Middle East

1. It is alleged that Obama’s willingness to negotiate with the Tehran regime encouraged the Ayatollahs to be even more obstreperous. In fact, the regime was split by the offer to talk, and Wikileaks State Department cables show that President Ahmadinejad was much more enthusiastic about seeking a diplomatic solution than were the Iranian Revolutionary […]

Israel/ Palestine

Gaza Aid Ship Estelle Commandeered by Israeli Navy; Israel kidnaps European Members of Parliament

Juan Cole

The Israeli navy boarded the aid ship Estelle in international waters on Saturday, illegally commandeering it and kidnapping the 30 persons aboard, including five European parliamentarians and Canadian former member of parliament Jim Manly, who is also a retired minister of the United Church. The Israeli authorities have imposed a blockade on the civilian Palestinian […]

Lebanon

Some blame Syria’s al-Assad for Bombing in Christian Beirut that Kills Top Lebanese Security Official

Juan Cole

A powerful bomb exploded in Ashrafieh, a largely Christian neighborhood in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, on Friday, killing Wissam al-Hassan, an intelligence expert in the Lebanese security apparatus who had been critical of Syria. Tensions immediate rose in hot spots such as Tripoli or the Bikaa Valley, with protesting youth burning tires in the […]

Israel/ Palestine

Creepy Israeli Planning for Palestinian Food Insecurity in Gaza Revealed

Juan Cole

An Israeli human rights organization, Gisha, sued in Israeli courts to force the release of a planning document for ‘putting the Palestinians on a diet’ without risking the bad press of mass starvation, and the courts concurred. The document, produced by the Israeli army, appears to be a calculation of how to make sure, despite […]

Libya

Romney Binder full of Top Ten Mistakes and Falsehoods

Juan Cole

1. Romney attempted to convey the impression that he has worked to increase women’s employment as governor, reaching out to women’s groups and receiving “binders of women” from them. (Yes, that is what he said). But Romney made no effort to hire women managers at Bain Capital, and even today only 4 of out of […]

Iraq

10,000 Syrian Refugees Trapped on Iraq & Turkish Borders

Juan Cole

Human Rights Watch is calling on Iraq and Turkey to open their borders in Syria’s northeast to allow the passage of some 10,000 Syrian refugees, caught in the desert without proper sanitation. Aljazeera English reports on the closed Iraqi border at Qa’im. The Shiite-dominated Iraqi government fears that some of the Syrians seeking to escape […]

Afghanistan

Romney’s Five Wars

Juan Cole

Mitt Romney’s speech at VMI on foreign policy has been widely condemned as vague and lacking in substance, sort of like the man who gave it. But the speech is also full of suggestions and criticisms of the Obama administration that are simply not realistic. The speech is Romney’s “Mission Impossible,” only without the cool […]

Libya

Acting Like a Democracy, Libyan National Congress dismisses Prime Minister

Juan Cole

On Sunday, the elected Libyan National Congress acted decisively to hold a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur. The same body had put him in power on September 12, but had grown increasingly impatient with his lack of leadership qualities. They complained that he took too long to form a government, that […]

Iran

Israel Lobbyist suggests False Flag attack to start war with Iran

Juan Cole

Israel lobby flack Patrick Clawson strategizes how to trick the United States into going to war against Iran on behalf of Israel. The ‘Washington Institute for Near East Policy’ is itself one big false flag operation that uses ‘policy analysis’ to push far rightwing Israeli plans for perpetual war and Occupation in key US government […]