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(By Juan Cole) Burning fossil fuels (coal, natural gas and oil) is putting 32 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually into the atmosphere. Since CO2 is a greenhouse gas that traps heat from the sun on earth and prevents it radiating back out to space, this unprecedented human output is causing climate disruption, a […]

Dissent

Top attempts by Dictators to Shut down Twitter in Mideast (including Turkey’s PM Erdogan)

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Trying to close down social media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube has been a desperate ploy of dictatorial regimes throughout the world. It doesn’t work very well, since typically users find workarounds. But what is interesting is why authoritarian regimes make the attempt in the first place. At midnight last night, […]

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On Iranian New Year, Russia hints it May Swing Support to Tehran over Crimea Sanctions

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Iran may have gotten a New Year’s gift via the Crimea crisis, as Russia threatens to play the Iran card over proposed US sanctions. As I argued in the New York Times, Russia and Iran are being driven closer to one another as both are now under a US and Western European […]

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Russian Annexation of Crimea, Israeli Annexation of Palestine

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Russia’s annexation of Crimea on Tuesday is among the few significant territorial acquisitions since the end of World War II by one country from another, more or less by force. The only clear parallel I can think of in the post-War period is the Israeli annexation of the Palestinian territories in 1967. […]

al-Qaeda

As Putin recognizes Crimea, his other Client, Syria, Goes on the Offensive

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a geopolitical roll these days, despite US and EU sanctions against some of his closest associates. On Monday he recognized Crimea in the wake of its referendum on secession from the Ukraine, despite Western warnings not to do so, and despite severe questions about the accuracy […]

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Crimea Vote provokes fear of Domino Effect in Eurasia: Turkish FM

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday warned that Crimea’s referendum on seceding from Ukraine pose the threat of a “domino effect” in Eurasia. Will Russia’s rush to referendum and the outcome affect other populations who want to secede, throughout the world? Will it destabilize the current world order? Davutoglu likely had […]

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Israelis slam Kerry over “Jewish State” Remarks as Abbas Rejects Demand

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Right wing Israeli officials over the weekend expressed rage at US Secretary of State John Kerry for saying that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu should “drop” his demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Israel Ha-Yom reported, ‘Deputy Education Minister Avi Wortzman (Habayit Hayehudi) said: “At a time when the […]

Bashar al-Assad

Four Reasons Syria Refugees are a Bigger Story than Malaysian Air MH 370

Juan Cole

It is a tragedy that the 239 passengers on Malaysian Air MH 370 never made it to Beijing, and appear to have been the victims of a hijacking that went horribly wrong. But the hours and hours of US cable television speculation about the fate of the flight during the past seven days are a […]

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A Russo-Iranian Bloc against the United States?

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Russian President Vladimir Putin called his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on Thursday, according to PressTV. The Russian press added that “A Kremlin statement said Putin had underlined to Rouhani that any solution to the Ukrainian crisis must take into account the interests and the will of people in all of the former […]