Juan Cole

President Barack Obama on 60 Minutes Sunday night: ‘ Commenting on former Vice President Dick Cheney’s recent assertion that the closure of Guantanamo will make America more vulnerable to attack, Obama said, “I fundamentally disagree with Dick Cheney. Not surprisingly. You know, I think that Vice President Cheney has been at the head of a […]

The editor-in-chief of The New Republic, Martin Peretz, attacked Jim Lehrer and Nicholas Kristof over the weekend for having had anything to do with me. I’m not important, but I really must come to the defense of Lehrer and Kristof. Peretz blames Jim Lehrer for having me on the Lehrer News Hour on PBS and […]

Check out the good discussion we had at the Firedoglake Book Salon on Saturday evening of my new book Engaging the Muslim World. Many thanks to Robert Farley for good hosting and Beverly Wright, FDL’s book review editor, for the kind invitation to appear. Engaging the Muslim World End/ (Not Continued)

The USG Open Source Center translates Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s response to the Persian New Year’s message of US President Barack Obama. For a canny reading of this text, see the blog posting of Iran expert Farideh Farhi. See my own first impressions in my Sunday comments, as well as Michael Jensen’s article in the […]

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday, “Of course, we have no prior experience of the new president of the American republic and of the government, and therefore we shall make our judgment based on his actions.” The US corporate media mysteriously interpreted Khamenei’s words as a rebuff to Obama, but in light of […]

Walter L. Hixson writes in a guest op-ed for IC After receiving his welcoming gifts from the departing Bush administration—a depression and two failed wars—President Barack Obama faces a perhaps unprecedented combination of challenges. While it is not clear whether he or anyone possesses the wherewithal to resurrect the debt ridden American economy, Obama does […]

Am doing live Q & A at the Firedoglake book salon Saturday afternoon 3/21 at 5 pm ET. Refresh the page to see the start of it at 5. End/ (Not Continued)

President Barack Obama gave an unprecedented adress to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and to its people on the occasion of the Persian New Year, “Now-Ruz,” which is celebrated on the vernal equinox. Obama caught the spirit of renewal that marks the special day’s commemoration, when he spoke of a changed world […]

Was traveling, but finally getting time tonight to post the video of my appearance on the Colbert Report to promote Engaging the Muslim World, which Comedy Central kindly allows bloggers to embed: The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Juan Cole comedycentral.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Mark Sanford I blogged the […]