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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – What is the actual value of the oil, gas and coal fields owned by big energy corporations, which gives them their stock price and allows them to be counted as assets for borrowing purposes? The real value of those hydrocarbon resources is zero. Or actually it is much […]

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Iraq: 30,000 Sunnis flee as Shiite Militias, Army, approach Tikrit

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) The Iraqi military and allied Shiite militias are mounting a campaign to take the largely Sunni town of Tikrit (original pop. 300,000), which is alleged to have been planned and is being directed by the Jerusalem (Quds) Brigade, the foreign special ops arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps […]

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Syria: As al-Qaeda defeats ‘moderate’ US allies, will US ally with al-Qaeda?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – President Obama’s impossibly complicated plan for dealing with ISIL involves a de facto alliance with Iran in Iraq, and training up a ‘third force,’ essentially creating a new, ‘moderate’ Free Syrian Army to attack al-Qaeda and ISIL. Training an effective new fighting force will likely take 15 years, […]

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Iran Reformers – Talks will Succeed: Netanyahu ‘not Influential,’ like Iran Hardliners

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – How did Iranian politicians react to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s anti-Iran speech to the US Congress? Iran’s first woman vice president, who has the Environment portfolio, Masoumeh Ebtekar, is in Paris these days and she spoke with AFP about the Netanyahu address. “I don’t think,” she said, […]

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4 Things more Dangerous to Israel than Iran’s civilian Nuclear Enrichment

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s strident and continual harping on the alleged dangers of Iran to Israel’s security has become like an old song. Netanyahu has raised this issue repeatedly over the past 20 years, often predicting that Iran was as little as a year away from having […]

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What does Iran think of Netanyahu’s Interference in Talks?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – As Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu makes a bid to thwart President Barack Obama’s foreign policy toward Iran, the Iranian press is reacting to the wrench Netanyahu is trying to throw into negotiations over Iran’s civilian nuclear enrichment program. For some odd reason, US mass media are almost […]

Barack Obama

Frmr Israeli Intel Head: Netanyahu’s Clash w/ Obama ‘Intolerable’, Risks end of US UN Veto

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Meir Dagan, the former head of Israeli intelligence, has long been on the outs with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Now he is actively campaigning for the Israeli electorate to dump him as prime minister in the upcoming elections. Soon after leaving office four years ago, he broke longstanding […]

Entertainment

Leonard Nimoy’s Last Wishes for Israel and Palestine

Juan Cole

Reprint edn. in honor of the passing of Mr. Nimoy, who inspired a generation. Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock on Star Trek, speaks out as a Jewish American in favor of a two-state solution and a divided Jerusalem. Nimoy said, ‘ “I reach out to you as someone who is troubled to see the […]

Apartheid

5 Surprising Ways Iran is better than Israel

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) I think I’m one of the few Americans who has been to both Iran and Israel. I like both countries and have a lot in common with thinkers in both. I love What I know of Tel Aviv’s cafe culture and the searing honesty and high ethics of the […]