Informed Comment

3 days ago | juancole.com | Ibrahim Al-Marashi |Juan Cole

Iran, Israel, the US, Russia, and China are interconnected by rumors of cyberattacks and sabotageBy Mohammad Eslami and Ibrahim Marashi | –Braga, Portugal and San Marcos, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment, Feature) – As negotiations between Iran and the United States entered a critical third round, an unexpected disaster struck one of Iran’s most vital logistical arteries.

3 days ago | juancole.com | Juan Cole

By RFE/RL’s Radio Farda( RFE/ RL ) – The fourth round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States has ended in Muscat, with Tehran suggesting a new round will be scheduled by Omani mediators. Iranian Foreign Minister spokesman Esmail Baqaei wrote on X that the talks on May 11 were “difficult but useful” to help “better understand each other’s positions and to find reasonable and realistic ways” to resolve differences. “Next round will be coordinated and announced by Oman,” he wrote.

3 days ago | juancole.com | Joshua Frank |Juan Cole

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Ancient oak trees rise above gigantic boulders scattered across a high desert mesa in Arizona’s Tonto National Forest. This is Oak Flat (Chi’ chil Bildagoteel), a sacred site for Native Americans, including the Western and San Carlos Apache. And like many other lands across the West, it’s under grave threat from multinational mining interests, all in the name of climate mitigation, but most importantly, for the money.

4 days ago | juancole.com | Marc Martorell Junyent |Juan Cole

Review of Mohammad Tarbush, My Palestine: An Impossible Exile (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2024)Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) –– –– It is probably impossible for a single autobiography to capture the lengths of modern Palestinian history. But if one book can get close to this, it is Mohammad Tarbush’s “My Palestine: An Impossible Exit.” Tarbush, who passed away in 2022, had an extraordinary life.

4 days ago | juancole.com | Juan Cole

In need of capital to rebuild, Syrian men are staying in neighbouring countries to work while their wives head homeBy Melissa Pawson and Mahmoud Abo Rass | –( OpenDemocracy.net) – Zahra Ziad met her in-laws for the first time when she moved in with them. Ten days after the former president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, was ousted in December last year, she crossed from Turkey into Syria and travelled with her three small children to join her husband’s family.