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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – President Obama’s last State of the Union address this year was largely lacking in specifics and replete with high ideals and ambitious goals like curing cancer. But he did address some issues in everyday politics. One of the more powerful moments came when he implicitly attacked […]

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Thwarted Territorially in Ramadi, Daesh reverts to Terrorism in Baghdad

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – One of the problems Iraq and Syria will face as Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) is gradually rolled back from its territorial acquisitions is that it will demobilize its conventional forces and return to being a terrorist organization. It may be in some ways more dangerous under the […]

Authoritarianism

How the fate of Syria’s al-Assad divides the GOP Field: Cruz, Trump, Rubio

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Foreign policy is not a strong suit for most of the Republican candidates for president. Many of them probably couldn’t find Syria on a blank world map. But the fate of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad has become a flashpoint issue distinguishing them from one another. Donald […]

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Russian Strike on al-Qaeda Lair kills 51 at Prison, as US hypocritically slams Moscow

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Russian air war against al-Qaeda in Syria (the Nusra Front or the Support Front) took a tragic turn on Saturday when a missile hit a downtown government building complex and prison in Maarat al-Numan. It left some 51 or more dead and 70 wounded. The […]

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Jews and Arabs Kiss in Protest against Banning of Novel

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Dorit Rabinyan’s novel Borderlife treats a love affair in New York between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man, which ends when they return to their respective homes. The novel began being assigned by those inveterate social radicals, the High School Teachers, in Israel. But then […]

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Syrian Army lets food Aid into Starving Madaya

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – France24 Arabic reports that the Syrian government agreed Thursday to allow humanitarian aid into Madaya and two other besieged towns near the Lebanese border northwest of Damascus. The step was praised by the United Nations. The siege of Madaya, pop 40,000, has been going on for […]

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Britain’s Debate over Banning Trump by the Numbers

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The British parliament will debate a motion to ban Donald Trump from the UK on January 18. Typically 100,000 signatures on a petition will provoke such a debate, but many more Britons asked for it than that. Trump would hardly be the first person banned there […]

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ISIL/ Daesh Threatens to attack Saudi Arabia after Executions

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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) has pledged to attack and destroy the two Saudi political prisons, al-Ha’ir (Riyadh) and al-Tarfiya (Qaseem region), where Muslim radicals are typically held, and release their inmates. These prisons hold several thousand Saudis accused of involvement in terrorism. It was the organization’s first […]

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Iraqi Shiites up in Arms, claim Saudi “Spying on behalf of ISIL/Daesh”

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Saudi Arabia’s execution on Saturday of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr has so far not created a crisis between Riyadh and the Shiite-dominated Baghdad government. But Saudi Arabia’s name with the rank and file Shiites and parliamentary backbenchers is mud. On Tuesday, thousands (or perhaps […]