International Politics and Economy

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism writes The United Nations plans to set up a special investigation unit examining claims of civilian deaths in individual US covert drone strikes. UN investigators have been critical of US targeted killings since they began in 2002. The new Geneva-based unit will also look at the legality of the programme. […]

Islamophobia

A Post-Mortem on Muslim Rage: What did the reaction to the Islamophobic Trailer Really Tell Us? (Abootalebi)

Juan Cole

Ali R. Abootalebi writes in a guest column for Informed Comment Today’s journalism and social media, with their increasingly short news cycles, are good at pitching issues but bad at analysis and summations. Stories are just abandoned, however important, as the blogosphere moves on to the Next Big Thing. There is no shortage of opinion […]

Drones

Obama set precedent with Drone Killings for Romney to become Terminator-in-Chief (Ross)

Juan Cole

Alice K. Ross writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: President Obama’s personal involvement in selecting the targets of covert drone strikes means he risks effectively handing a ‘loaded gun’ to Mitt Romney come November, says the co-author of a new report aimed at US policymakers. ‘If Obama leaves, he’s leaving a loaded gun: he’s […]

Drones

Are Judges finally Standing up to Secretive Drone Assassinations? (Searle)

Juan Cole

Jack Searle writes at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism Three federal appeal court judges greeted US government efforts to block the release of information on the CIA’s targeted killings programme with skepticism on Thursday, as they grilled the administration’s lawyers for double the scheduled time. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is challenging the Obama […]

Islam

Fury Unbound: the Muslim Dilemma (Majid)

Juan Cole

Anouar Majid writes from Rabat, Morocco, in a guest column for Informed Comment The French are in trouble. The publication Charlie Hebdo has just published cartoons of Islam’s prophet, Mohammed, and now the French government is taking measures to protect its citizens in Muslim countries. I hear Friday may be the D-Day of Muslim protests, […]

Islam

Calm Muslim Berates Violent Muslims for Defaming Islam and being Suckers

Juan Cole

Nouman Ali Khan of the Bayyinah Institute appeals to the Quran, the behavior of the Prophet Muhammad, and common sense in upbraiding the violent believers for letting Islamophobes get their goat and provoking them to actions that detract from the reputation of Muslims and Islam.

Islamophobia

The Three Lies Michele Bachmann Tells about American Muslims (Saunders)

Juan Cole

Doug Saunders writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: The Three Myths About Muslims That Have Poisoned American Politics The attacks on two of the most prominent Muslims in American public life last week seemed to have come out of the blue. It appeared as if five Republican Representatives had arbitrarily chosen this moment […]

Egypt

Top Ten Reasons ‘Obama lost Egypt’ Meme won’t work for Romney

Juan Cole

this post is now here (click)

Drones

Hot Drone on Drone Action (Turse)

Juan Cole

Nick Turse writes at Tomdispatch.com: Introduction by Tom Engelhardt [Note for TomDispatch Readers: Today, you are witnessing the birth of a TomDispatch experiment. Nick Turse and I are launching Dispatch Books, our own little publishing venture (and adventure), with our initial e-book, Terminator Planet: The First History of Drone Warfare, 2001-2050. We’ve carefully reworked the […]