By Edmund Burke III Today we hear a great deal about the question of what went wrong in Middle Eastern societies. For an historian of the early twentieth century world, it’s déjà vu all over again. Similar questions and similar anxieties were being voiced a century ago. Very much like fin de siècle Europeans, we […]
Palestine goes to UN Security Council to Demand Israeli Withdrawal by 2016
By Juan Cole AP reports that Palestine is presenting a resolution to the United Nations Security Council (through its “Arab Group”) calling for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, by 2016. Palestine will argue that Israel has systematically and over decades violated all the international laws regulating military occupations, and […]
$22 Billion to Fight ISIL in same Year Congress cut $8.7 bn in Food Stamps
By Juan Cole It was all the way back in February, so the memory of this headline has faded: ” Congress passes $8.7 billion food stamp cut By Ned Resnikoff It’s official: 850,000 households across the country are set to lose an average of $90 per month in food stamp benefits. The Senate on Tuesday […]
Top 5 Differences between Hamas and ISIL (Pace Netanyahu)
By Juan Cole Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu delivered a speech at the UN to a half-empty hall in which he tried to exemplify the most logical fallacies in a short period of time. Netanyahu’s message is that all political Islam is equivalent. Thus, if ISIL is a danger to the west, then the Hamas […]
Why Obama underestimated ISIL in Syria and Iraq
By Juan Cole President Obama admitted on CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday that the US had underestimated the military potential of ISIL. Obama understands that a generational struggle is going on in the Middle East, but some of his comments in the interview seemed to me to show insufficient appreciation for the true nature of […]
Iraq: Shiites Paralyzed by infighting as ISIL menaces Baghdad
By Juan Cole The pan-Arab London daily “al-Sharq al-Awsat” [The Middle East] is reporting from a source inside the new Iraqi government that former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, now one of three largely symbolic vice presidents, is attempting to undermine his successor, Haydar al-Abadi. Al-Abadi has abolished the office or rank of “general commander of […]
Is Mahmoud Abbas right that Israel is Guilty of War Crimes, Genocide in Gaza?
By Juan Cole: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday at the United Nations that Israel was guilty of war crimes in Gaza and even “genocide.” The US and Israel condemned his speech as “offensive” but did not condemn Israel policy toward Palestinians in Gaza as offensive. Palestinian Leader In New UN Bid To End Occupation […]
Right Wing on Holder: al-Qaeda, Black Panther, Stalinist
MediaMatters4America: mediamatters4america: The Worst Right-Wing Smears About Eric Holder
US strikes ISIL oil fields in Quest to Defund it: But will it Replace oil with Fracking?
By Juan Cole Sawt al-Iraq [Voice of Iraq] reports that during the past two days, Saudi, UAE and American fighter jets attacks small oil refineries originally built for Syria by Turkey, which had been run by ISIL in Deir Ezzor. the day before yesterday the allies struck 12 refineries that ISIL had been in control […]
© 2025 All Rights Reserved