Juan Cole

A major tiff has broken out between the Pakistani government and the US ambassador in Islamabad, Nancy Powell. Speaking at a dinner for businessmen in Karachi, she called on Pakistan fully to implement its pledge to stop cross-border infiltration of radicals accross the line of control into Indian-held Kashmir. “Pakistan must ensure its pledges are […]

Kuwaiti authorities are confirming that al-Qaeda was behind the attack there Tuesday on two Americans, which killed one and gravely injured the other. They have been interrogating Sami Muhammad Marzuq al-Mutayri (Mutairi), who was captured by the Saudis and turned back over to Kuwait. An employee of Kuwait’s department of social affairs, he had tried […]

Yemen and Bahrain both pleaded yesterday with Washington to employ non-military means to deal with the Iraq crisis. Since both governments are cooperating closely with the US military, it is hard to see such statements as more than fig leaves for public consumption. That is not to say the sentiments are insincere, only that these […]

History News Network 1-20-03: Culture Watch Why Are Arch Conservatives Ganging Up on the Middle East Studies Association? By Juan Cole I had never even heard of Stanley Kurtz before he began attacking the Middle East Studies Association (MESA). He is woefully misinformed about my professional association. As far as I can tell, he speaks […]

US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld today sketched out his vision of a post-Saddam Iraq. He said it would be a country that was not attempting to acquire weapons of mass destruction. And, he said it would have a government that tended toward what we would think of as a democracy, but that neither a […]

* Both Colin Powell and Condi Rice have by now openly come out in favor of the University of Michigan admissions system, which awards points for various factors, including poverty, location (the Upper Peninsula students get points) and also race. They are thus in direct opposition to the position of President Bush. But, I think […]

New Bin Laden Letter? Muhammad al-Shafi`i reports in Asharq al-Awsat today that the newspaper has acquired a copy of a letter purported to be from Usama Bin Laden and signed by him via an Islamic institute in Pakistan. The letter is a call by Bin Laden for an end to factionalism among (hardline) Muslims, especially […]

French President Jacques Chirac issued a blunt and forceful warning today to the Bush administration that for it to launch a unilateral attack on Iraq without a second, explicit UN Security Council resolution would constitute a breach of international law. Too right! It is absolutely unacceptable that the Bush administration should act in such a […]