US politics

(By Sarah Lazare) Amnesty International report on global torture exposes inhumane acts perpetrated by United States Thirty years after ratifying the UN Convention Against Torture, the U.S. government has dodged accountability for perpetrating torture in domestic prisons and CIA black sites and embroiling foreign states in inhumane acts. So finds a report on global torture […]

Climate Change

Picture This: U.S. Cities Under 12 feet of Sea Level Rise

Juan Cole

By Climate Central Maps are one way to understand what collapse of West Antarctic glaciers could eventually mean. Photos show it another way. In 2013, Climate Central shared some of its sea level rise mapping data with artist Nickolay Lamm so that…

American Jews

Donald Sterling’s Illiberal Zionism Part of Racism Controversy with Magic Johnson

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Major political ideas and philosophies are complex and ambiguous, not straightforward. American conservatism is an alliance of economic conservatives and cultural conservatives. Economic conservatives are champions of entrepreneurs and business, seeking low taxes and little regulation and opportunity for risk-takers from all persons of all backgrounds. Their ideology contains contradictions. Economic conservatives […]

Barack Obama

Operation American Spring aims to drive Obama from office this Friday

Juan Cole

Operation American Spring promises to drive Obama from office this Friday (via Raw Story ) Self-styled revolutionary patriots plan to converge on Washington, D.C., this week to drive President Barack Obama and disloyal lawmakers out of office. “We are calling for the removal of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, John…

Bush

Top 5 Signs that it is Rove who is Brain Dead, not Hillary

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Karl Rove was reported to have raised questions about Hillary Clinton’s mental well-being because of her fall in late 2012. He later walked back his allegation, but not too much. It is of course Rove who has careened about deeply harming the US because of some mysterious malady (more likely lack of […]

Barack Obama

Reich on Obama Walmart Photo-Op: “What numbskull arranged this?”

Juan Cole

(By John Queally) A low-wage Walmart employee in California has a simple message for President Obama on behalf of the millions of workers who find themselves in situations just like hers: "Help us." President Obama's … speaking engagement at a Walmart superstore in California on Friday has attracted widespread criticism for those who think the […]

Barack Obama

Dear GOP: Here are Some Basic Real Questions to ask about Benghazi & CIA

Juan Cole

(By Michael G. Roskin) With a Congressional committee about to seize on the Benghazi question (as part of the 2014 election campaign), some previously unasked but basic questions should come before the committee: Who was the consul? Yes, the person—a State Department Foreign Service Officer—-in charge of a consulate. (A consul general is in charge […]

CIA

Pakistan: CIA “Bin Laden” Unit’s Fake Vaccination Ploy Sparked Polio Crisis

Juan Cole

(By Sarah Lazare) A Pakistani official on Thursday slammed the CIA's fake vaccination drive in 2011 for fueling distrust of polio eradication campaigns and driving "attacks on polio workers" as the country grapples with an outbreak of this highly infectious disease. Speaking to reporters at a press briefing, a spokesperson for Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign […]

Barack Obama

Did the GOP Obsession with Monica Lewinsky contribute to 9/11? Is the Benghazi hysteria deja vu?

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) The reemergence in the news of Monica Lewinsky is also a reminder of one of the lowest deeds in modern politics, the impeachment of Bill Clinton by House Republicans in December of 1998. What is too little noted is the effect of the GOP circus on our national security. The partisans howled […]