By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Donald Trump, having backed the losing (and objectionable) candidate in Alabama’s senate race, suddenly wants to cooperate with Democrats on infrastructure spending. At some point, and for the good of the country, I predict we will start working with the Democrats in a Bipartisan fashion. Infrastructure […]
Nations of World at UN Humiliate Trump w/ Massive vote for Palestinians
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Arab and Muslim worlds exulted Thursday over their massive victory at the United Nations General Assembly, which passed a resolution condemning the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Despite his crude threats to cut off US aid to countries who bucked […]
Trump’s Pentagon Admits to ‘Multiple Ground Missions’ in Yemen
TeleSur | – – The U.S. Defense Department claimed the ISIS presence has doubled in Yemen. For the first time, U.S. Pentagon has admitted to carrying out “multiple ground missions” in Yemen. “U.S. forces have conducted multiple ground operations and more than 120 strikes in 2017,” U.S. Central Command, Centcom, in Tampa, Florida, said in […]
Top 5 Reasons why Trump’s Threats to UNGA over Jerusalem are Empty
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The thuggish Trump and his gun moll Nikki Haley have threatened member countries of the UN General Assembly with a cut-off of US foreign aid if they vote against the US on Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Trump said, “They take […]
Yes, America, there is a Class War, and you Just Lost It
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Republican Party did not just overhaul the tax code and they did not cut “your” taxes. They engineered a coup against the middle and working classes and they threw enormous amounts of public money to private billionaires and multi-millionaires. Americans do not understand this sort […]
Trump Nat’l Security Speech: Is he the real threat to National Security?
Trump’s National Security Strategy document is about as confused and wrongheaded piece of writing you’d ever want to see. It says, “Jihadist terrorist organizations present the most dangerous terrorist threat to the Nation.” This assertion is not true. The most dangerous threats to the United States are other states, especially the well armed ones. A […]
Fascism’s return and Trump’s war on youth
By Henry Giroux | (The Conversation) | – – Fascism is all too often relegated to the history books. The word conjures up a period in which civilized societies treated democracy with contempt, engaged in acts of systemic violence, practised extermination and elimination, supported an “apocalyptic populism,” suppressed dissent, promoted a hyper-nationalism, displayed contempt for […]
The Mideast has a Militia Problem: Does Iraq’s Ayatollah Sistani Have the Answer?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has called for Iraq’s Shiite militias to come under control of the central government. One of the problems facing the Middle East has been the rise of autonomous militias, who are often more powerful than the state and its army. You have […]
Turkey to defy Trump, open Embassy to Palestine in E. Jerusalem
Middle East Monitor | – – Turkey will open an embassy in East Jerusalem, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday, days after leading calls at a summit of Muslim leaders for the world to recognise it as the capital of Palestine. “God willing, the day is close when officially, with God’s permission, we will open […]