Many people optimistically assume that popular revolutions against dictators will automatically establish democratic governments
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Daesh/ ISIL close to Taking al-Anbar Province as Tribal Levies lack Ammunition, Funding, Unity
By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | — Last week, fighters from tribes in Anbar were forced to give up their hold on the […]
5 Countries where Solar Power is making a Revolution
By Juan Cole | — Developing countries of the global south don’t have enough electricity. Sometimes rural populations are only just now getting electricity. Ironically, […]
Blogging Colbert (In honor of the Finale of the Colbert Report)
Reprint: So I was on the Colbert Report, hosted by Stephen Colbert at Comedy Central, on Wednesday night, to promote my new book, Engaging the […]
Top 7 Ways Assassination Fails USA as Policy
By Juan Cole Wikileaks has released a government assessment of drone strikes aimed at assassinating top leaders. The document urges such strikes, but is amazingly […]
Roots of Militancy among some Muslim Youth: What can be Done?
By Mustafa Gurbuz Gruesome ISIS beheadings, the Sydney siege, and now Taliban’s slaughter of children in Pakistan have haunted the media, along with the Senate’s […]
The Yezidi Minority, Daesh/ISIL, and Iraq’s Human Rights Catastrophe
by Patrick Ball Patrick Ball with Yezidi boys at an informal camp in Sharya, Iraq. Farhad (not his real name) got the call from ISIS […]
The Israeli Hospital Admitting Syrian Fighters: The War Next Door
Vice News | — “In August, al Nusra Front jihadists took control of Syria’s side of the border crossing with Israel and kidnapped over 40 […]
Torture, Assassination and the Other Shoe: The Coming Great Senate Drone Report of 2019
By Tom Engelhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) | — It was December 6, 2019, three years into a sagging Clinton presidency and a bitterly divided Congress. That […]
Cuba: Top 5 other Dictatorships with which US has Diplomatic Relations
By Juan Cole | — The US sanctions on Cuba were justified by their supporters with reference to the Communist government’s human rights record. That […]











