By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Writing in al-Hayat [Life] this week, columnist Walid Choucair outlined the successes he sees Russia to have had in its Syria campaign, and the goals for which it is reaching. Choucair is the Lebanese affairs bureau chief of this pan-Arab, Saudi-owned London daily, which has a […]
Month
Category
- Africa (249)
- Asia (1,251)
- Australasia (35)
- Authoritarianism (387)
- Canada (8)
- Culture (563)
- Economy (1,059)
- Agriculture (3)
- Banking (67)
- Carbon Footprint (6)
- Corporations (54)
- Cryptocurrency (2)
- Debt (21)
- Degrowth (1)
- Democratic Socialism (20)
- Demographic Decline (1)
- Development (26)
- Downward Mobility (1)
- Employment (118)
- Food Insecurity (21)
- Homelessness (16)
- Industry (5)
- Inequality (426)
- Inflation (5)
- infrastructure (10)
- Insurance (1)
- Investment (92)
- Market Crash (10)
- Middle Class (61)
- Monopolies (8)
- Neoliberalism (204)
- Plutocracy (627)
- Poverty (14)
- Poverty (207)
- Regulation (3)
- Retirement (1)
- Sanctions (4)
- Tariffs (1)
- Taxes (37)
- Technology (3)
- Trade (116)
- Weapons sales (7)
- Education (179)
- Energy (1,745)
- Batteries (52)
- Coal (139)
- Electricity Cost (2)
- Fossil Fuels (328)
- Fracking (50)
- Geothermal (7)
- Green ammonia (5)
- Green Energy (420)
- Green Hydrogen (8)
- Heat Pumps (6)
- Hydroelectric (1)
- Hydroelectric (15)
- Mining (1)
- Natural Gas (107)
- Nuclear Energy (159)
- Petroleum (300)
- Power Grid (12)
- Pumped Hydro (6)
- Solar Energy (419)
- Tar Sands (13)
- Wave Energy (9)
- wind energy (345)
- Environment (2,701)
- Climate Change (1,660)
- Acidification of Oceans (54)
- Agriculture (26)
- Biodiversity (13)
- Climate Refugees (4)
- CO2 (127)
- Dehydration (5)
- Denialism (149)
- Desalinization (4)
- Desertification (160)
- Divestment (2)
- Dust Storms (6)
- Environmental Investment (1)
- Extreme Heat (393)
- Extreme Weather (298)
- Flooding (138)
- Food Supply (3)
- Forests (18)
- Green New Deal (41)
- Green Recycling (2)
- Greenwashing (3)
- Mass Extinction (62)
- Methane (20)
- Net Carbon Zerio (8)
- Nitrous Oxide (2)
- Rainforests (19)
- Rivers (12)
- Sea Level (338)
- Soil Carbon Release (14)
- Super Storms (265)
- wildfires (240)
- Wood Buildings (1)
- Climate Crisis (1,337)
- Drought (295)
- Ecology (1)
- Ecology (10)
- Environmentalism (393)
- Green Transportation (255)
- Ice Melt (139)
- Invasive Species (2)
- Islands (1)
- Oceans (103)
- Oil Spills (8)
- Pollution (233)
- Water (96)
- wildlife (21)
- Climate Change (1,660)
- Europe (1,382)
- Featured (4,205)
- Haiti (1)
- Health (704)
- History (362)
- Human Rights (1,614)
- Apartheid (263)
- censorship (313)
- Death Penalty (30)
- Disappeared (3)
- Displaced and Refugees (580)
- Food Insecurity (30)
- Gay rights (29)
- Genocide (61)
- Human Rights Watch (90)
- Indigenous Rights (1)
- Migrants (4)
- privacy (21)
- Rights (90)
- Slavery and Trafficking (16)
- Starvation (4)
- Torture (102)
- Trans Rights (3)
- Transgender Rights (4)
- Unlawful Imprisonment (105)
- Unlwful Killing (80)
- War Crimes (418)
- War Rape (9)
- International Politics and Economy (2,115)
- Arms Sales (73)
- BRICS (3)
- Corruption (268)
- Crime (132)
- Democracy (333)
- Dissent (441)
- Domestic Terrorism (15)
- Drones (113)
- G20 (1)
- Guns (9)
- Hacking (8)
- Immigration (21)
- Immigration (4)
- Islamophobia (383)
- Migrants (2)
- military (125)
- nationalism (117)
- NATO (37)
- Neocolonialism (1)
- Peace (143)
- Policing (2)
- Politics (307)
- Politics&Culture (21)
- Propaganda (13)
- Smuggling (1)
- Juan Cole (270)
- Latin America (102)
- media (485)
- Middle East (9,951)
- Arab World (5,294)
- Iran (1,344)
- Israel (954)
- Israel/ Palestine (3,608)
- Israel/Palestine (9)
- Kurds (294)
- Red Sea (1)
- Turkey (598)
- Turkiye (125)
- Patriarchy (10)
- racism (470)
- religion (1,512)
- robots (3)
- Romance (1)
- science (172)
- Secular (West) (9)
- Secularism (30)
- Spirituality (22)
- Statelessness (15)
- Stranded Assets (1)
- Surveillance (280)
- Terrorism (1,096)
- Tolerance (6)
- Uncategorized (8,082)
- United Nations (177)
- Urbanization (4)
- US Foreign Policy (1,366)
- US politics (5,440)
- Anti-War Movement (13)
- Campaign Finance (31)
- Censors (22)
- Central Intelligence Agency (63)
- Charity (1)
- Civil Rights (96)
- Congress (80)
- Conspiracy Theories (23)
- Constitution (404)
- Courts (15)
- crime (12)
- Democratic Party (975)
- Democratic Socialists of America (22)
- Domestic Terrorism (20)
- Drone Warfare (27)
- Espionage (124)
- Ethnicities (391)
- Far Right (396)
- FBI (48)
- Foreign Policy (204)
- Gay Rights (17)
- Guns (97)
- Immigration (246)
- Israel Lobbies (130)
- Marijuana (4)
- Militarization (274)
- National Security State (477)
- Native Americans (40)
- Nuclear arsenal (7)
- penitentiaries (6)
- Pentagon (571)
- Police (43)
- prison reform (9)
- Private Prisons (2)
- Progressive Politics (13)
- Puerto Rico (30)
- Religious Right (15)
- Reproductive Choice (68)
- Republican Party (3,052)
- Supreme Court (133)
- Voter suppression (36)
- Whistleblowers (7)
- Xenophobia (9)
- Veterans (35)
- Voting Rights (16)
- War (617)
- White Supremacists (236)
- wikileaks (8)
- women (566)
- workers (233)
- Writing (5)
- Youth (215)
Featured
Iran’s Attendance at Syria talks in Vienna marks its Emergence as Regional Power
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – On Friday, Iran and Saudi Arabia will both attend an international summit on Syria and speak diplomatically about its future for the first time. It won’t be easy, since Iran has 1500 troops on the ground supporting the government of Bashar al-Assad, while Saudi Arabia is […]
Iran helping build “New Syrian Army;” ISIL fighters Fleeing to Iraq from Russian Airstrikes
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Alarabiya television is reporting 16 new casualties in Syria since October 9 among Iranian fighters there. There are thought to be some 1,500 Iranian military personnel in Syria, though some of these are actually Afghans. Several of those Iranian personnel killed during the past 2 years […]
Senior National Security Advisers urge Obama to put Spec Ops Troops close to ISIL Front
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Missy Ryan and Greg Jaffe at the Washington Post reveal that President Obama’s senior national security advisers have recommended positioning US special operations forces closer to the enemy lines of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) in Iraq and even in Syria. Apparently it is felt that Iraqi troops […]
Bush Lapdog Blair can’t Even Apologize Correctly for Destabilizing the Middle East
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Former British PM Tony Blair reiterated on Sunday some of his previous half-hearted “apologies” for illegally launching a war of aggression on Iraq in 2003. Blair’s “apologies” always take the form of the little boy who, when instructed to apologize for calling a lady fat, says, […]
Is Russia’s offer of Parliamentary Elections in Syria Serious?
By Juan Cole | (informed Comment) | – – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said three surprising things Saturday in an interview with Rossiya 1. 1. Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad would have to be part of any transition to a new govering. 2. Syria could have nationwide presidential and parliamentary elections next summer 3. Russia […]
Top Five Things Congress Should investigate instead of Benghazi
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – – The fruitless carnival barking that was the GOP Benghazi inquisition did the nation the disservice of taking focus off the things really wrong with US policies, and places there really was wrongdoing. So here are some suggestions for real investigations: 1. We still don’t know why Bush-Cheney […]
First US Soldier Killed in Combat with Daesh/ ISIL as 70 Hostages Freed
By Juan Cole | – – A joint operation by US Delta force and Iraqi Kurdish freed 70 captives on Thursday, led to killing of 20 and the capture of 6 Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) forces, and left one US soldier dead. He was the first US military casualty in the struggle between Washington and the […]
US-Russia wrangle over Iraqi Sphere of influence: Parliament to Weigh In
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi is alleged to be under “enormous pressure” from Shiite militiamen and hardliners to seek Russian airstrikes on Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) targets. On Oct. 1, he had announced that such Russian intervention in his country would be welcome. On Wednesday, the largest […]
© 2025 All Rights Reserved