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Archives: November 2010
Arabs Urged US to Launch Attack on Iran, but Talk is Cheap: Cole in the Guardian
My essay on the implications of the wikileaks revelations about Sunni Arab states urging the US to launch a surgical strike on Iranian nuclear facilities is up at The Guardian. (Scroll down).…Wikileaks on Israel, Iraq and the Iranian Specter
A 2007 cable from then US ambassador to Israel to Secretary of State Condi Rice shows a) that the Israeli leadership did not want the US to withdraw from Iraq and b)…Wikileaks Gates: No Iranian Help to Taliban
What they tell us: In summer of 2009, it was revealed that Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair informed the US Congress that, according to Marcus Baram at HuffPo, "Iran is covertly…Blair, Hitchens Debate Religion
Here is the transcript of the debate between Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens on the motion, "Be it resolved, religion is a force for good in the world". It is being said…
Political Cartoon: Obama’s Stitches
President Obama received 12 stitches for a busted lip after being elbowed on the basketball court Friday. In other news, the Pentagon has been dressing up the Afghanistan debacle as best they…149 Alleged Terrorists arrested in Saudi Arabia
Authorities in Saudi Arabia, according to Al-Sharq al-Awsat writing in Arabic, have arrested 149 persons organized in 19 cells on charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism. The cells were operating independently of…Iran Must Free Josh and Shane Now
CNN has a report on the situation of two American hikers kidnapped by Iran, who are being held on false charges of crossing the Iranian border (they were on the side of…
Swanson: “‘Freedom Watch’ Threw a War and Nobody Came”
David Swanson writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: The Neoconservatives, despite wandering in the wilderness after their Iraq debacle, are trying to keep the dream of serial wars in the…
Muslim-Americans, Heartsong Church, Celebrate Thanksgiving Together in Memphis
In Memphis, Tennessee, Christians, Muslims and Jews are jointly commemorating Thanksgiving, behaving like real Americans and proper human beings. The Heartsong Christian church congregation and a Muslim community center in the Cordova…
Palin: “We must support our North Korean Allies”
Sarah Palin discussing foreign affairs with Glenn Beck is sort of like Lindsay Lohan discussing sobriety with Paris Hilton. Unsurprisingly, when asked about the Korean crisis, Palin opined that "We must stand…
Photo of the Day: Nile Valley from Space
NASA image from space of Alexandria, Cairo and the Nile Valley at night. Greater Cairo, now with an estimated population of 18 million, shines like a small sun in the midst of…Pashtuns lose Parliament, Violence up 70% in Afghanistan
Most of the results of the disputed parliamentary election in Afghanistan were announced on Wednesday. Altogether 24 candidates were disqualified from parliament because the Independent Electoral Commission found them guilty of fraud.…
Scammed in Afghanistan
The announcement by the New York Times that one of the supposedly prominent Taliban with whom the Karzai government has been negotiating turns out to be an impostor is only the latest…Tyger, Tyger, a fire snuffed out
The Romantic poet William Blake wrote, in the age of European colonial expansion and encounter with Asian fauna: TIGER, tiger, burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or…Looking for PETN, Scanning Grandma at the Airport, and the Future of Air Travel
In all the furor about the new TSA scanners and pat-downs at airports, what surprises me is that there is very little discussion of what exactly the inspectors are now looking for…Congressional “Study” Attacking Climate Change Found to be Plagiarized, Error-Ridden
A USA Today investigation of a 2006 congressional "study" attacking climate change reveals that 35 of the 91 pages are plagiarized from a textbook by Raymond Bradley; but the authors didn't content…
NATO sets 2014 Deadline for Afghanistan Withdrawal (but not US), as Thousands demonstrate in London
The Afghan Pajhwok News Agency reports a seeming discrepancy between statements of NATO and US officials with regard to when the Afghanistan mission will wind up. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen foresaw…
Bush could be Arrested in Europe: Turley to Olbermann
Keith Olbermann interviews Jonathan Turley on London mayor Boris Johnson's warning that if Bush comes to Europe to flog his 'memoirs', he might be arrested. Johnson, a Tory (conservative), wrote in the…“Don’t Touch My Junk”: The Rap Video
Mike Adams at NaturalNews.com has a rap video on the intrusiveness of the new TSA inspections at airports. It is based on the protest of passenger John Tyner's protest of being searched…Southern Afghans Have Never Heard of 9/11
An opinion survey carried out in Helmand and Kandahar provinces showed that 92% of the Afghan respondents (1000 men) had never heard of 9/11. Most Americans are ambivalent about the Afghanistan War…
Juppe: Afghanistan a ‘Trap’; NATO stuck There Past 2014
At the NATO summit in Lisbon, it is expected to be announced that although 2014 is the target date by which NATO and US troops would withdraw, in fact a NATO contingent…Jon Stewart on the Rachel Maddow Show
Jon Stewart interviewed by Rachel Maddow: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Cleopatra: A Power to be Reckoned With
This article about Cleopatra in the Smithsonian Magazine questions the image of her in subsequent Western literature as a mere seductress. The author argues that she was a canny and powerful monarch,…Bush-Cheney Use of Torture Derails Ghailani Prosecution
This is how George W. Bush and Dick Cheney got Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, suspected of involvement in the bombing of two US embassies in East Africa in 1998, off hundreds of murder…
Afvietnam
Los Angeles Times, November 17, 2010: "As NATO leaders meet in Lisbon this weekend, the U.S. is expected to endorse a plan for slow withdrawal and gradually handing over security responsibility by…Allawi Predicts new Iraqi Government will Fall Quickly
Iyad Allawi in London is throwing cold water on the idea that a stable Iraqi government is now being formed. According to Reuters he is saying that the original power-sharing formula (presumably…
4 Christians Killed in Mosul, Iraq, as Exodus Continues
From Monday evening through Tuesday, extremists launched several attacks on Iraqi Christians in the northern, mostly Sunni Arab city of Mosul (pop. 2 million), killing four. It should be remembered that attacking…Jahanpour: In Israel-Palestine Dispute, Obama Must Start Putting US Interests First
Farhang Jahanpour writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: According to the U.S. media, after eight hours of pleading with Netanyahu to extend the freeze on illegal building work in the…Cole in Truthdig: Kandahar the Invisible Campaign
My column in Truthdig is out, on the invisible Kandahar campaign in the invisible Afghanistan War-- and the Karzai/ Petraeus soap opera. Read the whole thing.
Why Obama gave in on Israeli Settlements in Jerusalem: Eric Cantor, Ros-Lehtinen Channel Israeli Right on Usurpation of Holy City, Displacement of Palestinians
Why in the world would the Obama administration put forward a proposal to the Israelis that allows them to continue to build illegal new squatter settlements in what the Israelis call the…
Species Loss Threatens Humankind
The attempts by the world's governments 2002-2010 to stem massive loss of species completely failed. So the recent conference on species loss at Nagoya in Japan found. Failed. It doesn't make a…
Shimkus Pwned on 2 Percent Climate Claims
Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) says that only 2 percent of the atmosphere is made up of greenhouse gases, and that only 2 percent of those gases are man made. He somehow seems…Sunni Arabs Return to Parliament but Shiite-Kurdish Ascendancy Holds: Ahmadinejad Congratulates his Candidate, al-Maliki
Al-Hayat writing in Arabic reports on Saturday's successful parliamentary session in Baghdad, which was joined by the Iraqiya Party, for which most Sunni Arabs had voted. The parliament had elected Jalal Talabani…
Ron Paul: We’ve Already Declared War on Iran
From last summer after the passage of the Comprehensive Iran sanctions or CISADA: Rep. Ron Paul argues that this measure is more or less a declaration of war on Iran, and that…
Some Attackers Escaped After Karachi Blast: Dawn
Dawn is breaking the news that some of the attackers behind the massive explosion on Thursday night at a Sindh Crime Investigation Department building in Karachi, which killed 18 and wounded 100,…Robot Actress in Tokyo Steals Show (Reuters): Video of the Day
Reuters reports on a Japanese stage play, Sayonara in which a robot caretaker of an ill woman is actually played by a robot (or more accurately by an android, since the machine…Cole in Tomdispatch: Asia Rising, American Hessians
My column is out in Tomdispatch on the troubling ways that President Obama's Asian trip suggest America's weakening position in the world, especially with regard to a rising Asia-- given our debilitating…
ACLU calls on Att’y General to investigate Bush for Torturing
The American Civil Liberties Union is calling upon the Attorney General to look into prosecuting George W. Bush now that the latter has admitted to authorizing torture (i.e. waterboarding) at Guantanamo. British…Iran-backed al-Maliki Tapped to form Government in Iraq
Iraqi politicians have finally begun forming a government at long last, 8 months after the parliamentary elections of March 7. Parliament finally met Thursday and elected Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani president once…Afghan Poll: We don’t Like Taliban but will Gladly Talk with Them
A summer, 2010, poll done in Afghanistan by the San Francisco-based Asian Foundation, the results of which have just been released, shows: More and more Afghans, now the vast majority, say they…Obama praises Indonesia, Slams Israeli Settlement-building; and, OSC: Indonesian Press Swoons over Obama
CNN has President Obama's address in Indonesia. Obama stressed Indonesia's pluralist and secular heritage. He referred to the 5 principles, 'panca sila' (Sanskrit, pronounced pancha sheela): belief in one supreme God; humanitarianism;…
Iraq’s Christians Urged to Flee, al-Maliki Says they Should Stay, and Everyone Wonders where the Government Is
Update:: The NYT is reporting that on Wednesday morning, more bombings targeted Christians in Baghdad, leaving 3 dead and 28 wounded. Some of those hit were Muslims racing to help Christian neighbors.…
Crowds Protest Corruption of Afghan Elections, demand New Polls
Hundreds of Aghans protested Sunday in Kabul against the fraudulent parliamentary elections held this fall in Afghanistan. A quarter of the votes have been thrown out by the electoral commission and hundreds…
Energy Committee Chairman Candidate Says God Promised no More Catastrophic Climate Change after Noah
Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), who will seek the Energy and Commerce Committee chairmanship maintains that we do not have to worry about climate change because God promised in the Bible not to…
Photo of the Day: Beirut’s Split Personality
Posters on a single column in al-Hamra Street, Beirut, August 2010 © Juan Cole, 2010Gates, the Adult in the Room, Rebuffs Israeli, Republican Warmongering on Iran
The Military-Industrial-Israel Complex is baaack. The victory of the War Party-- ... ooops, I mean the Republican Party-- at the polls on November 2 was sure to embolden Israeli hawks, since the…What does Pakistan think of Obama’s India Trip?
Pakistanis are from all accounts rather miffed that President Barack Obama did not stop in Islamabad as part of his Asian tour. The officer corps is the angriest, but it is viewed…MSNBC’s Phil Griffith the Worst Person in the World, as Olbermann Joins Donahue, Banfield
With regard to the 'indefinite suspension' of Keith Olbermann from MSNBC for having donated small sums to three Democratic candidates, here is a little piece of irony. Olbermann began his long-running feature,…
Over 70 Killed in Mosque Bombings, northwestern Pakistan
The Pakistani Taliban (Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan) bombed two mosques in Pakistan's Pashtun northwest on Friday, killing over 70 persons and wounding many others. CSM argues that one of the bombings, in Dara…
Bachmann Harms US Economy, Security with Scurrilous Charges about Obama in India
One of the great things about the victory of so many eccentrics in the congressional races of 2010 for bloggers is that we can look forward to at least two years of…
Al-Qaeda in Iraq Threatens Egyptian, Iraqi Christians
The Guardian argues that Sunni Arab religious radicals ("al-Qaeda") released from US or Iraqi custody in recent months have formed newly assertive cells and that they, schooled by their time in jail…1942 Midterms: Republicans win Popular Vote, Pick up 47 Seats in House; Roosevelt on Ropes; Pacific War Uncertain, Economy Slowly Improving
It was November, 1942. A year earlier the Japanese Empire had struck at Pearl Harbor and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had finally entered World War II. Although in May of 1942 the…17 Bombings of Shiite Districts Kill 113; Fears of Sectarian Reprisals
The LA Times is putting the death toll of Tuesday's series of 17 bombings of Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad at an astonishing 113, one of the biggest one-day tolls in recent years.…