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Turkish strong man Tayyip Erdogan is complaining about Donald Trump’s playing hard ball with his country, at a time when the Turkish lira is collapsing more dramatically than at any time since 2001, before the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK) came to power. Turkey’s currency has lost a third of its value against the […]

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US Editorials called the Polish immigrant Grandparents of Laura Ingraham ‘Undesirables’

Juan Cole

Professional bigot Laura Ingraham, ensconced in the primo 10 pm slot at Fox Cable News, has delivered herself of one of her typical Know-Nothing pronouncements on immigration to the US. Laura Ingraham: "The America we know and love doesn't exist anymore. Massive demographic changes have been foisted on the American people, and they are changes […]

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The Saudi Problem: Wildly Erratic, and Savagely Lashing out from Yemen to Qatar to . . . Canada?

Juan Cole

Mohamed Bin Salman is at it again. The yacht-loving Renaissance art collector who tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the American elite this spring is a serial diplomatic disaster. Bin Salman’s plans for a transition of Saudi Arabia from being an oil giant to being a financial hub depend heavily on international […]

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Europe, Russia, China defy Trump on Iran Sanctions

Juan Cole

A further round of new Trump sanctions against Iran went into effect yesterday, but the president is failing to get buy-in from allies and rivals, who pledge to keep dealing with Iran. Chinese auto-makers are flooding into Iran to replace French car companies there. China has pledged to pay no attention to the Trump threats. […]

Corruption

Manafort’s alleged Corruption is How America Works, not Deviance

Juan Cole

Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, is being tried for money laundering, keeping some 15 illegal foreign accounts, and cheating the government out of the taxes he rightfully owed, among a host of other crimes. Manafort joined Trump’s presidential campaign in March, 2016, having offered to work for free, and tried to persuade delegates to […]

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Saudi Arabia bullies Canada with Economic Threats for Criticizing its Horrible Human Rights Record

Juan Cole

Saudi Arabia is attempting to bully Canada for criticizing the abysmal Saudi human rights record. (That is, if something as non-existent as Saudi human rights can be called abysmal). Riyadh has expelled the Canadian ambassador and has frozen all new purchases and investments in Canada. The Canadian foreign ministry had tweeted on Friday, “Canada is […]

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Emolument? Saudi Stay in Failing Trump NYC Hotel Boosted Profits 1st Quarter

Juan Cole

David A. Fahrenthold and Jonathan O’Connell at WaPo have revealed that the declining revenues at Trump’s hotel in New York City were turned around in the first quarter of 2018, with a 13% bump produced by the stay there of a Saudi retinue in connection with the visit to the US of Crown Prince Mohamed […]

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Jared Kushner Tries to Strip Refugee Status, Aid from Millions of Displaced Palestinians

Juan Cole

According to Jared Kushner and other hard line Zionists, the Palestinian people don’t exist. Ever since they ethnically cleansed the majority of Palestinians, the Israelis have been hoping that they will just go away. They look out on Galilee, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, and Lebanon, and ask, “why are you still here?” as though […]

Donald Trump

Turkish Party Proposes Seizing Trump Towers to Retaliate for US Sanctions

Juan Cole

The Turkish Press reports that the IYI Party is suggesting that the government seize the country’s Trump Towers and nationalize it. The threat shows the opposite of the emoluments problem– Trump is liable to economic blackmail because he refused to put his wealth in a blind trust. Turks are angered because the Trump administration placed […]