Middle East

In a major push west, rebel forces in Libya are said by Reuters to have taken the major petroleum and refining town of Ras Lanuf on the Mediterranean coast east of the capital of Libya, consolidating their control over the east of the country and its resources. While there continue to be Qaddafi regime attacks […]

Egypt

Egypt’s Unfinished Revolution: PM Shafiq Ousted

Juan Cole

The threat of further massive protests today at Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo forced the resignation of Egyptian prime minister Ahmad Shafiq, a close associate of deposed president Hosni Mubarak and, like him, a former air force general. Shafiq was recently on television defending the secret police, which the protest movement wants abolished. The Egyptian […]

Libya

The Battle of Brega: Qaddafi Compared to Netanyahu in Arab Press

Juan Cole

Aljazeera English reported on the Battle of Brega just as it was concluding on Wednesday afternoon, describing relatively ineffectual bombing raids by Tripoli even as partisans of the liberation movement pushed pro-Qaddafi troops out of the city. The BBC is reporting that Qaddafi’s forces were numerous and well-armed, and had intended to take Brega first […]

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 […]

Egypt

Kusha: Iran vs. Egypt: Qualitative Differences in Capabilities

Juan Cole

Kusha Sefat writes in a guest editorial for Informed Comment: In delineating the differences and similarities between the recent Egyptian uprising and the one that resulted from the disputed presidential election in Iran, Pouya Alimagham points to an interesting and important point. The Egyptian regime, while enjoying broad international support, fell in just 18 days. […]

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 […]

Saudi Arabia

Rudolph: Can You Pass The Saudi Arabia Quiz?

Juan Cole

Jeffrey Rudolph writes in a guest column for Informed Comment Saudi Arabia, an Islamic absolute monarchy, has enjoyed extremely close relations with the United States, a constitutional republic. This relationship highlights the gross hypocrisy of US foreign policy: fundamentalism and dictatorship in the Arab world is only condemned when it comes garbed in anti-Americanism. In […]

Tunisia

Top Pieces of Unfinished Business in the Mideast

Juan Cole

1. Some 6000 protesters marched in Jordan on Friday. They said they wanted to transform the Jordanian monarchy into a European-style, constitutional monarchy and to return to an unamended 1952 constitution. 2. Some 100,000 Tunisians came out into the streets of Tunis on Friday to demand the resignation of caretaker prime minister Mohamed Ghannouchi. The […]

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 […]