US politics

( Foreign Policy in Focus) – The far right would like to impeach Joe Biden, kick him out of the White House, perhaps even throw him in jail. “Lock him up” has been a predictable chant at Trump rallies going back to before the 2020 election. Even Republicans in Congress have joined this chorus. Bipartisanship? […]

Arab Americans

Habib Satire and Marvel Superheroes: Using Comedy to Combat Stereotyping of Arabs

The Conversation

By Safiyya Hosein | – As a researcher of Muslim superheroes, I’ve learned about the many ways Islamophobia manifests. Because Islam is racialized in the west, Arab Christians, Hindus and Sikhs have been implicated in Islamophobic political discourses, making them victims of Islamophobia. Many of these issues can be traced back to a strange convergence […]

Afghanistan

China slams US Sanctions on Taliban, Eyes investments in Afghan Minerals

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Laura Zhou at the South China Morning Post reports that Zhao Lijian, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, on Wednesday called on the United States not to sanction the Taliban in Afghanistan and to cease sequestering $9.5 billion in Afghanistan government funds that Washington is withholding from the Taliban. Zhao […]

China

“We are on the way to a right-wing coup:” Milley secured Nuclear Codes, Allayed China fears of Trump Strike

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As a historian, I am fascinated by the practical appeals to history that appear throughout the story of Gen. Mark A. Milley’s struggles with Trump in the last months of the latter’s presidency. Milley believes that Jan. 6 was just an initial skirmish, sort of like the failed 1905 revolution […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan and Wars of Unintended Consequences

Rajan Menon

( Tomdispatch.com)- Disagreements over how to assess the American exodus from Afghanistan have kept the pundits busy these last weeks, even though there wasn’t much to say that hadn’t been said before. For some of them, however, that was irrelevant. Having overseen or promoted the failed Afghan War themselves, all the while brandishing various “metrics” […]

Afghanistan

What does the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan mean for Israel?

Middle East Monitor

By Adnan Abu Amer | – ( Middle East Monitor) – Israelis are concerned about the shameful American withdrawal from Afghanistan and think that their government now needs to reassert its ability to protect its own interests in the region and beyond. The general feeling is that the withdrawal will now give Israel’s enemies more […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan and 9/11: Finished or Unfinished Business? MIT Starr Forum with B. Posen, Juan Cole, V. Felbab-Brown, C. Saivetz (Video)

Juan Cole

MIT Center for International Studies: “Starr Forum: US, Afghanistan, 9/11: Finished or Unfinished Business?” Chair: Barry Posen, Ford International Professor of Political Science, MIT. He studies US grand strategy and national security policy. His most recent book is Restraint: A New Foundation for US Grand Strategy. Panelists: Juan Cole, Richard P Mitchell Collegiate Professor of […]

Afghanistan

The Winner in Afghanistan: China

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com) – The collapse of the American project in Afghanistan may fade fast from the news here, but don’t be fooled. It couldn’t be more significant in ways few in this country can even begin to grasp. “Remember, this is not Saigon,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a television audience on August 15th, […]

Bush

The Accumulated Evil of the Whole: That time Bush and Co. made the September 11 Attacks a Pretext for War on Iraq

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Kyle Swenson at the Washington Post reported in 2018 that Floridian Ishnar Lopez-Ramos was in love, but her intended only had eyes for another woman. So Ms. Lopez-Ramos enlisted two 22-year-old accomplices to target the other woman, who worked at the Ross Dress for Less at a shopping Center near […]