European Union

Italy ruled Libya from 1911 until midway through WW II, with the fascist years being especially harsh. This newsreel gives a sense of how the Italian colonial administration regimented the population (likely with a combination of bribes and threats) for a spectacle during brutal dictator Benito Mussolini’s visit to his colony in the late 1930s. […]

Climate Change

Ukraine wouldn’t be as much a Crisis if Europe had adopted Green Energy Faster

contributors

Originally published on EnergyPost.eu.By Sonja van Renssen Decisions on a new European climate and energy policy for 2030 are relegated to autumn as heads of state are caught up in the Ukraine crisis. At their spring summit in Brussels, EU leaders…

Climate Change

Ukraine Crisis Shows Urgency of Green Energy: Russian Nat’l Gas Blackmail

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Hawks are complaining that Europe has been insufficiently belligerent in its response to Russian moves in the Crimea, blaming the declining military budgets in most European countries. But this focus on military hardware is misleading, since there was never any prospect of a conventional military confrontation with the Russian Federation, given that […]

Egypt

What today’s GOP gets Wrong about Leadership: Obama & Eisenhower, Russian & Israeli Recklessness

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) The usual suspects have been slamming President Obama for an alleged lack of leadership. Trolls for the military-industrial complex like Charles Krauthammer, and megalomaniacs from tiny states like Sen. Lindsey Graham have constructed a narrative in which Obama willfully withdrew from Iraq, giving it away to Iran; has been insufficiently slavish in […]

Barack Obama

Obama & Hollande stress Hope for Iran Breakthrough

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) In his news conference with French President Francois Hollande, President Obama outlined four areas of diplomatic progress. The first is foreign policy, including Iran, Syria and the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. Re: negotiations with Iran, Obama said, “Our unity with our P5-plus-1 partners, backed with strong sanctions, has succeeded in halting and rolling back […]

censorship

Bush ordered NSA to spy on Germany’s Schroeder over Iraq War Opposition

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) The Guardian reports that the George W. Bush administration put German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s personal telephone under surveillance in 2002. Schroeder was opposed to the Bush-Cheney aggressive war on Iraq. This surveillance allowed the Bush administration to know where it stood with Germany and NATO. The surveillance continued, on the personal phone […]

European Union

Now Peace Talks, John Kerry, are “Anti-Semitic” in Eyes of Israeli Far Right

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) The Likud-led Israeli government doesn’t like US Secretary of State John Kerry at all. Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon ridiculed him as “obsessive” and “messianic.” Economy Minister Naftali Bennett earlier this week slammed Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as being under Kerry’s influence, when Netanyahu was said to be considering leaving Israeli squatters […]

European Union

Israeli Business Leaders, Fearing Boycotts, Pressure Israeli Gov’t to make Peace

Juan Cole

(Via AFP) Israel concerned at growing boycott threat (via AFP) Israeli government and business leaders are alarmed by a growing international boycott movement and the likely effect of EU measures against exports from Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Cabinet ministers are to meet next week to hammer… ——— Related video: Press TV […]

European Union

Bad for the Jews: Israeli Annexation of Palestinian West Bank, Scarlett Johansson and BDS

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) The determination of the Likud Party to annex the Palestinian West Bank is damaging the interests of world Jewry. This harm is clearly visible in the controversy that has engulfed movie star Scarlett Johansson, who was a global ambassador for the Oxfam charity and who also agreed to become a spokesperson for […]