Middle East

President Obama’s speech to students in Jerusalem is covered by Aljazeera. Obama did complain a little about the Israeli occupation of the Palestinians, but he threw in the towel on trying to halt the vast and daily landgrab of Israeli colonizers on Palestinian territory. He postponed the issue to final status negotiations, over which he […]

Iraq War

Phil Donohue Recalls how he Was Fired From MSNBC for Being anti-war (Goodman Interview)

Juan Cole

At Democracy Now! Phil Donohue recalls how then General Electric-owned NBC fired him from his popular and top-rated talk show on MSNBC in spring of 2003 because it feared his voice in opposition to the Iraq War. It is great to have the whole story from Donohue. Here is what I wrote at this blog […]

Israel/ Palestine

Obama slights Palestinians, who stage Tent Protests

Juan Cole

Aljazeera English reports on Obama’s opening remarks on arrival in Israel, and how he called Palestine the historic homeland of the Jews but neglected to mention the Palestinians. Non-Jewish Palestinians have lived in geographical Palestine for nearly 2000 years, first as Christians and after the Muslim conquest gradually becoming majority Muslim (and they been the […]

Iran

As Israelis Press Obama on Iran, Let’s Remember they Urged Iraq War, Too

Juan Cole

The Israeli leadership, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, will attempt to strong-arm President Barack Obama, during his visit to Israel, into attacking Iran. (In part this noise about Iran is to deflect attention from the vast Israeli land grab in the Palestinian West Bank). It is now often forgotten, and even denied, that the then […]

Israel/ Palestine

How Obama’s Jerusalem Visit Undermines Peace (Rashid Khalidi Video)

Juan Cole

As President Obama heads to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan on what seems mainly to be presidential tourism, Rashid Khalidi at Democracy Now! explains how the United States is undermining Mideast peace and harming the Palestinian population. Meanwhile, some Palestinians are protesting Obama’s visit. The USG Open Source Center translates a report from the […]

Iran

Iranians in West Slam Impact of US Sanctions on People

Juan Cole

Iranian expatriates don’t agree on much. But as this video interview with a range of high-powered thinkers by the National Iranian-American Council shows, they all agree that the very severe US sanctions, which amount to a kind of financial blockade, are harming ordinary Iranians and not the regime.

Iraq

What we Did to Iraq

Juan Cole

Sunni radicals hit Baghdad Tuesday morning on the anniversary of the beginning of the US war on Iraq, killing over 50 people in attacks on soft targets (shopkeepers, pedestrians) in Shiite areas of the capital. They were signaling their continued die-hard opposition to the new Iraq, which is dominated by Shiite political parties, in which […]

Arab World

UAE Launches 100 Megawatt Solar Energy Plant, Largest in Mideast

Juan Cole

Although the Gulf makes its way in life by selling petroleum, countries like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates don’t engage in that sordid game of the American rich, of climate-change denial. The emirs are in no doubt about its dangers to their region and the need to use their current wealth to move to […]

Iraq

What we Lost: Top Ten Ways the Iraq War Harmed the US

Juan Cole

As the tenth anniversary of the launching of the Iraq War approaches, I’ll be making some comments about the episode at this blog, which for the years 2003-2010 intensively covered events in Iraq. A decade is long enough for some things to become clear. The first set of issues I want to discuss has to […]