By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – In a bold move, Daesh (i.e. ISIL or ISIS) fighters moved Monday on Kirkuk and Erbil, two cities patrolled by the Iraqi Kurdistan paramilitary, the Peshmerga (those who stand before death). Erbil is the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. Kirkuk is an oil city and is disputed among Turkmen, […]
Today’s Top 7 Myths about Daesh/ ISIL
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The self-styled ‘Islamic State’ Group (ISIS or ISIL), the Arabic acronym for which is Daesh, is increasingly haunting the nightmares of Western journalists and security analysts. I keep seeing some assertions about it that strike me as exaggerated or as just incorrect. 1. It isn’t possible to determine […]
al-Qaeda’s Feud with Denmark
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Denmark is a relatively small country, with a population of 5.7 million. But it is relatively wealthy, being the 35th largest economy in the world, producing more goods and services than Malaysia, Israel or the Philippines. Its military is more important than the country’s small size would suggest, […]
700 British artists pledge to boycott Israel until Pal Rights Granted
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — 700 British artists have signed a pledge to boycott Israel as long as it “continues to deny basic Palestinian rights,” the latest major success for the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions of Israel movement. “In response to the call from Palestinian artists and cultural workers for a cultural boycott of Israel, we […]
Iraq: ISIL advances to within 9 miles of 300 US troops at al-Ain Base
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The Jordanian newspaper al-Dustur [Constitution] reports that Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) has captured the al-Anbar city of al-Baghdadi in western al-Anbar Province. Twenty-five Daesh commandos, some of them with suicide bomb belts, then threw themselves at the outskirts of the al-Ain military base about 9 miles away, where […]
‘American Terrorist’: Middle East reacts to Murder of 3 Muslim-American Students in N Carolina
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – If American mass media seemed reluctant to cover the murder of three Muslims students at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill as a hate crime, the same was not true in the Middle East, where strong opinions were aroused. Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan criticized President Barack Obama […]
‘Lone Wolf,’ ‘Self-Radicalized’: Islamophobic Buzzwords never applied to White Terrorists
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Did a self-radicalized lone wolf white terrorist kill three young Muslim students in cold blood in Chapel Hill? It is a kind of a stupid question, but its stupidity is just more apparent when asked of someone with an English last name. What does self-radicalized or lone wolf […]
Putin on the Nile: an Isolated Russia Seeks friends in Egypt w/ offer of Nuclear Plant
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation paid a state visit to Cairo on Tuesday, consulting with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on a range of economic and foreign policy issues. The meeting was seen by many observers as underlining the desire of Egypt to become less dependent […]
When you’ve Lost Bernie Sanders: How Netanyahu destroyed the Israel Lobby
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Senator Bernie Sanders, the most consistent and prominent progressive in the US Senate, has decided to skip the speech of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to Congress on March 3, which was orchestrated by Israel’s ambassador to the US Ron Dermer and Speaker of the House John Boehner […]
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