Juan Cole

Germans Trust Putin More than Bush Frank Domoney kindly sends his translation of a Die Welt article that reports that over-all, the German public trusts Vladimir Putin more than it trusts George W. Bush. I was struck that it doesn’t trust either one very much, and that even in West Germany they are in a […]

Koufax Awards The Koufax Awards have been announced. Many, many thanks to readers who voted mine the best “Expert Blog” and made my piece, “If America were Iraq, What would it be Like? the best post of 2004. These are humbling awards to win. A warm congratulations to Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos for winning […]

Free Mojtaba and Arash If Blogdex is any indication the campaign to free Mojtaba and Arash is going well. The Iranian government is not immune to public opinion, and I hope people will keep trying to get them out. In fact, assuming someone could plan it out and get a permit, wouldn’t a flashmob protest […]

Jaafari slams Hilary Stephen Farrell reports for the London Times that a minor tiff occurred last week between Senator Hilary Clinton and prime ministerial candidate Ibrahim Jaafari: ‘ Last week Hillary Clinton, the New York senator, visiting Baghdad, said that there were “grounds both for concern and for . . . vigilance” about Dr al-Jaafari’s […]

Chalabi is Prevailed upon to Withdraw It turns out that the other members of the United Iraqi Alliance prevailed on Ahmad Chalabi to drop his bid to become candidate for prime minister. It is not clear if Jaafari, the winner, promised him anything in return for stepping down. AP suggests he might be a deputy […]

Breaking News: Jaafari PM Candidate for UIA Well, the United Iraqi Alliance just announced that Ibrahim Jaafari has won out against Ahmad Chalabi. Jaafari’s victory is not a surprise, since he was backed by the two core parties in the UIA, the Dawa Party and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. [I had […]

3 US Troops Dead, 8 Wounded 18 Iraqis Killed Wire services reported that ‘ Twenty-two people including four US soldiers have died in a series of attacks in Iraq since Sunday evening, while a journalist, her son, and three men working for the US military have been kidnapped, according separate security sources and a statement […]

UIA Will Hold Secret Ballot Chalabi, Allawi Still in Running for PM The Shiite religious coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, will hold a secret ballot within the list to decide on a prime ministerial candidate, according to AP. This move is a sign that neither Ibrahim Jaafari nor Chalabi could win by consensus. Jaafari should […]

Basra Council Dominated by Fundamenatlists Ash-Sharq al-Awsat: The results have been announced for Basra province. The city of Basra alone has 1.2 million inhabitants, so this is a major province, and is largely Shiite. Fundamentalist Shiite parties gained 85 percent of the seats. The United Iraqi Alliance won 20 seats, or 49 percent. The Islamic […]