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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Public remarks by the head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency and by John Brennan, director of the CIA, suggest that Washington is making its peace with a break-up of Syria and Iraq. They hastened to say that break-up was not US policy, they simply saw […]

Bashar al-Assad

Germany seeks Talks with Russia over Syria as Putin conducts Naval Maneuvers off Tartous

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Agence France Press Arabic says that Cypriot officials are reporting that Russia has asked them to alter airline routes this coming week because it is planning naval military maneuvers off the Syrian coast near its leased naval base, Tartous. The maneuvers are called “routine” by Moscow […]

al-Qaeda

14 Years after 9/11, US, Israel Tempted to ally with Al-Qaeda in Syria

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Jabhat al-Nusra or Support Front is one of the major rebel groups in Syria, holding extensive territory in the hinterland of cities like Homs and Aleppo and in the province of Idlib. The Support Front is just al-Qaeda. It has announced allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, […]

Barack Obama

Top 5 Reasons Obama defeated GOP, AIPAC effort to vote Down Iran Deal

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – 40 Democratic senators and two independent senators stood with President Obama on Thursday, preventing any congressional condemnation of the UN Security Council’s Vienna agreement with Iran over its civilian nuclear enrichment program. By the genteel rules of the senate, proponents of the censure vote needed 60 […]

al-Qaeda

Russia Ramping up Military Involvement in Syria?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Reuters reports, based on sources in Beirut, that Russia is increasing its involvement in Syria, backing the military of beleaguered dictator Bashar al-Assad. Russia appears to be offloading tanks at its Tartous naval base on the Syrian coast, and may also be establishing an interior air […]

African-Americans

What if Kim Davis Refused to License Marriages of Inter-Racial Couples?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Kentucky court clerk Kim Davis was released from prison on Tuesday after having been jailed for 5 days for contempt of court because she will not issue marriage licenses to her gay constituents. Her release was turned into a circus by Mike Huckabee, seeking a way […]

Apartheid

Israel plans to tear down 13,000 Palestinian Buildings in Palestine

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has produced a report [pdf] in which it finds that “Official data released by the Israeli authorities indicate that over 11,000 demolition orders – affecting an estimated 13,000 Palestinian- owned structures, including homes -are currently ‘outstanding’ […]

Christianity

Pope Francis’ call to host Refugees contrasts w/ anti-Immigrant US “Religious Right”

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Not all American Christian leaders have covered themselves in glory when it comes to the issue of Syrian refugees being accepted by the US ( not many are). Evangelist Franklin Graham sees these refugees as a security threat because many of them are Muslim (though there […]

American Jews

Whether Jewish Refugees in ’30s or Syrians today, USA Falls Short of own Ideals

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Germany, a country of 80 million, will take in 800,000 refugees this year, many of them Syrians. That is 1 percent of their population. It would be like the USA taking in 3 million refugees in one year. The US takes in 70,000 refugees a year. […]