By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The scandal over Melania Trump’s stealing Michelle Obama’s lines for her convention speech should make us recall the ways in which GOP strategists have on many occasions stolen a Democratic line but put it to the opposite purpose. But first, it is worth noting that the […]
Rep. Steve King, White People and ‘Civilization’
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Rep. Steve King objected to a comment during a cable news discussion at MSNBC that this will be the last election dominated by old white people. ” Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) offered an unusual defense of the racial homogeneity of his party during a panel on […]
Newt Should Check out Mike Pence’s Christian Sharia
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Newt Gingrich suggested late last week on cable tv that Muslim Americans should be asked if they believe in “sharia” and if they answer yes, they should be deported. You can’t deport US citizens, so the whole remark was ridiculous. Sharia for Muslims is the equivalent […]
Long Knives in Ankara: Victorious Erdogan begins Purge of Judiciary, Army
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – – President Tayyip Erdogan is taking advantage of the failed coup against him to purge the judiciary and security forces of anyone who is lukewarm toward or actively critical of him. These steps are, of course, the opposite of the ones Erdogan should be taking– he should be […]
Nice, France, Attack: A Gandhian Response to Serial Killers
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve has extended the French state of emergency, which suspends key civil and human rights, in the aftermath of the gruesome truck attack on Bastille Day in Nice, which at this writing has left 80 dead and over a dozen in intensive […]
A Story of Two Syrian Sieges: Manbij and East Aleppo
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The relatively even-handed Arabic newspaper Oman reports that the Syrian Democratic Forces (a mixed Kurdish and Arab group) advanced further into the city of Manbij on Wednesday. Manbij is a major outpost for Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) in northern Syria, and the likelihood is that the Syrian […]
Is Kerry Right? Are Freemen of Syria and Army of Islam Radical Terrorists?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Josh Rogin of the Washington Post caused a stir by noticing something Secretary of State John Kerry said at Aspen last month. Kerry slammed Syrian al-Qaeda (Nusra Front) and Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), then said, “There are a couple of subgroups underneath the two designated — Daesh […]
Is Religion really Driving Middle East Violence?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Pew Research has released a report saying that “As a whole, the region continued to have the highest levels of religious hostilities in the world. In 2014, the median level of religious hostilities in the Middle East and North Africa reached a level four times that […]
Syrian Troops foil al-Qaeda riposte in Aleppo as France warns al-Qaeda could replace ISIL
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Even as the Syrian army defeated a counter-offensive by al-Qaeda in Syria and its battlefield allies at Aleppo, French President Francois Hollande warned that al-Qaeda should not be allowed to replace the declining Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) in Syria. On Saturday and Sunday, al-Qaeda (the Nusra Front) […]
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