By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – In the period from roughly 610 to 622 CE (“AD”), Muhammad ibn Abdallah of the noble Quraysh tribe in the western Arabian city of Mecca preached monotheism to an outraged polytheistic city dedicated to the worship of ancient Near Eastern goddesses, and the commerce of which deeply depended […]
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International Politics and Economy
Tom Cotton’s ‘Chickenhawk’ Taunt at Iran FM Demeans Jeb Bush, GOP Field
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – So freshman senator Tom Cotton (R-AK) got into a Twitter slamming match with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif this week. Zarif spoke at New York University on Wednesday and asserted that if there were a UNSC deal on Iran’s nuclear energy program, international sanctions would be […]
Global Connections: World History as Social History – a New Synthesis
I and colleagues have just brought out a world history. Because of the fine and exciting writing of my co-authors, it is more than just a textbook. My readers often ask me about history books – here’s one I can recommend. By John Coatsworth, Juan Cole, Michael Hanagan, Peter C. Perdue, Charles Tilly, and Louise […]
Middle East Conflicts Trigger New U.S.-Russia Arms Race
By Thalif Deen | — UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – The escalating military conflicts in the Middle East – and the month-long aerial bombings of Yemen by an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia – have triggered a new arms race in the politically-volatile region. The primary beneficiaries are the United States and Russia, two of […]
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Azerbaijan among Top 10 Worst Censors: Media Watchdog
By Valentina Ieri | – UNITED NATIONS, (IPS) – While technology has given millions greater freedom to express themselves, in the world's 10 most censored countries, this basic right exists only on paper, if at all. According to a report by thereport by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which will be officially […]
US admits it has no Idea who it is Assassinating by Drone
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The tragic deaths last January, just now being revealed, of two Western hostages in drone strikes on a relatively empty housing complex in northern Pakistan near the Afghanistan border underlines that the Obama administration is killing people from the air without knowing who they are and is killing […]
Ousted Egyptian President Morsi Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison
By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) – Morsi was convicted of ordering the arrest and torture of protesters during the clashes that erupted in December 2012 Ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, along with 14 other defendants, was sentenced on Tuesday to 20 years in maximum security prison and five years of parole over the […]
700 Dead: Is Europe’s Neglect of Mediterranean Migrants a form of Genocide?
By Heaven Crawley The latest refugee deaths in the Mediterranean – up to 700 people drowned when the overcrowded fishing vessel in which they were travelling from North Africa capsized of the coast of Libya – follows a similar tragedy last week in which 400 people perished. In October 2013, more than 360 people – […]
Iraq: Why it doesn’t Matter if Ezzat al-Douri was Killed
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The currently partly unemployed Iraqi governor of Salahuddin Province, displaced from much of his territory by Daesh (ISIS or ISIL), maintains that former Baath vice president of Iraq under Saddan Hussain, Ezzat al-Douri, has been killed by Shiite militias in a firefight north of Tikrit in the Hamrin […]