By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – I was a junior in high school on April 22, 1970, on the first Earth Day, called for by Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-Wi) (d. 1981). The road leading to our school had been littered with trash, and a group of us went out with black plastic bags and […]
Pakistan as Hong Kong West: China’s New Silk Road & US Failure
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Chinese President Xi Jinping made a state visit, full of pomp and circumstance, to Pakistan on Monday, but its centerpiece was a $46 billion investment in the country, dwarfing the US Congress’s $7.5 bn. program initiated in 2008. Whereas the US likes to sell useless weapons systems that […]
Khamenei: US invented nuclear Myth; Iran will Never Invade another Country
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The clerical leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, gave a speech on Sunday in which he urged that Iran maintain its military readiness in order to fend off any hostile invasion or attack. But, he said, “Iran has never invaded a country and never will.” He also called US […]
As US Consulate in Irbil. Iraq, is Bombed, can US still do Diplomacy in ME?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) A bombing that killed 3 people and wounded 10 on Saturday outside the US consulate in Irbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, raises an important question about the US diplomatic presence in the eastern reaches of the Middle East. Is it still possible for diplomats to do their work this way? The […]
Iraq: Why it doesn’t Matter if Ezzat al-Douri was Killed
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The currently partly unemployed Iraqi governor of Salahuddin Province, displaced from much of his territory by Daesh (ISIS or ISIL), maintains that former Baath vice president of Iraq under Saddan Hussain, Ezzat al-Douri, has been killed by Shiite militias in a firefight north of Tikrit in the Hamrin […]
Juan Cole: Syria, Yemen Conflicts only seem to be about Sunni-Shiite from 30,000 Feet
David Speedie | (Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs) | – David Speedie of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs interviewed me in New York on Monday. Below is an excerpt of the transcript, but the whole thing is at their web site. Also below is the video of the interview. DAVID […]
Iraq: ISIL surrounds 300 Sunni families, Closes in on Ramadi
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Al-Khaleej (The Gulf) reports that Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) has taken new territory in the western Al-Anbar Province of Iraq and may be on the verge of taking the provincial capital, Ramadi, a week after they were decisively defeated in Tikrit in the south of Salahuddin Province. They were […]
Iran: Putin Explains to Israel’s Netanyahu: Air Defense System is, like, Defensive
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Tuesday with regard to the Russian Federation’s decision to go ahead with the sale to Iran of S-300 anti-aircraft batteries. Iran bought the batteries several years ago, but delivery was delayed by Moscow because of […]
Water Delivery, Hospitals endangered as Yemen is plunged into Darkness
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Yemen generates 800 megawatts of electricity under ordinary circumstances, which powers its hospitals, including emergency care units, and helps deliver water to households. Nearly half is generated by a power plant in Maarib in the south. On Tuesday, that plant went dark for reasons that are not entirely […]
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