Terrorism

Alice K. Ross writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: A report by a UN expert urges the US to ‘release its own data on the level of civilian casualties’ caused by drone strikes and attacks the lack of transparency surrounding CIA and US special forces drone operations. Ben Emmerson, a British barrister and UN […]

Drones

US Drone strikes Continue in Pakistan despite PM Nawaz Sharif’s UN Protest (Serle)

Juan Cole

Jack Serle writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism The CIA launched four attacks [on Pakistan in September] – the second most attacks in one month so far this year. At least 16 people were killed in these attacks – none of them reportedly a civilian. This was the ninth consecutive month without a confirmed […]

Afghanistan

Sakharov Prize-winner Malala Yousafazai Calls on US Gov’t to Conduct talks with Taliban (Queally)

Juan Cole

Malala Yousafzai has won the Sakharov Prize for free speech and human rights. Jon Queally writes at Commondreams.org: ” Malala Yousafzai, the sixteen-year-old girl shot in the head by Taliban members in her native Pakistan for speaking out for women's right to education, is calling out the U.S. government and her own for refusing to […]

Afghanistan

Militant Secularism in the Middle East?

Juan Cole

The youth organizations that made the 2011 revolutions were predominantly leftist or liberal. They revolted against seedy police states run by family cartels and their cronies. They had allies among labor unions and office workers. These movements demanded free, fair parliamentary elections as the next step. But the groups best organized to campaign, canvass and […]

al-Qaeda

Taliban on the Euphrates: Syria fighters Dump Moderate SNC, Aim for Fundamentalist State

Juan Cole

The pan-Arab daily al-Hayat [Life] reports that 14 bands of fighters in Syria have broken with the moderate Syrian National Council led by Ahmad al-Jarba and have repudiated its Free Syrian Army. The importance of this development should not be underestimated. It will throw a scare into Baghdad and Amman, and will provoke serious thought […]

Africa

Alshabab attack on Nairobi a Sign of Political Defeat

Juan Cole

The horrible attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi by members of the Alshabab terrorist group from neighboring Somalia is the act of a declining political movement that has lost enormous ground in recent years. When we see this sort of naked terror, it is important to know if an ascendant group is announcing itself […]

al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda as Fringe Cult: 12 Years Later, Heretical Text of 9/11 Hijackers Still Withheld by FBI (Kurzman)

Juan Cole

Charles Kurzman writes at IslamiCommentary click to enlarge What sort of Muslims carried out the largest mass murder in American history, 12 years today? The FBI refuses to release a document that might show just how unusual their brand of Islam was, and further reduce what little sympathy they enjoy among the world’s billion Muslims. […]

Afghanistan

Has Military Suppression of Political Islam ever Worked?

Juan Cole

The Egyptian military’s obvious determination to crush the Muslim Brotherhood involves serious human rights violations, apparent in the appalling scenes of the siege of members in a mosque on Saturday. A separate question, which any political pragmatist would ask, is, can it work? If we look at long term attempts to limit political expressions of […]

CIA

America’s Drone Tally in Pakistan and Yemen for July (Serle and Ross)

Juan Cole

Jack Serle and Alice K Ross write at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism The CIA killed more people in Pakistan per strike than at any point since July 2012. US drones return to Yemen‘s skies and al Qaeda confirms the death of its deputy leader. UN report finds indications of increased US and UK involvement […]