By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In a massive intelligence failure, the US Air Force hit a Syrian military installation in Deir al-Zor that it thought was Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). But it turned out to be the Syrian Arab Army position at Deir al-Zor military airport. The strike killed 80 soldiers and […]
The Green Current: A Superhero
By Juan Cole | Informed Comment | (Graphic Novel) | – – Ali Saleh was an ordinary American teenager at Dearborn High. His father, Dr. Mahmoud Saleh, who had been born in Egypt, was a photovoltaic engineer. He made an epochal discovery that would make solar panels highly efficient and almost free. A coworker in […]
“Pigs! Crusaders!”: US-Backed Fundamentalist Militias drive US Commandos out of al-Ray, Syria
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – As Raf Sanchez of The Telegraph writes, fundamentalist militiamen of the US-backed Free Syrian Army chased US commandos out of al-Ray in Syria near the Turkish border, cursing them as “pigs” and “crusaders” and asserting that the US is attempting a military occupation of Syria. Full […]
“This Parrot is no More”: The 2016 Presidential Election did not Take Place
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) The French sociologist and philosopher Jean Baudrillard wrote a book in 1991 entitled The Gulf War did not Take Place . In the same way, the 2016 presidential election did not take place. Baudrillard did not mean to say, of course, that no war was prosecuted by the US […]
Trump-inspired felon allegedly torches Ft. Pierce FL Mosque, says “All Islam is radical”
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Joseph Michael Schreiber stands accused of having carried out an arson attack against a mosque in Fort Pierce, Florida, about an hour’s drive north from West Palm Beach. The mosque was burned down on the first night of Eid al-Adha or the Festival of Sacrifice, a […]
Syria Truce holds, despite questions on Humanitarian Aid
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The London pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-`Arabi reports that the truce that began Monday night held during its first twenty-four hours, in the areas designated for a cease-fire by Russia and the United States. The boom of artillery fire faded away at nightfall on Monday. It coincided […]
What did we buy with the $5 Trillion that the Iraq & Afghanistan Wars have cost us?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – A Boston U. political scientist estimates that as of 2016, The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars have cost the American taxpayers $5 trillion. That number isn’t important when we consider the human cost– Some 7,000 US troops dead, 52,000 wounded in action; hundreds of thousands of Iraqis […]
Iran and Hizbullah Welcome Kerry-Lavrov Syria Ceasefire
Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Hizbullah, the national guard for South Lebanon, announced Saturday that it supports the agreement on a truce in Syria, where its fighters have been battling on behalf of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Its statement said that “the field commander for operations in Syria has affirmed that […]
15 Years after 9/11, can we Recover our Republic?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Founding Fathers thought keeping a standing army was a danger to democracy. The great wars of the twentieth century appear to have imbued the United States with a permanent standing army, and this institution has been reinforced by the September 11 attacks. Or rather it […]
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