Juan Cole

A parked car bomb in the northern oil city of Kirkuk killed 10 policemen in a passing convoy and wounded 20 other persons on Wednesday. Kirkuk is the object of a lively struggle among Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen. The Kurdistan Regional Government wants to annex it, and struggles over the status of Kurdistan have delayed […]

Avi Lewis interviews former Deputy Secretary of State for Aljazeera English: Armitage admits: 1. He and his boss Colin Powell lost a major battle within the Bush administration on whether the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war applied to guerrillas captured during the “war on terror.” 2. That the Bush administration engaged […]

On a wide range of fronts, human and civil rights in Iraq are in trouble. Amnesty International says that there has been a spate of killings of gay men, with 25 murdered in the past two weeks, apparently in some cases with police condoning the attacks. Three were killed in Sadr City, where the Mahdi […]

Kenneth T. Walsh at US News & World Report gives details of President Obama’s handling of the Somali pirates’ holding of Captain Richard Phillips hostage. The crisis began early in the morning of April 8, when Somali pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama. The crew captured one pirate, and three others took Captain Phillips hostage. He […]

The Progressive Book Club’s interview with me about my new book, Engaging the Muslim World, as been posted. Note that if you join the Progressive Book Club, you can get my book for $1. End/ (Not Continued)

Click here for Charlie Rose’s interview with me about my new book, Engaging the Muslim World. Rose’s is among the best interview shows on television, and don’t miss his conversation with my co-guest, Robin Wright, the same day. Engaging the Muslim World End/ (Not Continued)

My Salon.com, “The Great Right-Wing Freak-Out” has been posted, with the subtitle: “Symptoms of the conservative crack-up were on full display after President Obama’s trip abroad. Bill Kristol, take a bow.” Excerpt: ‘ President Obama’s recent trip to Europe, Turkey and Iraq was a fairly bland freshman outing in foreign affairs, notable for the enormous […]

General Ray Odierno, after months of appearing to want to wriggle out of the requirement in the Status of Forces Agreement that US troops depart Iraq by the end of 2011, reversed himself forcefully on CNN on Sunday: ‘ KING: And on a scale of 1 to 10, sir, how confident are you, 10 being […]

I don’t know David Kilcullen. But the things he is alleged to have told Paul McGeogh of the Sydney Morning Herald about Pakistan are just bizarre. I don’t know what is intended by the prediction that Pakistan might “collapse” in six months. The country faces security challenges, and has already seen terrorist attacks such as […]