Juan Cole

Boston Benefit Boston Performing Artists for Peace Present: A Benefit Concertfor Civilian Victims of the Israeli-Lebanese Conflict Including participants from the following area organizations: (organizations named for identification purposes only) American Repertory Theater — The Boston Camerata — The Boston Philharmonic — Dünya Turkish Music Ensemble Emmanuel Music — From the Top — Sharq Arab-American […]

Al Qaeda enters Fray The Israeli occupation of Jerusalem has long been an al Qaeda bugbear. It sent Richard Reid to case El Al, israeli airlines. It hit Israeli tourists in Mombasa and the Sinai. But Bin Laden always avoided investing in an area where there was already an active insurgency. He also could not […]

9 Israeli Troops Killed Israel Bombs Lebanese Army The Israelis launched a new wave of bombing attacks on Thursday morning: ‘ Israeli military aircraft bombed a Lebanese army base in the Amsheet area north of Beirut and destroyed a radio relay station in the area, local media reported, citing Lebanese military sources. Meanwhile, Israel warplanes […]

Al-Zaman: Shiite Clashes with British in South As Security Deteriorates Grand Ayatollah al-Najafi calls for withdrawal of foreign troops Al-Zaman reports that the security situation in southern Iraq “exploded” on Wednesday. Fighting broke out between local militiamen and British forces in the provinces of Basra, Amara and Diwaniyah. Informed government sources told al-Zaman that the […]

Israelis Kill UN Peacekeepers Halutz Commits to War Crimes Israeli Airstrikes Kill Nabatiyeh Family $150 Million Damage to Factories Update: Hizbullah fighters defending Bint Jbeil have killed 14 Israeli soldiers, according to early reports on Wednesday. Hizbullah is ratcheting up its kill ratio with the Israeli military toward 1:1, something no other Arab fighting force […]

Congress Expects Islamic Dawa to Support Israel, Condemn Hizbullah Dawa’s Unsavory Past The AIPAC Democrats in Congress came after Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki on Tuesday, condmening him for his refusal to condemn the Lebanese Hizbullah. Al-Maliki had on the contrary complained (quite rightly) about naked Israeli aggression on Lebanon and had called for a cease […]

Maliki and Bush Pledge Troops to Baghdad 32 Dead in Scattered Violence In a tense and awkward news conference on Tuesday, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and President Bush pledged that more US troops would be brought to Baghdad. There has already been an increase from something like 44,000 to 55,000 in recent weeks, but apparently […]

Hizbullah Pledges Deeper Attacks Strikes Haifa, Galilee Kills Arab Girl Hasan Nasrallah, the Hizbullah leader, threatened Tuesday to fire rockets beyond Haifa, implictly threatening Tel Aviv (and Jerusalem?) He expressed confidence that Israel could not win its ground war in the south, and said his fighters would ultimately recover any land taken by the Israelis. […]

Problems with Israeli Military Performance If you read Reuven Pedatzur’s article in Haaretz attentively, you will see that he is indicting the Israeli armed forces as incompetent and also will detect that he is extremely alarmed. Despite his confidence, expressed at the outset, that Israeli military mistakes (primarily grossly underestimating Hizbullah) will not affect the […]