Juan Cole

The USG Open Source Center translates or paraphrases articles in the Afghan press during June on that country’s economy. I take away the impression that very little has been done to improve Kabul, that 45 percent of the capital’s residents lack electricity, and that 99 percent of people in Nuristan are below the poverty line. […]

AP reports the course of Thursday’s protests in Tehran. Some 2,000 protesters initially gathered in several spots in the capital, later growing some 3,000 strong. Outside Tehran University, an approaching crowd grew 1,000 strong. Police prevented them from entering the campus, AP says, but then allowed them to gather and chant ‘Death to the dictator!’ […]

Hundreds of protesters braved tear gas and even some live fire to march toward Tehran University on Thursday, commemorating a crushed student protest movement of 1999 a s well as protesting the allegedly stolen elections of June 12. Police intervened to disperse them. A new and significant feature of this demonstration was that simultaneous rallies […]

The opposition in Iran has called for further public nationwide demonstrations on Monday, urging protesters to use the techniques of nonviolent noncooperation. Those who are afraid to risk beatings in the streets at the hands of state security organizations are urged to drive around and honk their horns. Thursday commemorates the anniversary of 1999 student […]

Bombings in Tal Afar and Baghdad killed 41 persons on Thursday morning. Tal Afar is a northern city with a mostly Turkmen population and some Arabs. US military operations in Tal Afar caused the Turkmen Sunnis to leave for the most part, leading to a take-over of the city by the Shiite Turkmen. The Sunni […]

The Obama administration has reached an agreement with the Russian government of Dimitri Medvedev allowing the US to transship military materiel to US and NATO troops in Afghanistan. As Russia Today reports, this step makes US and Russia strong allies, stronger than at any time since World War II. The RT report stresses the need […]

I argued on Monday that Vice President Joe Biden did not intend, by his remarks on Sunday, to give Israel a US go-ahead to bomb Iran. The fall-out from such an attack on US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan would be dire, which is one reason I’m quite sure Obama does not want such a […]

The White House denied on Monday that the US had given Israel a green light to attack Iran, in the wake of the disputed presidential election. I and other Iran experts are quoted in this Sfgate blog, trying to explain Biden’s statement on Sunday about Israel attacking Iran. Meanwhile, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei blamed discord […]

The USG Open Source Center translates the speech on Monday by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, in which he denounces what he calls Western attempts to foment discord in Iran. . . . Supreme Leader: Iran Will React To Western Attempts to Create Internal Divisions Speech by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i, in a […]