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Saudi revelers put the “fire” in “celebratory fire”:

Karzai accuses Taliban of Serving US Interests, Slams (Non-Existent) US-Taliban Talks

Once again, the erratic president of Afghanistan, had US officials shaking their heads in disbelief after he gave a speech while Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is in Kabul in which he blamed the interactions of the US and the Taliban for his country’s security problems. Karzai was visibly angry about the Taliban bombing at […]

Pakistan

Pakistan: Violence against Christian Neighborhood rooted in Blasphemy Law, Union Contest

Juan Cole

On Sunday, Pakistani police rounded up 70 suspects in the mass arson attacks on Saturday on the Christian neighborhood of Joseph Colony on Noor Road in the Badami Bagh district. The incident has its origin in a misuse of Pakistan’s blasphemy law, which desperately needs to be repealed if the country is ever to make […]

Syria

The Syrian Civil War comes to Iraq, as 8 Iraqi and 48 Syrian Troops are Killed on Iraqi Soil

Juan Cole

So on Saturday, Syrian rebels in the east of the country attacked another government checkpoint along the Iraqi border, al-Ya`rabiya, and took it. Some of the besieged Syrian troops, many wounded, escaped to the Iraqi side and were being escorted by Iraqi troops south when they were ambushed early on Tuesday and 48 were killed, […]

Egypt

Egypt on the Brink: The Danger of a Left-Liberal Boycott of Elections

Juan Cole

My column is out at Truthdig, entitled “Egypt on the Brink”. Excerpt: “the opposition says it is withdrawing from parliamentary elections scheduled for April… The Brotherhood government under Morsi has not placated Egypt’s powerful working class, which has seen its wages decline. The demonstrations that have roiled Port Said, a Suez Canal city of 600,000, […]

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Taking on Creeping Creationism in Public Schools (Moyers Video)

Juan Cole

Bill Moyers interviews Zack Kopplin on keeping the teaching of Creationism in public-funded public schools. US students are not making the gains in science and math learning that students in other countries are, which isn’t surprising since their teachers are being mandated by fanatic ignoramuses in state legislatures to tell them that Jesus rode a […]

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After Benedict: Religions have to Democratize if they are to Survive

Juan Cole

The US television news coverage of Benedict XVI’s last day in office was extremely annoying because it mostly wasn’t good journalism. CNN kept talking about “pageantry.” We “witnessed history,” we were told. I don’t know what that means. We witness history every day. History is the record of the past. Almost no sharp questions were […]

Uncategorized

New Light on the CIA Coup in Iran on its 60th Anniversary: Why “Argo” Needs a Prequel (Sternfeld)

Juan Cole

Lior Sternfeld writes in a guest column for Informed Comment 2013 marks the sixtieth anniversary to the most atrocious intervention of the US in the Middle East. On August 19, 1953 the CIA conspired with the British MI6 to overthrow the popular and democratically elected Prime Minister, Dr. Mohammad Mosaddeq, and to impose instead a […]

al-Qaeda

How the British Gov’t Stripped Alleged Militants of Citizenship before they were Droned to Death (Woods & Ross)

Juan Cole

Chris Woods and Alice K Ross write at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism The government has secretly ramped up a controversial programme that strips people of their British citizenship on national security grounds – two of whom have been subsequently killed by US drone attacks. An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and published […]