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White Christian Fundamentalist Terrorism in Norway

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Informed Comment - Jul. 23 (Opinion) - That the horrible terrorist attacks in Oslo on Friday that left some 90 persons or more dead– a bombing of the prime minister’s office and shootings at a Labor Party youth camp– were allegedly committed by a blonde, far right wing Norwegian fundamentalist Christian rather than by a radical Muslim group is being treated as a matter of surprise in some quarters. But if those journalists and analysts had been paying attention, they would not be surprised at all.

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Jahanpour: Is Iran Next? Supreme Leader Versus Ahmadinejad

Sun, 08 May 2011 07:18:00 -0700

Informed Comment - By Juan - May. 08 (Opinion) - Farhang Jahanpour writes in a guest column for Informed Comment The tug of war between Supreme Leader Khamene’i and President Ahmadinejad Despite the political turmoil and subsequent crackdowns in Iran since summer, 2009, seeming unity among the hardline

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Hundreds of Thousands of Arabs Protest their Governments

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Informed Comment - By Juan - Apr. 09 (Opinion) - On Friday, the US Congress endeavored to decide whether American democracy has irretrievably broken down because the representatives of the Billionaires refused to compromise with the representatives of the People (“cutting spending” while “cutting taxes

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An Open Letter to the Left on Libya

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Mar. 27 (Opinion) - I would like to urge the Left to learn to chew gum and walk at the same time. It is possible to reason our way through, on a case-by-case basis, to an ethical progressive position that supports the ordinary folk in their travails in places like Libya.

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UN Allies Bombard Libya to protect Protesters

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Mar. 20 (Opinion) - United Nations allies France, Britain and the United States took the lead Saturday evening in imposing a no-fly zone on Libya. French and British fighter jets flew dangerous missions, given that the anti-aircraft batteries of the pro-Qaddafi forces had not yet been knocked out. Then the United States launched a barrage of 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles, targeting Qaddafi’s anti-aircraft installations. Apparently this role of taking out Qaddafi’s air defenses is the primary one envisaged for the US, after which it will fade into the background and allow other UN allies to take the lead. In Paris, the Qatari foreign minister announced that Qatari jets would join the mission, but did not say when. In international law,there are few constraints on the UN Security Council, and it certainly was within its rights to pass the no-fly resolution and to lobby for it to bear fruit. In some ways, the stated mission, of protecting civilians in Libya, resembles the Genocide convention. It wasn’t invoked, but it could have been. This protection mission also implicitly authorizes the UN alliance to go beyond establishing a no fly zone to other sorts of military action.

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King’s Nixonian Hearings against American Muslims

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan - Mar. 10 (Opinion) - Rep. Peter T. King (R-NY)’s hearings on the alleged ‘radicalization’ of American Muslims are an affront to the brave Middle Eastern Muslims who have, during the past two months, thrown off American-backed tyrannies and are even now battling the minions of murderous dictator Muammar Qaddafi. His hearings contain the same premise deployed by Zine El [...]

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It’s Official: Tunisia Now Freer than the U.S. | Informed Comment

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Professor Juan Cole - Mar. 09 (Opinion) - Tunisian Prime Minister Béji Caïd Essebsi announced on Monday the dissolution of the country’s secret police arm. This step toward democracy is the most important taken by any Arab country for decades. Euronews has video: Tunisia’s interim government also abolished the ‘Ministry of Information,’ which had been in charge of censorship, allowing a free press [...]

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The First Middle Eastern Revolution since 1979

Sat, 15 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan - Jan. 15 (Opinion) - Tunisian President Zine al-Abidin Bin Ali has fled the country before the advancing crowds pouring in to the capital’s center. A French eye-witness said of the masses thronging Bourguiba Avenue that “it was black with people.” The Speaker of Parliament is caretaker leader of the country. The dramatic events in Tunisia yesterday and today may [...]

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The Speech President Obama Should Give About the Iraq War (But Won’t)

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Aug. 31 (Opinion) - Here is the speech that I wish President Obama would give about the Iraq War, but which neither he nor any other president ever will. Fellow Americans, and Iraqis who are watching this speech, I have come here this evening not to declare a victory or to mourn a defeat on the battlefield, but to apologize from the bottom of my heart for a series of illegal actions and grossly incompetent policies pursued by the government of the United States of America, in defiance of domestic US law, international treaty obligations, and both American and Iraqi public opinion.read more

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Twin Oil Disasters: BP and Iraq Bloody Friday in Iraq Leaves 27 Dead, over 80 Wounded

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Jun. 19 (Opinion) - In both Iraq and Deepwater Horizon, corners were cut and the people behind them tried to succeed on the cheap. Instead of nearly half a million troops in post-war Iraq, then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld sent a little over 100,000, and they could not keep order. Instead of a whole range of safety measures on the Deepwater Horizon rig, BP made do with no relief well and skimped on a number of other key pieces of equipment.

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Why Pakistan needs the Separation of Religion and State

Sat, 29 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - May. 29 (Opinion) - The horrifying assault on the Ahmadi congregations underlines why Pakistan needs a separation of religion and state. The problem with using Islam as the state ideology (as the country’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah clearly foresaw) is that there is no generic Islam.

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Pakistan Moves Further Toward Democracy; Could become a Role Model for Other Muslim states

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Apr. 03 (Opinion) - The Pakistani government on Friday tabled a proposed 18th amendment to the constitution , which if enacted will be an enormous advance toward democratization in the country. I was watching Bill Maher last week and Christopher Hitchens remarked on the Iraqi elections that they "didn?t used to happen" under Saddam Hussein. Likewise, free elections did not happen under Gen. Zia ul-Haq in 1980s Pakistan, or in 1999-2007 under Gen. Pervez Musharraf. And in the 1990s, presidents kept using the martial law amendments to the constitution of Gen. Zia to arbitrarily dismiss elected prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. But US hawks and Neoconservatives are not celebrating this epochal bill in Pakistan. I ask myself why. I think it is ...

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Obama Phones Hu over Iran Sanctions; China Stresses Peaceful Resolution; India Reviving Iran Pipeline Plan

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 01:16:27 -0700

Informed Comment - By noreply@blogger.com (Juan Cole) - Apr. 02 (Opinion) - As part of his press for increased sanctions on Iran over its civilian nuclear enrichment program, President Barack Obama called Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday. The US has few bargaining chips to induce China to play ball on Iran, which supplies 8% of China's imported petroleum. (For the importance of Iran to the Chinese economy see this Reuters article.) For China's energy needs in general, see Michael Klare at Tomdispatch.One issue that has caused tensions between Washington and Beijing is US pressure on Beijing to revalue its currency, which economists consider undervalued. Artificially keeping the value of the yuan low helps China's manufacturers to export their goods more readily, and hurts the manufactures of other countries (such as the US itself) that let their currencies float and be assigned a value by the market. It may be that Obama will let the Chinese revaluation issue slide in order to get better cooperation on increased sanctions. If so, it would be a bad deal. Reviving US industries through more competitive exports is light years more important than ratcheting up sanctions on Iran, especially since the kind of sanctions that can likely get through the Security Council will be powerless to deter Iran's nuclear enrichment program.Even then, China will not want measures that hurt Iran's ability to export oil and gas. China is now the world's second largest importer of petroleum, at about 4-4.8 mn. barrels a day. (The US is importing about 11 million b/d, though its appetite has decreased in the past 18 months because of the deep recession.) China desperately needs energy from Iran if it is to go on growing, and Beijing is highly unlikely to anything to harm that supply.Meanwhile, a key player with regard to Iran will be missing at the UN Security Council talks, i.e. India. New Delhi just yesterday broached reviving a plan to bring natural gas from Iran through Pakistan and thence to India. The $8 billion plan has been in limbo for two or three years. First, the US pressured the Asian Development Bank not to underwrite the project, raising the question of where the $8 bn. will come from. Then, there were ethnic disturbances by Baluch tribesmen in the area through which the pipeline would run, raising questions about how secure it would be (a question you would want answered before sinking $8 bn. into it) Finally, Iran asked for an unrealistically high price for the natural gas. But Pakistan is pledging to ensure security for the pipeline. The Pakistani military has shown in Swat and South Waziristan that it can do counter-insurgency if it is willing to invest enough manpower and equipment, which may make its pledge about Baluchistan more credible to India. As for prices, the coming on line in the past five years of shale gas in the US works to keep them relatively low. Shale gas is profitable to extract at about $4 per million British Thermal Units, ensuring that when the price rises sufficiently, the increased US production from shale will force it right back down, for the foreseeable future. The US has now reemerged as the world's largest producer of natural gas, head of Russia. This introduction of new shale production will have disciplined Iran's expectations, perhaps making it more likely that Tehran will offer India a realistic price. (Natural gas has the advantage of producing far less carbon dioxide than coal. It has the disadvantage of being extracted through methods that use a lot of water and potentially disturb the environment; also, the extraction process could release methane gas, which is several times worse as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.)The United States immediately urged Pakistan to shelve the project, saying it is "not the right time" for it> Neither Pakistan nor India is likely to yield to Washington on this issue. India cannot directly intervene in the UNSC discussions of tightened sanctions on Iran, but it can work through friendly countries such as the Russian Federation to make its concerns known. And, if the choice is being energy-starved, it may at some point just break the US sanctions regime and take the consequences.The USG Open Source Center translated the following report from Chinese; it underlines that China still hopes for a negotiated settlement and certainly disapproves of the use of force. Are we getting to a point where China might over-rule Israel in the Middle East?PRC FM spokesman: China 'Remains Committed' to Peaceful Solution of Iran NukeBy reporters Tan Jingjing and Hou Lijun: "Qin Gang Says China Continues To Remain Committed to a Peaceful Settlement of the Iran Nuclear Issue"Xinhua Domestic ServiceThursday, April 1, 2010 . . .Document Type: OSC Translated Text . . .Beijing, 1 Apr (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang reiterated at a regular news conference on 1 April that the Chinese side will continue to remain committed to finding a peaceful solution to the Iran nuclear issue.In response to a question on the Iran nuclear issue, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang confirmed that Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Jalili arrived in China on 1 April for a visit, during which State Councilor Dai Bingguo and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi will separately meet and hold talks with him.Qin Gang said: On the night of 31 March Beijing time, the general directors of the foreign ministries' political departments of China, Russia, the United States, Britain, France, and Germany held a teleconference to exchange views on the Iran nuclear issue. They agreed to continue to maintain contacts through various channels.Qin Gang said: The Chinese side is highly concerned about the situation currently facing the Iran nuclear issue and is stepping up efforts to conduct communications with the relevant parties to push for an appropriate solution to the nuclear issue and strive for results. The Chinese side will continue to make constructive efforts for a diplomatic settlement of the Iran nuclear issue.He reiterated: On the Iran nuclear issue, the Chinese side stands for safeguarding the international nuclear nonproliferation system and also safeguarding regional peace, security, and stability. When discussing this issue, the Chinese side always proceeds from these two points.(Description of Source: Beijing Xinhua Domestic Service in Chinese -- China's official news service (New China News Agency)) End/ (Not Continued)

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Bombings in Swat, Punjab likely to backfire on Taliban

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Mar. 13 (Opinion) - The run-up to the Ides of March in Pakistan has been characterized by numerous horrific bombings, credit for which has been claimed by the Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or Taliban Movement of Pakistan. After a string of five bombings in Lahore on Friday, on Saturday morning, a suicide bomber detonated his payload at a checkpoint station outside the city of Mingora in Swat, killing 10 persons , including two members of the security forces. Last summer, the Pakistani military expelled the Pakistani Taliban from Swat, before moving on to attack their bases and safe houses (or safe caves) in South Waziristan. On Friday, bombing attacks on a military cantonment and on Iqbal Town and Samnabad in Lahore left 50-60 persons dead and 120 wounded. Some of ...

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Israel Sandbags Biden

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Mar. 10 (News) - he far rightwing government of Binyamin Netanyahu in Israel majorly sandbagged Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday, demonstrating once again that it has not the slightest interest in pursuing a just peace with the Palestinian people or in trading a cessation of its colonization of the Palestinian West Bank for a comprehensive peace with the Arab world.

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Secular National Iraqi List of Allawi reported to have surged in Sunni Arab Provinces

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Mar. 08 (Opinion) - Sunday's vote for a new parliament in Iraq on Sunday could result in two possible geopolitical futures for that country.

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Taliban Hit 5 Star Hotel, Indian Hostels in Downtown Kabul; 18 Dead, 32 Wounded; Indians Targeted

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Feb. 26 (News) - The Afghan capital was struck by three suicide bombings early Friday morning, beginning at 6:30 am local time. Radio Azadi reports that there were five attackers, who struck in the area near the entrance of the Hotel Safi Landmark . The first bomb damaged the hotel. Two of these bombings, Aljazeera Arabic says, targeted guest houses for Indian expatriates in Kabul who work for companies or NGOs. The third blast was huge, and the guesthouse was left in rubble, such that there may be bodies still within. As I write, the death toll is estimated at 18, with 32 wounded, and some of the dead are Indians and many of the wounded are. The Aljazeera correspondent says that Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told him that the mission had been to hit the ...

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Afghan Senators demand Execution of Foreign Troops; Karzai Usurps Control of Election Watchdog; BlackwaterTraining Scandal

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Feb. 24 (News Report) - Pajhwok News Agency reports that on Tuesday, the Afghanistan senate deplored the foreign airstrikes that killed 21 innocent civilians in the province of Daikundi on Sunday, and demanded that NATO avoid any repetition of this sort of error.

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Five Questions for the Afghan Surge; Or, Getting Past the Hype

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Feb. 22 (News Analysis) - There was never any doubt that the US and NATO would win militarily, fairly easily occupying Marjah and nearby Nad Ali. Marjah at 85,000 or so is a city smaller than Ann Arbor, Michigan. The campaign is only significant in a larger social and political context. The questions are:

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The Decline of the Israeli Right and the Increasing Desperation of the 'Anti-Semitism' Charge

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Feb. 18 (Opinion) - The great divide between liberal Jewish Americans and the Israeli Right has lurked as an issue since the Likud Party first challenged Labor dominance in the late 1970s. It is now coming to a boiling point, even as Israel's reputation in the world is sinking. As rightwing policies more visibly fail, the Likudniks are flailing around making fools of themselves by smearing critics of those policies as racists. (Anyone who knows how Likud supporters talk among themselves about Arabs and other outsiders can only be amused at their impudent hypocrisy in playing the race card.)

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Marines Meet Roadside Bombs, Sniping in Marjah; 12 Civilians Killed in Rocket Attack

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Feb. 15 (Opinion) - In the pincer move of British, US/ NATO and Afghan forces on Marjah in poppy-rich Helmand Province, the Taliban have behaved differently in each area. In the north, as the British approached Nad Ali, the Taliban faded away and there was very light resistance. Afghan authorities charged that 35 Pakistani Taliban were fighting alongside Afghan extremists in Nad Ali.

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Salehi: Iran would back Down if West supplies LEU; Khamenei vows self-defense against 'US-backed saboteurs'

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Feb. 09 (Opinion) - The USG Open Source Center translated remarks of Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, regarding Sunday's announcement by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Iran would seek to enrich uranium to the 19.75% necessary to produce medical isotopes. Salehi represented the announcement as a way for Iran to put pressure on the West to provide the low enriched uranium for its medical reactor on Iran's terms.

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More Nuclear Scaremongering about Iran from Clinton

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Feb. 08 (Opinion) - To put Iran in the same category as North Korea in 2010 and to make it among the primary 'threats' challenging the United States is just bizarre. The US intelligence establishment continues to doubt that Iran has or wants a nuclear weapons program. Tehran does have a nuclear enrichment program, which is permitted by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran allows United Nations inspections of it nuclear facilities. Although Iran is not as transparent as the UN International Atomic Energy Agency would like, there is no dispositive evidence of a weapons program. For the Secretary of State to frame Iran as she did is just muddled or dishonest.

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How Wall Street Could Help Haiti and Partially Redeem those Bonuses

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Jan. 13 (Opinion) - Since public monies clearly were the basis for a lot of the "profits" the banks and finance houses made in 2009, why don't the executives show at least a little common decency and donate some significant percentage of it (half?) to worthy causes in the US and abroad. Why not 10 percent to Haiti reconstruction and development? That would be $4.7 bn., and it would go a very long way in Haiti.

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Could the Pakistani Government Fall over Karachi Violence? What would it Mean for Obama's War on al-Qaeda?

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Informed Comment - By Juan Cole - Jan. 11 (Opinion) - The ongoing political turmoil in a major Pakistani city to which few Americans pay much attention could nevertheless prove pivotal to the Obama administration's AfPak project.

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