Informed Comment - Part 1881

The Debacle of the Caliphates: Why al-Baghdadi’s Grandiosity doesn’t Matter

By Juan Cole Ibrahim al-Badri, a run-of-the-mill Sunni Iraqi cleric, gained a degree from the University of Baghdad at a time when pedagogy there had […]

Juan Cole

Bush

Hyenas vs. Rhinos: Who could the NYT get to write an Op-ed on Iraq? Hmm…

By Juan Cole New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan did a quick study and found that critics of the paper of record over its […]

Juan Cole

Iraq

Barzani: Kurdish Rule To Stay In Kirkuk

Via RFE/RL Iraqi Kurdish leader Masud Barzani has said that there is no going back on autonomous Kurdish rule in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk […]

contributors

censorship

The Fate of Dissenters in Al-Sisi’s Egypt: The New “Disappeared”

By Jihad Abaza As Abdel Fattah el-Sissi assumes his new role as Egypt’s president, enforced disappearances are on the rise in the Middle East’s most […]

contributors

Climate Change

20% of Britain’s Electricity is now from Renewables Despite Tory Hostility

By Joshua S Hill New figures published by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show that 19.4% of the UK’s electricity mix […]

contributors

Banking

UN to Detroit: Denial of Water to Thousands 'Violates Human Rights'

By Sarah Lazare Experts slam city's aggressive drive to disconnect water from residents who are unable to pay United Nations experts declared Wednesday that the […]

contributors

Featured

Baghdad Strikes Back: Al-Maliki Launches Battle for Tikrit

By Juan Cole Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki is fighting for his political life as well as for the territorial integrity of Iraq. On Saturday he […]

Juan Cole

Democracy

A Subtle Alchemy: US Finds it easier to Occupy Abroad than to Withdraw

By Alan McPherson In 2003, former secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld infamously foresaw victory in Afghanistan and Iraq as demanding a “long, hard slog” and […]

contributors

Iraq