:10 pm

      10 miles might be all I go, & if I could recharge parked outside, that would work for me as a commute.

      The panels are improving very rapidly.

    • Juan Cole 09/18/2013 at 3:07 pm with 1 replies

      you need more panels; & you're not counting reduction of gasoline burning.

      we have 10 yrs - we can all be driving electric cars in that period if we want to. we can't redo the transit system.

  • The World after the Kerry-Lavrov accord on Syria
    • Juan Cole 09/15/2013 at 4:50 pm

      it wasn't a glowing assessment, just an analysis

    • Juan Cole 09/15/2013 at 11:36 am with 1 replies

      Russia barely uses Tartus base & has much mire geopolitical weight in Central Asia than Syria

  • Top Ten things Americans need to Know about Syria if they're going to Threaten to Bomb It
    • Juan Cole 09/13/2013 at 2:24 am with 3 replies

      Look at the map. How would you get from Syria to Europe except through Turkey? And therefore wouldn't Turkey be enough?

    • Juan Cole 09/13/2013 at 2:17 am

      Sunni Arabs are 60%. 2 million Sunni Kurds are not Arabs.

    • Juan Cole 09/13/2013 at 2:16 am with 1 replies

      France couldn't keep the other colonies you mentioned very long after the war either. Historians of decolonization see the German conquest of France as important in leading to the independence of the colonies because it delegitimized such conquest and also weakened France economically and militarily.

      No, I can't see the difference between what Germany did to France and what France did to Syria.

  • President Obama's Doubtful Grounds for Military Action against Syria
    • Juan Cole 09/11/2013 at 4:34 pm with 1 replies

      Can you specify what Iranian 'weapons stockpile' you are referring to?

      Also, when were these weapons deployed?

    • Juan Cole 09/11/2013 at 4:31 pm with 2 replies

      The Libyan no fly zone was authorized by the UNSC.

      There is no international legal framework for a unilateral US attack on Damascus.

      It is unlikely that Obama's symbolic missile strike would be more consequential than closing off the Syrian regime's loopholes in finances; rather, less.

      My positions are principled.

  • How US Grand Strategy in Syria led to the idea of Missile Strikes
    • Juan Cole 09/09/2013 at 5:56 pm

      I was presuming people knew that the Syria policy I outlined is intended to block Iran's land bridge to the Levant and Israel's borders, which is the grand strategy.

  • American Jews Divided on Syria Strike, Many Oppose AIPAC
    • Juan Cole 09/07/2013 at 2:31 pm

      I don't deny that is an issue; however, Jewish Americans have a long history of anti-war activism that could offset that consideration.

  • Obama Isolated at G20 on Syria, No 'Coalition of the Willing'
    • Juan Cole 09/07/2013 at 1:02 am

      With all due respect, the issue is not putting pressure on al-Assad because of use of chemical weapons. The issue is support of a cruise missile strike, which is what Obama wants and for which he cannot gather support.

    • Juan Cole 09/06/2013 at 6:43 pm

      The Europeans fought the idea of getting involved in the Balkans tooth and nail for years.

    • Juan Cole 09/06/2013 at 6:40 pm

      Joe, you're being unusually propagandistic.

      Please name G20 countries supporting a US cruise missile strike on Syria.

      Yes, countries that abhor chemical weapons use are there, but that is a separate issue.

    • Juan Cole 09/06/2013 at 2:05 pm with 5 replies

      You'll note there is nothing about a missile strike or violence at all in this statement.

    • Juan Cole 09/06/2013 at 2:03 pm with 2 replies

      The European Union issued a statement at the G20 that objected to the strike. The four you mentioned were isolated in the EU

  • A US attack on Syria will Prolong the War
    • Juan Cole 09/04/2013 at 2:35 pm

      it is just a franchise term for radical Sunnis who believe in using terrorism to accomplish various goals, including imposition of Taliban-style 'sharia' governance and weakening the industrial democracies.

    • Juan Cole 09/04/2013 at 2:34 pm

      I don't and didn't think it plausible in the short to medium term. In the long term it is a possibility. I am saying that that long term is now being put off even further.

    • Juan Cole 09/04/2013 at 11:40 am

      Yes

    • Juan Cole 09/04/2013 at 11:36 am with 2 replies

      Neither of your premises is true. Syria is not particularly tribal. And a series of statelets are not viable. Nearly half the country is minorities of one sort or another who mostly get along. The hard line Baathi Alawites and the hard line Sunnis are at the poles, and if they become less salient the country will come back together.

  • Obama goes to Congress on Syria as his International Support Collapses
    • Juan Cole 09/02/2013 at 12:09 am with 1 replies

      The UN Secuirty Council would have to forward Syria to the ICC, which Russia won't allow.

    • Juan Cole 09/01/2013 at 9:19 am with 3 replies

      This is not true. Rice tol Lavtov exactly what would happen.

  • Kerry signals US Intervention in Syria, but to What End?
    • Juan Cole 08/28/2013 at 9:29 am with 1 replies

      My thesis is that the Homs campaign drained manpower from the capital, heightening its vulnerability.

      A local chem unit commander appears to have gone a little too far; that the Syrian army was behind it is not in doubt, though there is a question as to how high up the decision was made:

      link to thecable.foreignpolicy.com

    • Juan Cole 08/28/2013 at 8:26 am

      The rebels in places such as Rif Dimashq in the south are local boys on the whole, not like Jabhat al-Nusra in the far north, who are often foreigners. It is different when you're killing your own cousins.

    • Juan Cole 08/28/2013 at 8:24 am

      Being a historian, I was speaking in the second instance over a long period, perhaps a decade. In the short term, the regime's advances are tenuous and would not take pressure off it to deflect rebel advances in Rif Dimashq.

    • Juan Cole 08/27/2013 at 6:25 am with 7 replies

      Heavy Syrian gov't bombardment of the site of chemical use likely destroyed the evidence

  • Obama wants all the info in your Smart Phone without a Warrant (Lazare)
    • Juan Cole 08/25/2013 at 3:08 am

      The room for abuse here is enormous. Police can arbitrarily arrest someone and the go on a fishing expedition through his data.

  • Greenwald Partner falsely detained as Terrorist: How to Create a Dictatorship
    • Juan Cole 08/19/2013 at 9:26 pm

      the issue is that he wasn't detained for having stolen "property" but as a terrorist. That is Orwellian.

    • Juan Cole 08/19/2013 at 12:51 pm with 3 replies

      What about if the NSA stole the documents from us in the first place?

  • It's not about Democracy: Top Ten Reasons Washington is Reluctant to cut off Egypt Aid
    • Juan Cole 08/18/2013 at 2:35 am with 2 replies

      the public would have to know and care

  • Egypt's Transition Has Failed: New Age of Military Dictatorship in Wake of Massacre
    • Juan Cole 08/16/2013 at 5:13 am

      No, the officer corps calls the shots.

    • Juan Cole 08/16/2013 at 5:12 am

      sure!

  • Egyptian Police Clear Brotherhood Sit-Ins, at cost of Scores of deaths, injuries
    • Juan Cole 08/14/2013 at 7:10 pm with 1 replies

      the unions were universally for Rebellion/ Tamarrud, said Morsi policies were driving factories into the ground

  • Defecting Saudi Prince: Royal Family in Panic at Arab Revolts, Thousands imprisoned
    • Juan Cole 08/13/2013 at 1:07 pm with 2 replies

      link to english.alarabiya.net

  • India, China Defy US Congress' War on Iranian Oil
    • Juan Cole 08/13/2013 at 6:05 pm

      Rouhani is probably to the right of Ahmadinejad, who was probably only elected once, when he was posing as a populist.

      I don't see the sanctions as having produced the Rouhani victory. He is an insider and close to Khamenei on most issues, not really a reformist at all. He is however in favor of a slight cultural opening, which is what the Iranian electorate has voted for since 1997 pretty consistently. One forgets that domestically Ahmadinejad attacked the ayatollah fat cats and favored women coming out to stadiums for soccer games, etc. I suspect Mousavi won in 2009 because Ahmadinejad reneged.

    • Juan Cole 08/13/2013 at 1:04 pm with 5 replies

      The Iranians have been electing reformers as president since 1997.

  • Egypt: Food Crisis looms as Interim Gov't decides to disperse Muslim Brotherhood Protesters Peacefully
    • Juan Cole 08/12/2013 at 1:44 am

      No, Egypt imports most of its food and the government sets prices for purchasing from farmers. So poor peasants often came to absolutely despise Morsi, which is one reason on June 30 you saw so many rural depot towns join in the Rebellion.

  • Where is our Amsterdam? Lavabits, Snowden & Wikileaks Censorship recall age of Absolutism
    • Juan Cole 08/11/2013 at 2:01 am

      Dear Huib:

      I was once part of a year-long seminar on the history of religious toleration and read a lot about the Dutch case. You still have the wrong century and they did publish Voltaire.

    • Juan Cole 08/10/2013 at 12:10 am with 2 replies

      you are mixing up centuries and also don't have the story right. The rabbis expelled Spinoza & pressured the Dutch authorities about him. Amsterdam kicked himout briefly at the behest of the Jewish community, but after a year he came back & the Dutch didn't bother him again. By 1700s there was much more toleration; indeed in some ways the Dutch invented it in its modern form.

    • Juan Cole 08/10/2013 at 12:04 am with 4 replies

      State Department officials have repeatedly told our graduate students that they won't be hired if they are known to have read the cables, Bob.

  • "After the Ruler undermined Democracy, the people wanted the Military..." Egypt 1952 (video)
    • Juan Cole 08/10/2013 at 12:01 am

      you have old statistics. 18% live on $2 a day.

      But in any, case, Morsi didn't buy enough wheat & he caused a 15% fall in the value of the Egyptian pound, and caused the price of bread & diesel to rise substantially. The poor came to hate him. The textile unions & the whole town of al-Mahalla fervently supported Rebellion / Tamarrud. Likewise many rural depot towns.

      Brotherhood leadership long since became bourgeois. They screwed the working class, which is one reason they are out.

      Contrary to what you seem to think, though, I always held the coup a very dangerous idea.

    • Juan Cole 08/09/2013 at 2:25 am with 3 replies

      this is because you seem to be under the impression that Khairat Shater represents the poor!

  • How we lost our Constitution somewhere in Iraq and came back without it to Try Manning (van Buren)
    • Juan Cole 08/05/2013 at 11:52 pm

      The Benghazi Syndrome to which I was referring was the unsubstantiated charges of some sort of cover-up (not clear of what) on Sept. 11, 2011. No, it is not bipartisan.

      Embassy staff in the region have complained to me that they can't do their jobs as well as they would like because of the skeleton crews etc. There isn't any doubt that closing the embassies has an impact on effectiveness.

  • Top 10 reasons to welcome departure of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Only the Neocons will miss Him
    • Juan Cole 08/04/2013 at 4:55 pm

      follow the hyperlink

    • Juan Cole 08/04/2013 at 1:11 pm

      Rhymes with Melody Garage

    • Juan Cole 08/04/2013 at 1:10 pm with 4 replies

      that's not a soft shoe number, it is a Washington-Tel Aviv shell game. Closing the fuel cycle is a right guaranteed by the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. But closing the fuel cycle is also always an inevitably a break out capacity.

      There is no evidence of weaponization or diversion of uranium to weapons use, which is what is important. Iranians have the *capacity* to walk into Caspian sea en masse; the question is whether that's what they want to do and if there are actually any people on the road toward the north. Answer: No.

  • The Burka Avenger stands up to Male Chauvinist Taliban on Pakistani TV
    • Juan Cole 08/03/2013 at 4:52 pm

      The electricity shortages don't stop urban people from watching tv! They mostly have generators they run a few hours a day. And people still rent a lot of pirated videos and play them at home when they arrange electricity. Your image of Pakistanis as lacking media access because of the electricity problem discounts their ingenuity.

      In Swat Valley, by the way, individuals are putting in solar panels because they are cheaper than diesel generators.

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