Juan Cole

Adam L. Silverman, PhD, writes in a guest op-ed for IC: The crippling sandstorms in Iraq, which disrupted the trip to that country of Vice President Joe Biden last weekend, underline the challenges confronting Iraq in the wake of two years of drought. The dry spell and poor policy choices have also, of course, badly […]

The top myths in the press this weekend about Vice President Joe Biden are that he was rebuffed in Iraq when he offered his good offices with regard to effecting Arab-Kurdish reconciliation, and that he gave Israel a green light to attack Iran. Neither thing appears to be true. So what really happened? Biden was […]

The USG Open Source Center translates or paraphrases opinion pieces in the press of the right wing Israeli settler movement in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank. Highlights: Review of Israeli Right-Wing, Settler Commentaries 26 Jun-3 Jul 09Israel — OSC SummarySunday, July 5, 2009 Arabs Have No ‘Rights Whatsoever to Any Part of the Land of […]

Aljazeera English reports on the activists abducted by Israel as they attempted to deliver food and other civilian aid to Gaza, which is under a debilitating blockade by Israel. This site explains the dire character of the Palestinians’ straits. A reader asked what would happen if someone tried to get food aid to Cuba. That […]

WaPo reports that opposition leader Mir Hosain Mousavi has released documents alleging bias in the June 12 presidential elections in Iran. He slams the Revolutionary Guards for interfering in the election. Mousavi’s website in Persian is here. Hosain Shariatmadari, a close adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, called in an editorial Saturday for Mousavi and […]

The USG Open Source Center translates a hard line editorial by an adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, calling for opposition leaders Mir Hosain Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi to be put on trial. Rightwing Iranian paper calls for prosecution of Musavi and KhatamiKeyhan OnlineSaturday, July 4, 2009 Document Type: OSC Translated Text Text of editorial […]

US hostages held in foreign country on Fourth of July, including a former Congresswoman, after having been captured in a naked act of piracy in international waters after the Americans attempted to respond to a crisis provoked by crimes against humanity, as detailed by Amnesty International. Once upon a time, Americans would have had the […]

Remembering the protests in Iran in pictures and film on the occasion of the America Declaration of Independence: Aljazeera English on “Mousavi and the Masses”, part I: Mousavi and the Masses,” Part II: Parnaz & Ashkan: “The Owner of this Land”: And some relevant print reports: LAT on one innocent man’s 10 days in Iran’s […]

In what may be a major development, it is being alleged that Iranian opposition leader Mir Hosain Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard are calling for a general strike next week. Such a strike would be harder for the regime to forestall than crowds coming into the streets, and whether it has a big effect […]