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Ann Arbor (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – On December 17, 2024, a group of Palestinian and Palestinian-Americans filed a complaint against the State Department with one simple ask: That the Department obey the Leahy law with regard to Israel. The Leahy law prohibits U.S. assistance to foreign security force units credibly implicated in gross […]

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Trump Administration to draw Down Troop Presence in New, Fundamentalist Syria

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Tara Copp at AP reports that the Trump administration will withdraw some of the 2000 troops now based in southeastern Syria. Some 600 will come out, leaving about 1400. The US has 8 small bases there and will close 3 of them. According to the UAE press which draws on […]

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French President Macron demands Immediate Gaza Ceasefire, Resumption of Civilian Aid, Palestinian State

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by telephone Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Paris’s plan to recognize a Palestinian state. Macron insisted on a ceasefire in Gaza and told Netanyahu that it was the only hope for retrieving the remaining Israeli hostages from Gaza. Macron wrote at “X” […]

Climate Crisis

Europe was Hottest Ever Recorded last Year, and is Heating up Faster than any other Continent

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Copernicus Climate Change Service (abbreviated as C3S) has just issued The European State of the Climate for 2024. These scientists report that last year was the hottest ever in Europe, which is the continent that is heating up faster than any other. They write, “60% of Europe saw more […]

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Turkiye’s Solar Installations soared 39% last Year, as Wind and Solar hit 18% of Grid

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The energy consultancy Ember has issued a new report on solar energy in Turkiye. As I discussed last December, that form of energy is making tremendous strides there. Ember finds that in 2024, wind and solar surged ahead of coal for the first time. I remember my first visit to […]

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The Islamic Peace Studies Initiative

Juan Cole

Pacifism in Islam – University of Manchester. Juan Cole’s remarks at their conference. The Islamic Peace Studies Initiative Juan Cole and Samer Ali have directed the Islamic Peace Studies Initiative at the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies in the International Institute of the University of Michigan from 2016. The initiative sought to […]

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The Deep History of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Letters and Politics on KPFA with Mitch Jeserich: KPFA Special – The History Behind The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam – Interview with Juan Cole (Long excerpt of computer-generated transcript cleaned up by ChatGPT; caveat emptor): Mitch Jeserich: Good day and welcome to Letters and Politics. I’m Mitch Jeserich. “Since we […]

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A Great Muslim Scholar of Jewish Heritage Passes: Abdallah Schleifer (1935 – 2025)

Shalom Goldman

Middlebury, Vt. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Abdullah Schleifer, prominent Arab journalist and Professor Emeritus at the American University in Cairo, died last week at the age of ninety. The grandchild of European Jews who fled Europe and immigrated to the U.S. in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Schleifer converted to Islam […]

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A Majority of Americans Views Israel Negatively in wake of Gaza Genocide

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Laura Silver at the Pew Research Center reports that 53% of Americans now have a negative view of Israel, a stark deterioration from 42% in spring 2022 before the Israeli total war on Gaza. Moreover, in just 3 years the percentage of Americans with very negative views of Israel has […]