Juan Cole

Piracy by Somali pirates in the Red Sea region threatens to reduce world trade through the Suez Canal by about a third, and could raise petroleum prices again if the smaller oil tankers have to go around the Cape of Good Hope to Europe. Wouldn’t it be in part the duty of President Bush and […]

The Iraqi parliament has postponed its vote on the proposed US-Iraq security pact from Monday to Wednesday. MPs had complained that there were not given enough time to study its provisions. It is still not clear how the Sunni Arab MPs will vote; without their support, the agreement would likely be seen as a joint […]

A new kind of racism is gradually emerging in the Netherlands. Not the classical contempt for others, but a cultural racism of distrust and fear. In an ad in de Volkskrant, a leading Dutch daily paper, on 17 March 2008 tv-producer Harry de Winter compared how people talk about Muslims in the Netherlands with anti-Semitism […]

Dani Sevilla writes in a guest op-ed for IC: Within the United States there are over one and a half million service members that have served in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over thirty thousand have been physically wounded, but many more have experienced less visible, psychological wounds. Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic […]

McClatchy reports that tens of thousands of protesters came out against the US-Iraqi security agreement on Friday, mainly Shiites of the Sadr Movement. Parliamentarians who favor the pact, such as Hadi al-Amiri of the pro-Iranian Badr Corps paramilitary, vowed that the demonstrations would make no difference to the vote. AP emphasizes that the crowds burned […]

The US is helping put wind turbines into the Panjshir Valley to help Afghanistan with alternative energy. Aljazeera English asks if it is really working, and who would benefit:

Check out the video: Iran, Seven Faces of a Civilization. ‘Beyond the gate of time lies a civilization with seven thousand years of celebrated heritage. A cradle of civilization a tolerant world empire a crossroad of civilizations a world of artistic forms and shapes a kaleidoscope of architectural marvels recreated for the first time’ Also […]

Check out the video: Iran, Seven Faces of a Civilization. ‘Beyond the gate of time lies a civilization with seven thousand years of celebrated heritage. A cradle of civilization a tolerant world empire a crossroad of civilizations a world of artistic forms and shapes a kaleidoscope of architectural marvels recreated for the first time’ Also […]

Even though Dubai’s boom has turned to bust, the emirate known for its gaudy exuberance, which comedian Jon Stewart once called ‘what happens when Saudi Arabia and Las Vegas have a baby,’ couldn’t restrain itself from yet one more big bash. South African casino owner Solomon Kerzner spent $20 million on fireworks and other party […]