Featured

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The late Saudi Maj. Gen. Ali al-Qahtani is said to have shown up at the morgue from the Riyadh Ritz Carlton where he had been imprisoned by Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, 32, with a broken neck, bruises and swelling all over his body, and […]

Featured

Iraq: Al-Sadr & Communist Party ally against Corruption, Iranian Hegemony

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Nativist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, 44, is encouraging members of his Sadr Movement to vote in the upcoming national elections for parliament. “Vote,” he said, “and save our country from corruption.” A newly formed political party, al-Istiqama or the Upright Party, will hew the Sadrist line. […]

Bashar al-Assad

Surprise withdrawal of Syrian guerrillas from East Ghouta as Regime advances

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Syrian War is largely over, but the regime of Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers appear determined to mop up the remaining enclaves of rebel opposition, despite sweet talk of de-confliction zones and of negotiations in Sochi or Astana. It would be better […]

Climate Change

20,000 Scientists are Deeply Alarmed about Humanity and So should you Be

Juan Cole

by Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The “Letter Warning Humanity” from scientists has now been signed by over 20,000 scientists, as The Independent notes. The reason for this alarm is given in these charts: They show alarmingly accelerating carbon dioxide emissions (we were up worldwide again last year), declining access to fresh […]

Featured

Saudi Prince: Turkey, Iran & Extremists are ME “Triangle of Evil”

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Egypt’s al-Shuruq newspaper, which tilts liberal and secular, reports on the press conference in Cairo conducted by neophyte crown prince Muhammad Bin Salman, 32 on Wednesday. Bin Salman said that the current “Triangle of Evil” [paraphrasing George W. Bush’s speechwriter David Frum] was Iran, Turkey and […]

Environmentalism

Top 4 myths about Electric Cars & why they should not Discourage You

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – China produced 680,000 electric vehicles last year, as much as the rest of the world combined. But by 2020 the Chinese hope to make and sell 2 million EV’s a year, and to go on up from there. The Chinese Communist Party is determined to reduce […]

Donald Trump

Tower of Jello: The Struggle of Russia and UAE over Tillerson’s helming of State Department

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The New Yorker reports that there was a further Steele memo, prepared by the same ex-MI6 intelligence officer who authored the notorious “golden shower” dossier, which reported Russian foreign ministry boasts that they had blocked Trump from appointing Mitt Romney as secretary of state. Romney had […]

Featured

Netanyahu & Trump, both under Investigation, Meet on phony ‘Deal of the Century’

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Far right Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet Monday with far right white nationalist president Donald J. Trump in an apparent effort to hurry up Trump’s announcement of the “Deal of the Century” between Israel and the Palestinians. The Arabic press is speculating that Netanyahu, […]

Corruption

Did an Emirates-Israel alliance Help elect Trump more than Russia?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – One of the surprises thrown up by the Gulf crisis and by the Mueller investigation is how entangled the United Arab Emirates is with Israel, and how the lobbies of the two states in Washington powerfully shape American policy. While the Israel lobbies have received scholarly […]