Featured

By Juan Cole | — The United Nations General Assembly (where all 193 countries in the world get a vote) has almost unanimously demanded that Israel give up its nuclear weapons and cooperate with making the Middle East a nuclear-free zone. The only dissenters were Israel and the United States, along with three small South […]

Featured

Iran-Iraq War 2.0? Iran Flies bombing Raids on Extremists in Iraq

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — The US Pentagon is confirming that Iranian F-4 fighter jets have flown bombing missions against Daesh or the so-called ‘Islamic State Group’ in Iraq. They helped Iraqi Shiites take the town of Saadiya back from Daesh late last week. That town is in the ethnically and religiously mixed province of […]

Eastern Europe

Putin, Blocked by Europe, turns to Turkey for Gas Pipeline

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — The Russian annexation of Crimea and heavy interference in the Ukraine has had a significant consequence for its hydrocarbon industry. President Vladimir Putin has been forced to cancel a planned natural gas pipeline that would bring the fuel to southern Europe, because of European Union pressure for boycotting Russia. Moscow […]

Bush

Bush Admin. Spent Billions on an Iraqi Army with 50,000 “ghost” Soldiers

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi announced to his parliament on Sunday that inspectors had uncovered 50,000 non-existent soldiers in four divisions of the Iraqi Army. Their pay was presumably being diverted to the officers in the division. This ziggurat of corruption was one reason the army collapsed on June 9, […]

Arab Spring

Cairo Erupts as Mubarak, Adly Declared Innocent in Deaths of Protesters

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — An Egyptian court on Saturday found found deposed dictator Hosni Mubarak and his former interior minister Habib Adly not guilty (or rather just dropped the charges) the killing of nearly 900 young protesters by police in January-February 2011. Downtown Cairo and some provincial towns erupted in protests. Indeed, these were […]

Featured

Oil Price Fall: Saudi Arabia targets US Shale Oil, Iran, Iraq, Russia

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole It is clear that among the major losers in the fall in the price of Brent crude petroleum from $115 a barrel last summer to about $75 a barrel today are Russia, Iraq and Iran. Petroleum sales are 50% of Russia’s income, and are also central for Iran and Iraq. But the […]

Energy

Iran Leader Khamenei: We are not Opposed to Nuclear Talks, Will Accept Just Deal

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the clerical Leader of Iran, told an assemblage of volunteer paramilitary (Basij) forces on Thursday that he is not opposed to nuclear talks with the P5 +1 and would accept a just and reasonable deal. I said that a breakdown in the talks, which have been extended […]

Climate Change

Thanksgiving was always about Climate and Adaptation: Let’s Make it Green Again

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — The popular story about Thanksgiving is an environmental parable that we would do well to remember today. It was a harvest festival in 1621, participated in by the 50 (out of 100) survivors at Plymouth Plantation and 90 Native Americans. Some of these latter, such as Squanto, had shared with […]

African-Americans

Race inequality between US Whites and African-Americans by the Numbers (Again)

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — With regard to employment, African-Americans got hit harder by the Bush Depression than did whites, and jobs have not come back for them at nearly the same rate: This vast difference between Euro-American and African-American rates of employment holds true regardless of educational level; college-educated African-Americans are also twice as […]