Middle East

COP18, the Climate Change Conference held in Doha, Qatar, is a dismal failure, with the United States and Russia being the chief villains. The failure of the world’s leaders to have their hair on fire about the extreme challenges of the climate change we are producing with our carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions […]

Egypt

Egypt’s Morsi Backs down Slightly, but Opposition to Campaign against his Referendum

Juan Cole

Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi late on Saturday abruptly announced that his controversial November 22 constitutional decree had been abrogated. He no longer holds himself above the law or above judicial review. The announcement came after he met with some of his critics, including liberal Ayman Nur of the Ghad (Tomorrow) Party, who had been jailed […]

Egypt

Egypt’s Morsi Backs down Slightly, but Opposition Campaigns against his Referendum

Juan Cole

This posting is now here [click]

Iraq War

Psy of “Gangnam Style” attacked Bush’s Iraq War, not America

Juan Cole

Korean pop star Psy (Park Jae-sang ) is apologizing for performances in 2004 in which he condemned the Iraq War. At one point he sang another songwriter’s lyrics about US soldiers killing and torturing Iraqis and the need to fight back against them and their family members. This is the purported video of Psy, protesting […]

Egypt

Egypt: Crowds at Presidential Palace Break through Barbed Wire, President offers Dialogue

Juan Cole

On Saturday morning, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood held a news conference in which its leader, Muhammad Badie, insisted that the so-called opposition in Egypt is nothing more than criminals and saboteurs and condemned the security forces for allowing the burning of Muslim Brotherhood HQ in Cairo. He complained that an attempt had been made to […]

Syria

Syria Rebels make Advances as Hillary Clinton calls for ‘a Concerted Push’ for Democratic Transition (Videos)

Juan Cole

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for a ‘concerted push’ on Friday to begin a political transition in Syria. She said that the transition must eventuate in a unified, democratic Syria. AFP reports: Meanwhile, former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkerson , expressed severe reservations about what he called ‘politicized’ […]

Iran

President Obama needs to get us Out of Iran, too– not Just Iraq (Escobar)

Juan Cole

Pepe Escobar writes at Tomdispatch.com: Let’s start with the obvious but important: on entering the Oval Office in January 2009, President Obama inherited a seemingly impregnable three-decade-long “Wall of Mistrust” in Iran-U.S. relations. To his credit, that March he directly addressed all Iranians in a message for Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, calling for an […]

Egypt

Egypt: Faction Fighting in the Streets Threatens Stability, leaves 5 dead, 450 wounded

Juan Cole

Egypt has descended into faction-fighting in the streets that left some 5 dead and 450 wounded on Wednesday, as President Muhammad Morsi prepared to make a major address to the nation on Thursday. Violence has broken out not just in Cairo itself but also in provincial cities such as Suez, Port Said, Ismailiya, Zaqaziq and […]

Iran

Iran Sanctions may be ‘Crippling,’ but they are not ‘Working’ (Cher)

Juan Cole

Ladan Cher writes in a guest column for Informed Comment On Iran and sanctions, a necessary clarification: “Crippling” is not synonymous for “working” In the tug-of-war between Iran and the United States, sanctions remain the Hail Mary approach to an ever-present picture in international politics: a nation wants to avoid military force but needs to […]