By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – According to Alarabiya, on Monday a young woman aged 18 detonated a suicide bomb belt at a socialist youth rally in Suruç, Turkey, just ten miles from the border with Syria. Some three hundred members of the Federation of Socialist Youth Associates were on a summer […]
Iraqi Government halts al-Anbar Campaign over Sectarian Fears, US Pressure
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Kuwaiti press (al-Siyasah) is alleging that the Iraqi government, under American pressure, has hit the pause button on its campaign to take al-Anbar Province back from Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). The report was also carried by 24.ae in the United Arab Emirates. A source in the […]
Trump Swiftboats McCain the Way W. Swiftboated John Kerry
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The chickens of 2004 have come home to roost in the Republican Party. The Republican strategists around George W. Bush in that year decided to rip John Kerry’s face off by attacking him, in accordance with Karl Rove’s dirty tactics, at his strength. Bush, who hid […]
Iran’s Khamenei Praises Nuclear Deal, but slams US Foreign Policy
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s clerical Leader, appeared to be attempting to mollify hard liners on Friday in his Friday prayers addresses. On the one hand, he praised the negotiators at Vienna who in long and arduous negotiations crafted the deal on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. He […]
Iran Deal: Winners & Losers in the Greater Middle East
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The end of most UN and European sanctions on Iran and the likely end of US third party sanctions are shaping how regional states see the Vienna agreement between Iran and the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. Iran is expected to […]
Chattanooga: Assault Weapons a Security Problem for U.S. (Cole @ Truthdig)
By Juan Cole | (Truthdig) | – – My column is out in Truthdig.com Excerpt: The United States is peculiarly prone to mass killings by people armed with semi-automatic weapons. There is no good reason for ordinary citizens to own military-style weapons, and they have long posed a threat to American national security. The mass […]
Iran Deal: Why doesn’t US Media interview Real Allies on American Policy?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – So after France and Britain and Germany conducted negotiations with Iran over its civilian nuclear enrichment program alongside the United States, you would expect American television news eagerly to seek out interviews on the deal from David Cameron, Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel– or foreign ministers […]
Did rise of Daesh/ ISIL ensure Iran Nuclear Deal?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In Iraq on Tuesday, Iraq militias and the Iraqi military launched a counter-attack on Falluja with the ultimate aim of driving Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) out of al-Anbar Province. The operation follows the successful liberation of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, from Daesh by these same forces. In […]
That Time Ronald Reagan opened Iran and Illegally sold Khomeini Weapons
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Reagan administration in the 1980s was buffeted by two policy drives toward Iran. On the one hand, Reagan ally Saudi Arabia supported Iraq, which illegally launched a war on the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1980 in order to steal its oil-rich Khuzistan Province. Reagan […]
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