By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Hasan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hizbullah, Lebanese Shiite party-militia, weighed in on Friday on the Saudi intervention in Yemen. The Saudis put together a Sunni coalition against the Shiite Houthis and have bombed Zaidi Shiite population centers like Sa’adeh. I discussed their motives in my just-published piece in […]
- Africa (248)
- Asia (1,242)
- Australasia (34)
- Authoritarianism (384)
- Canada (7)
- Culture (560)
- Economy (1,050)
- Agriculture (3)
- Banking (67)
- Carbon Footprint (6)
- Corporations (51)
- Cryptocurrency (2)
- Debt (21)
- Degrowth (1)
- Democratic Socialism (20)
- Demographic Decline (1)
- Development (26)
- Downward Mobility (1)
- Employment (118)
- Food Insecurity (21)
- Homelessness (16)
- Industry (5)
- Inequality (425)
- Inflation (5)
- infrastructure (10)
- Insurance (1)
- Investment (92)
- Market Crash (10)
- Middle Class (61)
- Monopolies (8)
- Neoliberalism (203)
- Plutocracy (621)
- Poverty (206)
- Poverty (13)
- Regulation (3)
- Retirement (1)
- Sanctions (4)
- Taxes (37)
- Technology (3)
- Trade (114)
- Weapons sales (7)
- Education (171)
- Energy (1,725)
- Batteries (51)
- Coal (139)
- Electricity Cost (2)
- Fossil Fuels (325)
- Fracking (50)
- Geothermal (7)
- Green ammonia (5)
- Green Energy (415)
- Green Hydrogen (8)
- Heat Pumps (6)
- Hydroelectric (15)
- Mining (1)
- Natural Gas (107)
- Nuclear Energy (158)
- Petroleum (299)
- Power Grid (12)
- Pumped Hydro (6)
- Solar Energy (408)
- Tar Sands (13)
- Wave Energy (9)
- wind energy (339)
- Environment (2,661)
- Climate Change (1,645)
- Acidification of Oceans (54)
- Agriculture (26)
- Biodiversity (12)
- Climate Refugees (3)
- CO2 (125)
- Dehydration (5)
- Denialism (147)
- Desalinization (4)
- Desertification (159)
- Divestment (2)
- Dust Storms (6)
- Environmental Investment (1)
- Extreme Heat (390)
- Extreme Weather (297)
- Flooding (138)
- Food Supply (2)
- Forests (18)
- Green New Deal (40)
- Green Recycling (2)
- Greenwashing (3)
- Mass Extinction (61)
- Methane (20)
- Net Carbon Zerio (8)
- Nitrous Oxide (2)
- Rainforests (19)
- Rivers (11)
- Sea Level (338)
- Soil Carbon Release (14)
- Super Storms (263)
- wildfires (237)
- Wood Buildings (1)
- Climate Crisis (1,303)
- Drought (295)
- Ecology (1)
- Ecology (10)
- Environmentalism (392)
- Green Transportation (252)
- Ice Melt (134)
- Invasive Species (2)
- Islands (1)
- Oceans (101)
- Oil Spills (7)
- Pollution (231)
- Water (95)
- wildlife (19)
- Climate Change (1,645)
- Europe (1,361)
- Featured (4,091)
- Haiti (1)
- Health (698)
- History (356)
- Human Rights (1,588)
- Apartheid (263)
- censorship (305)
- Death Penalty (30)
- Disappeared (3)
- Displaced and Refugees (578)
- Food Insecurity (29)
- Gay rights (29)
- Genocide (56)
- Human Rights Watch (90)
- Indigenous Rights (1)
- Migrants (4)
- privacy (21)
- Rights (89)
- Slavery and Trafficking (16)
- Starvation (4)
- Torture (102)
- Trans Rights (3)
- Transgender Rights (4)
- Unlawful Imprisonment (103)
- Unlwful Killing (80)
- War Crimes (411)
- War Rape (9)
- International Politics and Economy (2,099)
- Arms Sales (73)
- BRICS (3)
- Corruption (265)
- Crime (130)
- Democracy (331)
- Dissent (436)
- Domestic Terrorism (15)
- Drones (112)
- G20 (1)
- Guns (9)
- Hacking (8)
- Immigration (21)
- Immigration (4)
- Islamophobia (382)
- Migrants (2)
- military (125)
- nationalism (117)
- NATO (37)
- Neocolonialism (1)
- Peace (140)
- Policing (2)
- Politics (306)
- Politics&Culture (21)
- Propaganda (13)
- Smuggling (1)
- Juan Cole (270)
- Latin America (101)
- media (481)
- Middle East (9,735)
- Arab World (5,224)
- Iran (1,321)
- Israel (938)
- Israel/ Palestine (3,475)
- Israel/Palestine (9)
- Kurds (291)
- Turkey (588)
- Turkiye (115)
- Patriarchy (10)
- racism (468)
- religion (1,496)
- robots (3)
- Romance (1)
- science (171)
- Secular (West) (9)
- Secularism (30)
- Spirituality (22)
- Statelessness (15)
- Stranded Assets (1)
- Surveillance (280)
- Terrorism (1,093)
- Tolerance (6)
- Uncategorized (8,081)
- United Nations (169)
- Urbanization (4)
- US Foreign Policy (1,341)
- US politics (5,356)
- Anti-War Movement (13)
- Campaign Finance (31)
- Censors (22)
- Central Intelligence Agency (63)
- Charity (1)
- Civil Rights (96)
- Congress (79)
- Conspiracy Theories (23)
- Constitution (401)
- Courts (15)
- crime (12)
- Democratic Party (971)
- Democratic Socialists of America (22)
- Domestic Terrorism (20)
- Drone Warfare (27)
- Espionage (124)
- Ethnicities (389)
- Far Right (391)
- FBI (48)
- Foreign Policy (204)
- Gay Rights (17)
- Guns (97)
- Immigration (240)
- Israel Lobbies (130)
- Marijuana (4)
- Militarization (273)
- National Security State (475)
- Native Americans (40)
- Nuclear arsenal (7)
- penitentiaries (6)
- Pentagon (566)
- Police (43)
- prison reform (9)
- Private Prisons (2)
- Progressive Politics (13)
- Puerto Rico (30)
- Religious Right (15)
- Reproductive Choice (67)
- Republican Party (2,986)
- Supreme Court (133)
- Voter suppression (36)
- Whistleblowers (7)
- Xenophobia (9)
- Veterans (35)
- Voting Rights (16)
- War (613)
- White Supremacists (229)
- wikileaks (8)
- women (557)
- workers (232)
- Writing (5)
- Youth (215)
Saudi Arabia
Washington’s 2 Air Wars: alongside Iran in Iraq, Saudis in Yemen
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The United States is now involved in two air wars in the Middle East, not to mention more widespread drone actions. US fighter jets have, at the request of the Iraqi government of Haydar al-Abadi, begun bombing Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) positions in Tikrit, according to al-Hayat (Life). Initially, […]
Dear Sweden: HR Dispute with Saudis makes this a good time to adopt Electric Cars
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) First, the new left wing government in Sweden cancelled an arms sale to Saudi Arabia, even though Prime Minister Stefan Lofven favored it. (He had been a union rep friendly to the Swedish arms industry). Foreign Minister Margot Wallström put her foot down, however, and won the argument. She […]
Yemen: Saudi backs Sunni revolution against Shiite Houthi Rebels linked to Iran
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Yemen Voice reports that Wahhabi Saudi Arabia has launched an all out political offensive against the Shiite Houthi rebels who have taken over the north of the country. The Houthis took the capital last September but kept the government in place until recently, when they made a full […]
As Americans are shot At: Saudi Death Sentence on Shiite Cleric inflames Sectarian Tensions
By Giorgio Cafiero | (Foreign Policy in Focus) – The fate of one Shi’ite cleric hangs over the Gulf like a sword of Damocles. [Updated: Two Americans were fired on in the Shiite Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia on Friday, and one injured; this incident is likely related to the radicalization of Shiites via oppressive […]
New Saudi King to Obama: Lower-price Oil Policy won’t Change
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – President Obama cut short his India trip to head off to Riyadh in the wake of the death last Thursday of King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia. Some 30 members of the Washington elite came along, of both parties, including Sen. John McCain and Rep. Nancy Pelosi. This love […]
Saudi’s Barbaric Flogging for Blogging, explained by a Blogger
BBC News | — “Blogger Raif Badawi has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for criticising Saudi Arabian clerics on his internet blog. British blogger Sunny Hundal said this case, and others like it, mean the UK should stop “hugging” the Saudi regime. In a personal film, he said it was […]
How Stable is Saudi Arabia?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) This article appeared at The Nation earlier this month. I’m reprinting an excerpt on the occasion of King Abdallah’s death . . . the kingdom faces a severe budget shortfall because of the plummeting price of petroleum. All this instability takes place against a backdrop of substantial regional turmoil. […]
Saudis torture jailed Liberal Blogger w/ 1000 lashes for… Blogging
Human Rights Watch | (Beirut) — More Lashes Pending for Creating Liberal Website, Insulting Religious Authorities King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia should overturn the lashing and prison term for a blogger imprisoned for his views and immediately grant him a pardon. Saudi authorities lashed Raif Badawi 50 times on January 9, 2015, in front of […]