Iraq: Bombs & Bullets vs. Political Process
By Juan Cole A series of bombings and shootings left some 35 dead in Iraq on…
By Juan Cole A series of bombings and shootings left some 35 dead in Iraq on…
By Juan Cole Former British ambassador to the United States Sir Christoher Meyer is advocating that…
By Juan Cole Iraq’s former oil minister, Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum, warned on Thursday that the so-called…
The Young Turks: “A Ferguson, Mo. official was having none of Fox News host Sean Hannity’s attempt to “educate” her on police brutality Wednesday night. Hannity kicked off an interview with Democratic…
AJ+ People around the world have watched Ferguson, Missouri in disbelief that what they’re seeing is taking place in the United States. But Ferguson is actually quite American. AJ+ host Dena Takruri…
By Chris Cocking, University of Brighton The town of Ferguson, Missouri has now seen ten days of almost nightly disorder following the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by the police. The…
By William J. Astore via Tomdispatch.com When you do something again and again, placing great faith in it, investing enormous amounts of money in it, only to see indifferent or even negative…
By Juan Cole The 45 million African-Americans in the United States are unequal before the law vis-a-vis European-Americans and becoming moreso. In the age of Jim Crow (the white South’s attempt to…
AJ+ “One million people worldwide have been swept up by TIDE, the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment. It’s a list of people suspected of being terrorists that’s managed by the U.S. National Counterterrorism…
AJ+ “If a police officer were to stop you on the street in the U.S. and start questioning you, what would you do? Check out our quick list of six things you…
Emory University: “Climate Change: The Physics of Glacier Loss” Related press release from UC Irvine from this spring: “ Greenland will be far greater contributor to sea rise than expected Major UCI-NASA…
By DW “More extreme and recurring heat periods and weather events, spreading diseases: Climate change has a huge impact on the life on our planet. But what impact does it have on…
By Matthew Harwood via Tomdispatch.com Jason Westcott was afraid. One night last fall, he discovered via Facebook that a friend of a friend was planning with some co-conspirators to break in to…
Two SJMC faculty, Kate MacMillin and Juliet Pinto, explore the narrative of a South Florida community under threat from sea level rise in this half-hour documentary. WPBT2: “South Florida’s Rising Seas –…
AJ+: “From Michael Brown to Renisha McBride to Jordan Davis: how black people who are killed get portrayed in the media — and the courtroom — has often led to outrage. And…
By Mindy Fischer via Liberals Unite There’s no doubt that Robin Williams could make us laugh, but he did a whole more than that. He made us think and dream. Because he…
via “Layla Raymanova” “here’re Lauren Bacall’s (1924-2014) best lines from the movie TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT.” Little-known fact: Lauren Bacall and former Israeli president Shimon Peres are first cousins, both with…
“A Life Overseas”: Robin Williams (1951-2014) was one of the acts for the 2007 USO show here on Kandahar AirField. Alert: Profanity. Robin Williams At Kandahar AirField May Mr. Williams rest in…
Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks: “”A large majority of the public (76%) and nearly all scientists (97%) say that it is appropriate for scientists to become actively involved in political debates…
By Climate State “According to Murdoch we just have to move a bit inland and the worst is a temperature rise of 3 degree and a modest sea level rise of six…
PBS News Hour: “Conversation with Richard Stumpf of NOAA on the science behind the algal bloom.” Stumpf points out that the algae like war water and so this problem will get worse…
By Juan Cole Liberal politics in the broad sense, in the tradition of Locke, Voltaire, Madison, Jefferson and John Stuart Mill, is rooted in a conviction that vigorous debate clarifies issues and…
By Noam Chomsky via Tomdispatch.com If some extraterrestrial species were compiling a history of Homo sapiens, they might well break their calendar into two eras: BNW (before nuclear weapons) and NWE (the…
Foreign Policy
Iraq: Another Kurdish Town besieged by IS: Is Amerli the next Sinjar?
By Ahmad Mohammed | Kirkuk | Niqash.org Demonstrators call on the government to help the besieged town of Amerli. In Salahaddin, a drama of historic proportions is playing out in the town…
Kicked Off Twitter And Facebook, so-called “Islamic State” Terror Group Finds New Tools
By Glenn Kates via RFE/RL The Islamic State has made good use of social networks in spreading its propaganda. Thousands of social-media users were unwittingly exposed to horrifying images of James Foley’s…
Has the War on Terror Failed?
AJ+ “Has the West’s global “War on Terror” failed? Thirteen years of U.S. counter-terrorism policies have opened up a Pandora’s box of questions – both political and ideological.” Aj+ Has the War…
Iraq: Bombs & Bullets vs. Political Process
By Juan Cole A series of bombings and shootings left some 35 dead in Iraq on Saturday, following on a massacre of 68 worshipers Friday at a Sunni Mosque in mixed Diyala…
Gaza needs UN Peacekeepers, Now! How to Break the Israel/Palestine Stalemate
By John V. Whitbeck After the breakdown in the six-day “pause” to permit negotiations on a long-term Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire and the resumption of Israel’s onslaught against the caged people of Gaza, concerned…
Obama’s budding Cambodia Policy in Syria
By Juan Cole Former British ambassador to the United States Sir Christoher Meyer is advocating that the US and Western Europe stop advocating the overthrow of the Baath regime of Syrian dictator…
Failed US War on Terror resulted from bizarre search for Moderate Jihadis
By Patrick Cockburn via Tomdispatch.com [This essay is excerpted from the first chapter of Patrick Cockburn’s new book, The Jihadis Return: ISIS and the New Sunni Uprising, with special thanks to his publisher, OR Books. …
Can You pass the Iran Quiz?
By Jeffrey Rudolph What can possibly justify the relentless U.S. political and economic aggression against Iran? It cannot be argued that Iran is an aggressive state that is dangerous to its neighbors,…
Democracy, in India as elsewhere, is not a tyranny of the Majority
It’s Not About The Numbers There is a broader—and deeper—meaning to democracy. Part of that ideal is the idea that every tessera in the mosaic can sparkle. By Gyanendra Pandey Democracy, it…
Iraq: If Terrorists hit Southern Iraq oil fields, $5-$7 a gallon Gas?
By Juan Cole Iraq’s former oil minister, Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum, warned on Thursday that the so-called “Islamic State” terrorist organization could hit the Iraqi oil fields in the south around Basra. Basra…
How will Obama and the US respond to IS’s murder of James Foley ?
Channel 4 News: “Islamic State releases a video showing the murder of US journalist James Foley, apparently at the hands of a British jihadi fighter. Barack Obama says he will continue to…
Why has Egyptian Youth Activist, Punished by last 4 Presidents, gone on Hunger Strike?
AJ+ Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah was in prison when his son was born, and is now in prison as his father lies in the ICU. He’s fed up and is taking…
Dear Hillary Clinton: When did not bombing Syria create Isis?
By Fariborz S Fatemi Hillary Clinton’s criticism of Barack Obama on Syria and the rise of Isis is wrong, and an exercise in selective memory. When did not bombing Syria create ISIS?…
What do Iraq’s Sunni Arabs have in common with Ferguson, Mo. African-Americans?
By Juan Cole If prime minister-designate Haydar al-Abadi in Iraq is to hope to defeat the so-called “Islamic State” (actually a kind of mafia made up of serial murderers and marauders), he…
How effective will Erdogan be as Turkey’s new President?
By Mustafa Gurbuz The future of Turkey depends not only on Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ambitions but also strategies of the opposition parties, which have proven to be ineffective so far. Turkey’s first…
Iran Hard Liners denounce US Human Rights Abuses in Ferguson, Mo.
By Golnaz Esfandiari via RFE/RL The unrest in the U.S. state of Missouri sparked by the fatal police shooting of a black teenager is being played up by Iranian hardliners, with several…
Five things to Know about the Peshmerga Fighters of Iraqi Kurdistan
AJ+ “The Peshmerga are seen as one of the only forces who can defeat the Islamic State group, formerly known as ISIS or ISIL. But who are the Peshmerga and what are…
ISIS to US: We’ll drown you in Blood; beheads US Journalist, Holds Tikrit
By Juan Cole The Iraqi military made a push on Tikrit north of Baghdad on Tuesday, but had to call off their campaign when they ran into minefields, booby-trapped buildings, sniping and…
How America made Martyrs of two Iranian Democrats and overthrew Iran’s Liberal Government in 1953
By Farhad Malekafzali August 19 is the anniversary of the 1953 CIA-MI6 coup in Iran. The coup overthrew a government with a remarkable commitment to the norms of liberal democracy. The fate…
In Iraq, it isn’t just about minorities: The “Infidels” attacked by the so-called “Islamic State” include the Sunnis, Too
By Ali A. Olomi The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has declared war on “kafirs.” According to most observers, this term as ISIS uses it refers to Christians, Yazidi, and…