Iran

(By Juan Cole) The Russian intervention in the Crimea is more direct and dramatic than the one in Syria, with actual troops deployed. But there are similarities. One of the little-noted rationales for Russian support for the Baath government in Damascus is that it is seen as more favorable, being secular and minority-dominated, toward Syria’s […]

Featured

The Iran Breakthrough TV News is Ignoring: Uranium Stockpile falls below amount Needed for Bomb

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) US television newscasters have often slipped up and spoken of an Iranian nuclear “weapons program,” even though no UN inspectors have found firm evidence of any such thing and Iran maintains that its program is for peaceful purposes. Now that there is positive evidence of thorough Iranian cooperation with the International Atomic […]

Energy

How Iraq Vets against War & Peace Groups stopped Senate bid to derail Iran Talks

contributors

(By Robert Clack) In 2013, an unprecedented diplomatic breakthrough happened when the United States and Iran, along with other world powers, reached an interim agreement to lift sanctions over a long-standing dispute regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Not content with allowing for peace, on December 19th New Jersey Senator Menendez (D) and Senator Kirk (R), supported […]

censorship

Donkeys on the Nile: The Egyptian Gov’t’s Problem with Journalists

contributors

(By Jonathan Moremi) “While Cairo was exploding, Egypt’s State TV aired pictures of a donkey pulling its cart peacefully along the banks of the river Nile” Three years after the revolution, the donkey seems to have become the metaphor for how Egypt’s military rulers spell the word ‘truth’ and intend to tell the story of […]

Bashar al-Assad

Can Obama make a grand bargain with Iran over Syria?

contributors

(By Shahram Akbarzadeh) The last round of talks to bring some relief to the humanitarian disaster in Syria achieved remarkable nothing. The anti-Assad delegation traded barbed insults with the Syrian government delegation and all left the meeting with the reaffirmed conviction that the other side cannot be trusted. But something peculiar happened on the side […]

Human Rights

False Dawn: The 35th Anniversary of Iranian Revolution

contributors

(By Farhang Jahanpour) The Iranian revolution succeeded exactly 35 years ago this week. After 37 years of rule, Mohammad Reza Shah left Iran on 16 January 1979, never to return. His nemesis, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had waged a campaign against him mainly from his exile in Najaf in Iraq for 14 years returned in […]

Barack Obama

Obama & Hollande stress Hope for Iran Breakthrough

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) In his news conference with French President Francois Hollande, President Obama outlined four areas of diplomatic progress. The first is foreign policy, including Iran, Syria and the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. Re: negotiations with Iran, Obama said, “Our unity with our P5-plus-1 partners, backed with strong sanctions, has succeeded in halting and rolling back […]

Iran

A $9 Trillion War? Top 10 Reasons Americans will Regret it if GOP Derails Iran Negotiations

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) 40 Republican senators are making a last-minute push to bring further Iran sanctions up for a vote despite the opposition of senate majority leader Harry Reid. Some 59 senators signed on to a plan to increase sanctions during President Obama’s negotiations with Iran, which Iranian leaders have argued could derail the talks. […]

Featured

“The Iranians are Coming!” Derangement Syndrome over 1 Destroyer in Atlantic

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Today’s headlines in the US were marked by Iran derangement syndrome. It turns out that Iran has sent “a fleet” of “warships” into the Atlantic Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope. These ships are in international waters, and vessels from all nations ply those waters every day without comment. It is […]