Uncategorized

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – When a teacher in rural Augusta county, Virginia, decided to expose her students to the Arabic script (a piece of calligraphy writing out the Muslim profession of faith), the backlash from some furious parents so hinted at violence that county schools had to be closed for […]

Israel/ Palestine

Palestine: Friday clashes erupt across occupied West Bank as Israeli Occupiers use Lethal Force

Juan Cole

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Weekly Friday demonstrations took place across the occupied West Bank on Friday, locals said. Locals told Ma’an that clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in the village of al-Khader south of Bethlehem, where dozens — including elderly residents — suffered from tear gas inhalation. […]

Archaeology

In Iraq’s Ur, Archeologists Explore History’s Potential to Unite A Divided Land

Juan Cole

By Ahmad Thamer Jihad | (Niqash.org) | – – The best way to combat the damage done to Iraq’s antiquities during the current security crisis is to put more effort into exploring and maintaining the ancient sites that extremists cannot reach, says Abdulamir al-Hamdani , an Iraqi archeologist who was studying at Stony Brook University […]

Featured

Ghoul’s Glossary: A Donald Trump Translation Dictionary

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Constitution, US: 1. An time-consuming optional document that can be abrogated for lack of time. 2. syn. politically correct (s.v.) criminal: 1. syn. Mexican. 2. syn. Hillary Clinton. family: accomplices. (As in, the families of ISIL members must be killed.) fascism: (word not found in this […]

Barack Obama

Did Obama Really “Surrender the Middle East to Putin?”

contributors

By Brian Glyn Williams | (Informed Comment) | – – A perusal of the “writing on the hall” commentary of the Right Wing in the last two months–since a small Russian force of 2,000 was inserted into the remaining Syrian government-controlled portions of Syria on September 30th–leads to one inevitable conclusion. Namely, that Obama’s “inactivity, […]

Featured

41% of Trump Supporters want to bomb Aladdin and Jasmine

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Public Policy Polling asked US voters if they favored bombing “Agraba.” Some 30% of Republicans said “Yes!” Obviously, this is a a little bit of a trick, since voters being asked such a question assume it is a real policy issue. But wouldn’t you want to […]

Climate Change

Can Historic climate agreement protect the world’s most vulnerable people?

contributors

The Tree | – – 195 countries reached across traditional divides today to unite behind the greatest moral challenge of our time and seal the deal on a historic climate accord. The Paris Agreement is an inclusive, ambitious, science-based deal that recognises the urgency and scale of action required to address climate change, and hastens […]

Featured

Should an al-Qaeda Ally have a seat at the Syrian Table? Al-Assad rejects talks w/ any armed Group

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Riyadh conference of the Syrian opposition this week included political groups but also nine armed bands. One of the nine, the Free Men of Syria or Ahrar al-Sham, has a formal alliance with al-Qaeda in Syria, the Nusra Front. I don’t think the US and […]

American Jews

Top 6 Times US government Excluded Millions based on Race or Religion

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and other bigots on the far right are nothing new in American history. Rather, they remind us of the worst and most shameful detours of the American Republic in the past. From the mid-nineteenth century racial theory became prominent in European and […]