Featured

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council came to meet President Barack Obama at Camp David in search of a renewed, formalized US commitment to their security. They came away disappointed. Though they did get firm oral commitments, there is no prospect of formal treaty obligations binding […]

Christianity

Palestinians welcome Pope’s Recognition of their State

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The Arabic press widely and favorably reported the news that the Vatican has recognized Palestine as a state in a new treaty with it, despite a strong protest from Israel. The recognition was of Palestine within 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital. It came as part of a treaty between the […]

Bush

Did Jeb Bush just commit a War Crime in Justifying the Iraq War?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | — Jeb Bush’s people are trying to walk back his disastrous interview with Megyn Kelly in which he said that even if he knew then what we all know now, he would have launched the war on Iraq in 2003. It is true that he doesn’t seem to […]

Featured

Yemen: Fierce fighting in Lead-up to Saudi Ceasefire, Children at risk of Starvation

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – Heavy fighting continued in Yemen on Monday and Tuesday, despite the agreement reached between Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia that a five-day ceasefire would begin on Tuesday at midnight. Humanitarian organizations have high hopes in the ceasefire as a time when aid can be gotten to the […]

Barack Obama

Saudi Arabia as the Incredible Hulk: King Salman snubs Obama’s Gulf Summit

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — Watching Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia nowadays, is like Kremlin-watching in the old days of the Cold War. It is not as if most Western journalists have a really good idea of the maneuverings inside the Saudi palace or know why exactly things happen. Since King Salman […]

Climate Change

Hawaii goes Green and other Big Renewables Stories

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – The Hawaii legislature has just passed a bill by an overwhelming margin that sets a goal of 100% renewable energy in the state by 2045. The new law requires that the state get a third of its electricity from renewables by 2020, only five years from now. […]

Bashar al-Assad

Hizbullah, Syrian Army push back al-Qaeda in Qalamoun as Christian militia mobilizes

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – Smarting from a string of losses, the proregime coalition of Hizbullah and the Syrian Arab Army is looking for some victories against the al-Qaeda-linked Support Front (Jabhat al-Nusra). They seek them in the Qalamoun mountain range near the Lebanese-Syrian border, where Hizbullah was victorious last year this […]

Featured

Syria: What if Turkey and Saudi Arabia install al-Qaeda in Damascus?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – Journalists such as the intrepid Liz Sly covering the Syrian Civil War were struck with the victories of the Army of Conquest coalition in northern Syria, which in recent weeks first took Idlib city (they had already taken most of Idlib province) and then Jisr al-Shughur, a […]

Featured

Israel’s Government Ratchets even Further Right: Great Moments in Colonialism

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Binyamin Netanyahu has succeeded in putting together a shaky coalition of parties that would give him 61 seats in the 120-member Israeli parliament. In such fragile coalitions, each small party has enormous power, since if it left, it would cause the government to fall and provoke new elections. […]