Libya

On Sunday, the elected Libyan National Congress acted decisively to hold a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur. The same body had put him in power on September 12, but had grown increasingly impatient with his lack of leadership qualities. They complained that he took too long to form a government, that […]

Afghanistan

Top Seven Errors President Obama has made on the Middle East

Juan Cole

Yesterday I explored the errors and fantasies in Gov. Mitt Romney’s WSJ op-ed on the Middle East. Here I will briefly go over the mistakes that the Obama administration has made in the region. Unlike the proposed blunders of Romney, I have to say, most of these are errors of omission or of an abundance […]

Libya

Did Bashar al-Assad Betray Qaddafi?

Juan Cole

The polemicists of the fringe left and the far right who depict the Baathist regime in Syria as a beleagured victim of Western plotting may have to retool their noise machines. It turns out that the authoritarian government of Bashar joined with France to destroy Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi. An intelligence official for the Libyan rebels […]

Libya

Libya Security crisis in Wake of Killing of US Ambassador (Links)

Juan Cole

Libya

‘Free Libya’ Crowds in Benghazi rally against Militias, Drive al-Qaeda out of City

Juan Cole

The attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 was seen by many observers as a sign of Libyan radicalism or instability rather than the work of a small, violent and unrepresentative group. It is a little hard to understand this point of view, since Libyans had just voted in what observers […]

Afghanistan

Top Ten Likely Consequences of Muslim anti-US Embassy Riots

Juan Cole

1. Tourism in Egypt and Tunisia, the economies of which heavily depend on it, is likely to take a nosedive this fall. It is a shame, because Tunisia had been hoping for a near return to 2010 levels of 7 million visitors this year. And Egypt’s tourism was up 16% over the previous year, though […]

Egypt

Romney Jumps the Shark: Libya, Egypt and the Butterfly Effect

Juan Cole

The late science fiction writer Ray Bradbury authored a short story about time travelers. They were careful, when they went back to the Jurassic, not to change anything, but one of them stepped on a butterfly. When they got back to the present, the world was slightly different. When scientists studying complexity put forward the […]

Egypt

Romney Poses, as Militants Burn Benghazi Consulate, killing Ambassador, 3 staffers, & Demonstrate in Cairo, over Islamophobic Film

Juan Cole

Predictably, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney tried to make political hay of the tiny demonstrations in Cairo and Benghazi by Muslim militants. The Benghazi mob turned violent in clashes with police and the consulate ended up being burned and an embassy staffer is said to have been the US ambassador and three staffers were killed. […]

Libya

Libyans say CIA Tortured Them (Ross)

Juan Cole

Alice Ross writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism President Bush and his CIA director Michael Hayden have each claimed that the US has in the past only used the controversial interrogation technique of waterboarding on three prisoners. This number, however, is being called into question by a Libyan dissident who has contradicted these claims […]