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By Juan Cole Ilaf reports that rebels in East Aleppo, Syria are deeply divided over the prospect of President Obama ordering US air strikes on the so-called “Islamic State” (IS). IS is vicious and has spent most of the past 18 months studiously avoiding actually fighting the Baath government of Syria, concentrating instead on destroying […]

Apartheid

Open-Ended Ceasefire reached in Israel/ Gaza: But how Long will it Last?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Israel on the one side and Hamas and Islamic Jihad on the other have announced an open-ended cease-fire brokered by Egypt, the terms of which are similar to those of 2012. Mass celebrations broke out among war-weary Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians could argue that they have won some concessions. […]

Egypt

5 Ironies of US Reaction to Egypt/UAE Bombing of Libya

Juan Cole

The diplomatic angst issuing from Washington around the United Arab Emirates and Egypt bombing of weapons depots belonging to the Qatar-backed fundamentalist militia of Misrata holds many delicious ironies: 1. According to the BBC, “the US, France, Germany, Italy and the UK issued a joint statement denouncing “outside interference” in Libya.” Seriously, guys? Except for […]

BDS Occupied Territories

Victim of McCarthy-Era Witch Hunt calls on U-Illinois not to Fire Critic of Israeli Policies

Juan Cole

Note by Juan Cole: In the early 1950s, under the influence of Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI), a national witch hunt was conducted for leftists. McCarthy claimed to have a list of 100 Soviet moles in the State Department. Even former members of the Communist Party, which had been popular in the 1930s Great Depression before […]

Featured

Iraq: Bombs & Bullets vs. Political Process

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole A series of bombings and shootings left some 35 dead in Iraq on Saturday, following on a massacre of 68 worshipers Friday at a Sunni Mosque in mixed Diyala Province. This violence was strategic, not random. One side effect was a severe setback in the attempt of Haydar al-Abadi, the prime minister […]

Barack Obama

Obama’s budding Cambodia Policy in Syria

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Former British ambassador to the United States Sir Christoher Meyer is advocating that the US and Western Europe stop advocating the overthrow of the Baath regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and instead coordinate with it to move against the so-called “Islamic State,” which controls some predominantly Sunni Muslim desert towns on […]

Energy

Iraq: If Terrorists hit Southern Iraq oil fields, $5-$7 a gallon Gas?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Iraq’s former oil minister, Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum, warned on Thursday that the so-called “Islamic State” terrorist organization could hit the Iraqi oil fields in the south around Basra. Basra is deep in the Shiite south, so IS could not take the city of 2 million as it did largely Sunni Mosul. But […]

Featured

What do Iraq’s Sunni Arabs have in common with Ferguson, Mo. African-Americans?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole If prime minister-designate Haydar al-Abadi in Iraq is to hope to defeat the so-called “Islamic State” (actually a kind of mafia made up of serial murderers and marauders), he must find a way to re-incorporate Iraq’s Sunni Arabs into the government, which has been dominated by Shiite religious parties since 2005, partly […]

Featured

ISIS to US: We’ll drown you in Blood; beheads US Journalist, Holds Tikrit

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The Iraqi military made a push on Tikrit north of Baghdad on Tuesday, but had to call off their campaign when they ran into minefields, booby-trapped buildings, sniping and artillery and mortar fire on the part of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which now styles itself the “Islamic State” […]