US Foreign Policy

( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – The process of crafting congressional legislation is often likened to sausage-making. Best not to look behind the scenes at the mechanics of the process, which is a bloody mess. But the analogy is not apt. Sure, sausage-making can be ugly. The end product, however, is presentable and usually […]

Anti-intellectualism

“Intifada” in Arabic just means Uprising or Mass Protest; it is used for the Jewish Warsaw Uprising

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A key feature of American bigotry toward people from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and toward Muslims more generally, has been the demonization by journalists, politicians and interest groups of ordinary, everyday Arabic words. Arabic words have a proud and positive history in the English language. Consider a […]

Democratic Party

Hubert Humphrey Redux? Biden is Risking Election and Country with his Embrace of Netanyahu’s War

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – CNN reports ominously this week that “Biden is actually 11 percentage points behind Trump among young voters 18-34 in a head-to-head match in a CNN poll conducted by SSRS and released over the weekend.” CNN continues that 71% of Americans disapprove of his handling of the Gaza campaign! That rises […]

Donald Trump

Trump blew up the Iran Nuclear Deal, unleashing Tehran — Can Biden Fix it?

Bob Dreyfuss

By Bob Dreyfuss ( Tomdispatch.com ) – One, erratic and often unhinged, blew up the U.S.-Iran accord that was the landmark foreign policy achievement of President Obama’s second term. He then ordered the assassination of a top Iranian general visiting Iraq, dramatically raising tensions in the region. The other is a traditional advocate of American […]

Featured

Is Washington’s Defense of Israel’s War destroying the Edifice of the Liberal International Order?

Ali Abootalebi

Eau Clare, Wi. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – We are in an age of firsts. The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel set off a conflict in which non-state actors have played an unprecedented role. In the aftermath, Israel replied with massively disproportionate force, such that its actions have been found plausibly to […]

Featured

Red Lines and Rockets: Reframing the War on Gaza

Jennifer Loewenstein

Madison, Wisconsin (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Barely a day after Iran fired drones, cruise, and ballistic missiles westward across the desert skies towards Israel, in response to Israel’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, Hossein Salami, issued the following statement: “From now on, if Israel attacks Iranian […]

Iran

Israel’s Limited Attack on Iran Appears Aimed at De-Escalating Conflict

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Kian Sharifi ( RFE/RL ) – Israel had vowed to make Iran pay for Tehran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack on April 13. But Israel’s suspected military response early on April 19 appeared to be limited in scale and scope and aimed at de-escalating tensions with Iran. Tehran said it shot down three quadcopter […]

Featured

Israel and Iran: Itching for War, Playing with Fire

Fariba Amini

Newark, Delaware (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long wanted war with Iran and has all along been trying to get the U.S. involved, under different U.S. administrations. On Friday morning, Israel launched missile strikes on military bases near the Iranian city of Isfahan. A desperate Netanyahu, seeing Western […]

Bill of Rights

In Fit of anti-Palestinian Hatred, Congress tries to Outlaw “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Wednesday the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chanting of the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Since Congress, which appears to have a disproportionate number of genocidal maniacs in its ranks, is all right with the Palestinians being subjected to mass […]