Middle East

Iran is aiming big with renewables, based on recent statements made by the Iranian Energy Minister, Hamid Chitchian. As revealed by Chitchian, the country’s new goal is to add 5,000 MW of new solar energy and wind energy capacity by the year 2018.…

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

Yemeni anti-Al-Qaeda Campaign gains Popular Support but US Embassy forced to Close

Juan Cole

(By Robert Sharp) As Yemen enters the post-National Dialogue Conference period, theory and practice are colliding; the constitutional referendum will take place in June followed by hopefully credible presidential and parliamentary elections. The promise of a “new” Yemen will be debated formally through the ballot box and the people will decide the future leadership of […]

Arab Spring

The Real Egyptian Divide is between Tahrir Self-Government and Authoritarians of all Stripes

Juan Cole

(By Haifaa G. Khalafallah) Revolutions or coups seeking to change modern Egypt, whether in 1919 or 1952, never challenged the familiar patterns of power relations, that is to say, their political culture. The triumph of a home grown, new political discourse is the real and most significant Egyptian revolution that took place early in […]

Barack Obama

Dear GOP: Here are Some Basic Real Questions to ask about Benghazi & CIA

Juan Cole

(By Michael G. Roskin) With a Congressional committee about to seize on the Benghazi question (as part of the 2014 election campaign), some previously unasked but basic questions should come before the committee: Who was the consul? Yes, the person—a State Department Foreign Service Officer—-in charge of a consulate. (A consul general is in charge […]

Christianity

Israeli Squatter anti-Church Terror in Jerusalem “Poisons” Papal visit

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) The Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, has said that Israeli squatter attacks on and desecration of Christian churches has poisoned the atmosphere in advance of Pope Francis’s planned visit to Jerusalem. Suspected Israeli extremist squatters have committed 24 acts of vandalism against Jerusalem churches in the past year, many of them […]

Drones

The True Costs of Remote Control Drone Wars

Juan Cole

(By Pratap Chatterjee via Tomdispatch) Enemies, innocent victims, and soldiers have always made up the three faces of war. With war growing more distant, with drones capable of performing on the battlefield while their “pilots” remain thousands of miles away, two of those faces have, however, faded into the background in recent years. Today, we […]

GCC

Saudi-Iran Struggle and the Syrian Proxy War can only be Resolved by Diplomacy

Juan Cole

(By Robert Mason) The current foreign policy tensions between Iran and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) pivot around Iran’s nuclear programme, ideology (the relative balance between revolutionary/resistance ideology and pragmatism), sectarianism, territorial disputes (such as over the islands of Abu Musa, Greater and Lesser Tunb) and alliances with state and non-state actors. […]

Israel/ Palestine

Human Rights NGOs Call for Palestine to take Israel to International Criminal Court

Juan Cole

(By Human Rights Watch) (Jerusalem) – Palestine should urgently seek access to the International Criminal Court (ICC), a group of 17 Palestinian and international human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, said today. In a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the groups said that providing the ICC with jurisdiction could give victims of war […]

Featured

Is Israeli PM Netanyahu’s Case against Iran Collapsing?

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has determinedly beaten the drums for war with Iran, though his lack of any actual overt action on that front has suggested to many observers that he uses the Iran issue to distract the international community from the Israel project of annexing the Palestinian West Bank and […]