Iraq

On Friday, the US Congress endeavored to decide whether American democracy has irretrievably broken down because the representatives of the Billionaires refused to compromise with the representatives of the People (“cutting spending” while “cutting taxes” means “shifting the cost of running society to the middle class from the filthy rich”). The answer was that it […]

Bahrain

Iran, Iraq Warn of Gulf Turmoil over Bahrain: Cole in Truthdig

Juan Cole

My column at Truthdig is out, entitled “The Sleeping Giants of Tiny Bahrain.” Excerpt: ‘ Risking the radicalization of Bahrain’s Shiite community may be a very bad idea. Worries on that score are what led Vice President Joe Biden to ask again in a phone call Sunday to the king of the island nation for […]

Iraq

Top Ten Ways that Libya 2011 is Not Iraq 2003

Juan Cole

Here are the differences between George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the current United Nations action in Libya: 1. The action in Libya was authorized by the United Nations Security Council. That in Iraq was not. By the UN Charter, military action after 1945 should either come as self-defense or with UNSC […]

Egypt

Sunni-Shiite Tension Boils in Iraq, Gulf over Bahrain

Juan Cole

Reuters Arabic reports that the Saudi invasion of Bahrain on Monday has inflamed sectarian passions in Iraq. Likewise it has angered Iran, which openly condemned the move. Sectarian tensions are boiling throughout the Gulf. Security forces, possibly including Saudi troops, moved Wednesday morning against the hundreds of protesters still camped out at the Pearl Roundabout […]

Egypt

These are Not Bush’s Revolutions: Cole in Truthdig

Juan Cole

My column is out in Truthdig, entitled “People Power vs. Washington”. Excerpt: ‘The claim that George W. Bush’s war of aggression against Iraq somehow opened up the Middle East to reform is an affront to the brave crowds that have risked their lives to change the American-backed order in that part of the world. Bush’s […]

Iraq

Libya Skirmishes as Saudi Quivers and Iran, Iraq under Pressure

Juan Cole

Aljazeera reports that by Wednesday morning pro-Qaddafi forces had retaken Gharyan and Sabratha in the northwest, and had tried and failed to take the oil town of Brega in the east. Qaddafi’s jets also bombed arms depots in rebel-held Ajdabiya. Pro-Qaddafi forces had secured the country’s Western border with Tunisia on Tuesday and then attacked […]

Iraq

The World Oil Politics of the Libyan Revolt

Juan Cole

The question of what comes after Qaddafi became more complicated on Sunday, as rival claims to forming a provisional liberated government emerged. Former Justice Minister Mustafa Abdel-Jalil had announced on Saturday from Benghazi that he would head an interim government. But on Sunday human rights attorney Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga said from Benghazi that an interim government […]

Afghanistan

Clueless in the District of Columbia (Engelhardt)

Juan Cole

I was thinking that in light of the labor and youth revolutions of 2011, Washington’s focus on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the past two decades seems increasingly odd, like a set of fixations. They originated in the Cold War and in a frantic attempt to keep petroleum inexpensive so that alternative energy did […]

Iraq

Iraq Roiled by Protests, 2 Killed in Sulaimaniya

Juan Cole

What I can’t understand is, if the American Right Wing were correct that George W. Bush was ‘right’ in trying to kick start democracy in the Middle East by invading and occupying it, then why would it be necessary for people to demonstrate and burn government buildings in… Iraq? And why have 5 people been […]