By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Both the Middle East conflicts and the ghost of the Vietnam War haunted the PBS Democratic debate Thursday evening. Vietnam was symbolized by Henry Kissinger, former Nixon National Security Adviser (1968-1975) and Secretary of State for Nixon and Gerald Ford (1973-77). In the last Democratic debate, […]
Israel: Friedman of the NY Times surrenders to One-State Solution, sees ME Apocalypse
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Tom Friedman of the New York Times has completely given up on a two-state solution, forthrightly abandoning the polite fiction that there will ever be a Palestinian state alongside Israel, and ridiculing American presidential candidates for speaking as though it were still a possibility. In fact, […]
Did Muslim-Americans lose the New Hampshire GOP Primary?
AJ+ | (Video News Report) | – – “This is what the Republican presidential candidates said about Muslims in their most recent debate.” AJ+: “The GOP Has A Muslim Problem”
Did Bashar al-Assad win New Hampshire? Trump & Sanders Mideast Policies
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders won big in New Hampshire on Tuesday. Caution is in order, since that state is demographically not very much like the rest of the United States, and both candidates are Northeasterners with advantages there. US journalism dreams of a presidential election […]
Kahlil Gibran: “Lazarus & His Beloved”
Kahlil Gibran | (New York Public Library) \ – – New York Public Library, Billy Rose Theater Production Photograph File Genre: Photograph [of Tableau Vivant] — Related Book: Kahlil Gibran, The Vision, trans. Juan Cole.
Erdogan Threatened Europe with Refugees, now Demanding US abandon Syrian Kurds
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Reuters reports that Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan allegedly bullied European leaders and threatened to drown Europe in refugees if his terms were not met. He wanted 6 Bn Euros to keep the 2.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey happy enough in that country to discourage them […]
Israel frets about “Iran as Neighbor” if Aleppo falls & al-Assad Regime Wins
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – An Arabic site that aggregates Facebook and other social media postings reports that Israeli officials are filled with anxiety and consternation about the possibility that the regime of Bashar al-Assad will conquer Aleppo with Russian and Iranian help, and will go on to reconstitute itself. It […]
5 Worst Foreign Policy Moments of GOP New Hampshire Debate
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The New Hampshire GOP debate’s most charged moments were probably more domestic, as with Chris Christie putting Marco Rubio in his place as not having actually done anything and as overly reliant on his single script. But inevitably with this gang, war, torture and sundry mayhem […]
Syria Rebels face Collapse as Thousands flee North Aleppo
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – On Friday, the Syrian Arab Army and its Hizbullah and Iranian/ Afghan allies made further progress in taking the area just north of Aleppo. They were apparently mainly fighting al-Qaeda, which had a stronghold in the city of Ratyan. The Russians subjected it to intensive bombing […]