Featured

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – News corporations think good news does not sell, which is why you see so little of it on television or on the front page of news web sites. Executives at for-profit news believe their corporations benefit, just as do social media platforms, from provoking your fight or flight reflexes– making […]

Afghanistan

The Unbearable Double Standard of the US Press, judging Biden Harshly and Abruptly Forgetting Trump’s Bizarre Antics

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I am not the only analyst to see an extraordinary set of double standards applied in the US media to Joe Biden in comparison with Donald Trump. It is almost as if reporters and anchors are willing to forget every one of Trump’s perfidies but never willing to forget even […]

Afghanistan

From Palestine to Afghanistan, Top 6 Ways our World Changed in 2021

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – It is time to look back at 2021 and consider the most consequential developments, as covered here at Informed Comment. 1. The most important change was that the Republican Party has abandoned democracy, as witnessed by its reaction to the attempted Trump coup of January 6, 2021. The GOP has […]

Featured

Juan Cole on his new Book “Peace Movements in Islam” (Simon Mabon’s Podcast)

Juan Cole

Many thanks to Simon Mabon, Professor of International Politics at Lancaster University and prominent Middle East specialist, for hosting me on his Sepad Podcast to speak about my new edited book, Peace Movements in Islam This book results from two conferences held at the International Institute of the University of Michigan to explore the theme […]

Featured

Desmond Tutu, the Nonviolent Foe of Two Apartheids – South Africa and Israel-Palestine

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ofeiba Quist-Arcton reports at NPR that Desmond Tutu has died in Cape Town, South Africa. He was 90. Tutu was an amazingly courageous voice against the white nationalist Apartheid system in South Africa, which segregated Blacks and deprived them of a good education and economic opportunities, and which attempted to […]

Climate Crisis

Good News in 2022: Top 5 Reasons to be Happy about Electric Vehicles in US in Coming Year

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Biden administration’s Infrastructure and Jobs Act, passed in October, and the new fuel standards set by the EPA will have a positive impact on electric vehicles in the United States in the coming year. Let’s review this good news. 1. Consumers will see a doubling of electric offerings, from […]

Christianity

No Santa Claus for Christians of Lebanon, Syria or Palestine this Year as US Piles on With Sanctions or Neglect

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Why is America imposing hardships on the Christians of the Middle East? Xinhua’s reporter visited Syria and found that the Christians in Damascus don’t appear to be able to put up much in the way of Christmas lights in the Christian district of Bab Touma. They complain of a lack […]

art and photography

The Nativity, Jesus and Mary in Paintings of the Muslim Mughal Court of India

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Here’s a Christmas entry. The Mughal dynasty, originating in what is now Uzbekistan, ruled India from 1526 until the 18th century, though the dynasty continued under British rule until 1857. Some of the members of the royal family were remarkably open-minded about religion, being a Muslim minority in a sea […]

Archaeology

Israeli Archeologists find Christian Ring with Image of Christ as Shepherd in Shipwreck from era of Constantine

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A marine unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority diving off the ruins of the ancient city of Caesarea Maritima has announced two spectacular finds in the form of two shipwrecks. One was from the Muslim Mamluk era, around 1400. The other was an early fourth-century Roman ship from Italy. The […]