Juan Cole

Juan Cole is a public intellectual, prominent blogger and essayist, and the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. He has written, edited, or translated 14 books and has authored 60 journal articles; He blogs on the contemporary Middle East at Informed Comment.

Europe’s Plans for Trade With Iran Show New Independence From Washington

The concerted European economic surge toward Iran has outraged National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster as well as the Israeli, Saudi and UAE governments, who are hoping to convince the world to reestablish economic sanctions on Iran despite the JCPOA or nuclear accord.

Juan Cole
بواسطة Juan Cole
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attends a meeting with Emmanuel Macron and French business leaders in Paris, Jan. 27, 2016. (AP/Christophe Ena)

Despite the significant economic problems Iran faces, and despite the real problems in unequal income distribution, Iran’s economy is seeing bright spots that the Western press rarely admits. In the year after international sanctions were lifted on the signing of the nuclear accord, spring 2016-spring 2017, the economy surged 16%. It is settling

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Top Ten Signs the US Is the Most Corrupt Nation in the World

Don’t tell the global South how corrupt they are for taking a few petty bribes. Americans are not seen as corrupt because we only deal in the big denominations. Steal $2 trillion and you aren’t corrupt, you’re respectable.

Juan Cole
بواسطة Juan Cole
Rit Picone of Newpaltz, N.Y., carries an American flag upside down as a symbol of protest against the influence of money in politics. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

Those ratings that castigate Afghanistan and some other poor countries as hopelessly “corrupt” always imply that the United States is not corrupt. This year’s report from Transparency International puts the US on a par with Austria, which is ridiculous. All kinds of people from politicians to businessmen would go to jail in Austria today if they

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Trump Just Made Non-Arab Iran the Champion of Arab Nationalism

As Saudi Arabia embraces Donald Trump and Israel, Iranian leaders called for all 56 Muslim-majority countries to make a stand against the US decision on Jerusalem, proclaiming that the city will always be Arab and Islamic.

Juan Cole
بواسطة Juan Cole
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks with Iranian officials, participants of the 31st International Islamic Unity Conference and ambassadors from Islamic countries, in Tehran, Iran, Dec. 6, 2017. Khamenei condemned President Donald Trump's imminent recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. (AP Photo)

Opinion -- Some sections of the crazy quilt that makes up the Trump administration want to push Iran back out of the Arab world and weaken it, in support of Israel and Saudi Arabia. Those actors have just been handed a big setback by Trump’s slurred and crazed announcement that he will move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and recognize it as

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Poll: Germany Views Trump as Bigger Challenge Than N. Korea, Russia or Syria

The poll also revealed that Germans overwhelmingly see their security future as entangled with a joint European Union security force; only 9% see it as connected to the United States.

Juan Cole
بواسطة Juan Cole
An anti-war protester wears a mask showing US President Donald Trump in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017 during a demonstration against nuclear weapons near the Brandenburg Gate. (AP/Michael Sohn)

Opinion -- A public opinion poll on German foreign policy carried out by the Koerber Foundation for its annual Berlin Forum has a bombshell finding: Germans are more disturbed about Trump and see relations with him as a bigger challenge than relations with North Korea, Russia, or than the Syrian Civil War. Only immigration is seen as a slightly

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Saudi Arabia’s War on Yemen Is Killing 130 Children a Day & Other Bleak Statistics

Saudi strikes have been indiscriminate, hitting schools, hospitals, apartment buildings and key civilian infrastructure like ports, bridges and roads. Any one of these strikes is a war crime. In the aggregate, they become crimes against humanity.

Juan Cole
بواسطة Juan Cole
A child who was injured in Saudi Arabia's ongoing assault on Yemen is brought to a hospital by her father, in Taiz, Yemen, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015. The U.N. says at least 2,577 civilians were killed since the Saudi-led air campaign began in March, while 5,078 have been injured. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)

The Saudi-led coalition is waging total war on Yemen in a bid to defeat the guerrilla group, the Houthis or the Helpers of God. The Houthis took power in Sanaa in fall of 2014 and consolidated it in early 2015. By March-April, Saudi Arabia’s Mohammad Bin Salman, now the crown prince, had ordered air strikes on the country that have continued to

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Under Trump, US Favorability Rating Plummets to Historic Low

The United States was the only country to show an overall decline in Favorability in 2017.

Juan Cole
بواسطة Juan Cole
A mock U.S. flag is reflected on the eyeglasses of a protester during a rally near the venue of ASEAN summit and meetings in Manila, Philippines on Nov. 12, 2017. The group is protesting against the visit of U.S. President Donald Trump, who is currently on a trip to Asia with the Philippines as his last stop for the ASEAN leaders' summit and related summits between the regional grouping and its Dialogue Partners. (AP/Aaron Favila)

The US is usually number 1 in the German research firm Gfk’s rankings, headed up by political consultant Simon Anholt. They ask some 22,000 people around the world to rank countries on six scales. This year it fell five full places to number 6. No such fall has taken place since 2004, when Americans elected George W. Bush to a second term. And

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Turkey Enraged Over US Deal to Allow ISIS Fighters Safe Passage From Raqqa

The BBC reported that the United States and its local allies worked out a deal with Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) in Raqqa, Syria, to allow them to depart the city with weapons in tow.

Juan Cole
بواسطة Juan Cole
A U.S. soldier stands near Syrian children on a road that links to Raqqa, Syria, Wednesday, July 26, 2017.(AP/Hussein Malla)

On Tuesday, Turkey lambasted the US and its largely Kurdish allies in Syria, the YPG, for having made a deal that allowed 250 Daesh (ISIS) fighters and all their children and relatives to flee from Raqqa. Turkey’s prime minister Binali Yildirim said, The YPG terrorists let Daesh [terrorists] leave Raqqa with their weapons instead of eliminating

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