Juan Cole 1200499 223145472 2008-07-02T19:40:39Z Lightbot 7178666 Units/dates/other <!-- This is a controversial topic that has been the subject of heated debate and edit warring. PLEASE DISCUSS PROPOSED CHANGES ON THE TALK PAGE before making any but the smallest edits. Edits made without discussion are likely to be reverted. -->{{Infobox Writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]] --> | name = Juan Cole | image = Juancole1.jpg | caption = Professor Juan Cole giving a lecture at the [[University of Minnesota]] | birthdate = October 1952 | birthplace = [[Albuquerque]], [[New Mexico]] | deathdate = | deathplace = | occupation = [[Historian]] | genres = | main_work = | influences = | influence = | signature = }} '''John "Juan" Ricardo I. Cole''' (born October 1952 in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]]) is an [[United States|American]] professor of modern Middle Eastern and South Asian history at the [[University of Michigan]]. As a commentator on Middle Eastern affairs, he has appeared in print and on television, and testified before the [[United States Senate]]. He has published several peer-reviewed books on the modern Middle East and is a translator of both [[Arabic language|Arabic]] and [[Persian language|Persian]]. Since 2002, he has written a [[weblog]], [http://www.juancole.com ''Informed Comment''] (formerly ''Informed Consent''). == Background and education == Cole's father served in the [[United States Army Signal Corps]] and afterwards in the Satellite Corps and, when Cole was age two, his family left New Mexico for France. His father would complete two tours with the U.S. military in France (a total of seven years) and one 18-month stay at [[Kagnew Station]] in [[Asmara]], [[Eritrea]] (then [[Ethiopia]]). (Cole reports that he first became interested in Islam in Eritrea, which has a population roughly half Christian and half Muslim.) Cole was schooled at a variety of locations, twelve schools in twelve years, at a series of dependent schools on military bases but also sometimes in civilian schools. Some schooling occurred in the United States, particularly in North Carolina and California.<ref name="interview1">{{ cite web | url = http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people5/Cole/cole-con1.html | date =2005 | title = Juan Cole Interview: Conversations with History; Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley | first = | last = | accessdate = 2007-06-01 }}</ref> Cole obtained his undergraduate degree at [[Northwestern University]] in 1975, having majored in History and Literature of Religions. For two quarters in his senior year he conducted a research project in Beirut and returned to the city as a graduate student in the fall of 1975, but the civil war prevented Cole from continuing his studies there. Therefore he pursued a Masters degree at the [[American University in Cairo]] in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, graduating in 1978. Cole then returned to Beirut for another year and worked as a translator for a newspaper.<ref name="interview1">{{ cite web | url = http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people5/Cole/cole-con1.html | date =2005 | title = Juan Cole Interview: Conversations with History; Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley | first = | last = | accessdate = 2007-06-01 }}</ref> In 1979 Cole enrolled at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] as a doctoral student in the field of Islamic Studies, graduating in 1984. After graduation, Cole was appointed Assistant Professor of History at the [[University of Michigan]] where he would become a full professor in 1995.<ref>[http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/jcpers.htm Resume of Juan Cole]</ref> Cole became a member of the [[Bahá'í Faith]] in 1972 as an undergraduate at Northwestern, and the religion later became a focus of his academic research. He resigned from the Bahai Faith in 1996 after disputes with Bahá'í leadership concerning the [[Bahá'í administration|Bahá'í system of administration]]. Cole married the former Shahin Malik in [[Lahore]] in 1982. The couple has a son, Arman, born in 1987.<ref name="CV">{{ cite web | title = Juan R. I. Cole Publications | url = http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/jcpers.htm | work = Curriculum Vitae | publisher = Juan Cole's Academic Web site| accessdate = 2006-05-28 }}</ref> == Appointments and awards == Cole was awarded [[Fulbright Program|Fulbright-Hays fellowships]] to India (1982) and to Egypt (1985-1986). From 1999 until 2004, Juan Cole was the editor of ''[[The International Journal of Middle East Studies]]''. He has served in professional offices for the [[American Institute of Iranian Studies]].<ref name="CV" /> He was elected president of the [[Middle East Studies Association of North America]] in November 2004.<ref>[http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/board.htm MESA Board of Directors], MESA of America Website, accessed [[April 23]], [[2006]]</ref> In 2006, he received the ''[[James Aronson]] Award for Social Justice Journalism'' administered by [[Hunter College]].<ref>[http://www.lsa.umich.edu/history/facstaff/facnews.asp ''Faculty News and Awards''], Department of History: [[University of Michigan]], 2007</ref> * 1975 B.A. History and Literature of Religions, Northwestern University * 1978 M.A. Arabic Studies/History, American University in Cairo * 1984 Ph.D. Islamic Studies, University of California Los Angeles * 1984-1990 Assistant Professor of History, [[University of Michigan]] * 1990-1995 Associate Professor of History, [[University of Michigan]] * 1992-1995 Director, Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, [[University of Michigan]] * 1995- Professor of History, [[University of Michigan]] === Yale appointment === In 2006 Cole was nominated to teach at Yale University and was approved by both Yale's sociology and history departments. However, the senior appointments committee overruled the departments, and Cole was not appointed. According to "several Yale faculty members," the decision to overrule Cole's approval was "highly unusual."<ref>Leibovitz, Liel. [http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=12578 "Middle East Wars Flare Up At Yale"], The Jewish Week, 2006-06-02. Retrieved on [[7 June]] [[2006]].</ref> Yale Deputy Provost Charles Long stated that "Tenure appointments at Yale are very complicated and they go through several stages, and [the candidates] can fail to pass at any of the stages. Every year, at least one and often more fail at one of these levels, and that happened in this case."<ref name="tenure">{{ cite web | last = Goldberg | first = Ross | publisher = Yale Daily News | url = http://www.yaledailynews.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=32950 | title = Univ. denies Cole tenure | date = [[June 10]] [[2006]] | accessdate = 2006-06-10 }}</ref> The history department vote was 13 yes, 7 no, with 3 abstentions.<ref>{{ cite web | last = Leibovitz | first = Liel | url = http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=12578 | title = Middle East Wars Flare Up At Yale | publisher = The Jewish Week | date = [[2 June]] [[2006]] | accessdate = 2006-06-07 }}</ref> Professors interviewed by the ''[[Yale Daily News]]'' said "the faculty appeared sharply divided."<ref name="tenure" /> Yale Historian Paula Hyman commented that the deep divisions in the appointment committee were the primary reasons that Cole was rejected: "There was also concern, aside from the process, about the nature of his blog and what it would be like to have a very divisive colleague."<ref name="tenure" /> Yale political science professor Steven B. Smith commented, "It would be very comforting for Cole's supporters to think that this got steamrolled because of his controversial blog opinions. The blog opened people's eyes as to what was going on."<ref>David White, [http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/2668 "Juan Cole and Yale: The Inside Story"], CampusWatch, [[August 3]], [[2006]].</ref> Another Yale historian, John Merriman, said of Cole's rejection: "In this case, academic integrity clearly has been trumped by politics."<ref name="Weiss">Philip Weiss, [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060703/weiss "Burning Cole"], ''The Nation'', [[July 3]], [[2006]].</ref> In an interview on [[Democracy Now!]], Cole noted that he had never applied for the Yale job: "Some people at Yale asked if they could look at me for a senior appointment. I said, 'Look all you want.' So that's up to them. Senior professors are like baseball players. You’re being looked at by other teams all the time. If it doesn't result in an offer, then nobody takes it seriously." He described the so-called "scandal" surrounding his nomination as "a tempest in a teapot" that had been exaggerated by "neo-con journalists": "Who knows what their hiring process is like, what things they were looking for?"<ref>Democracy Now!, [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/04/1418253 "Hundreds of Thousands Rally in Iraq Against the War in Lebanon: Middle East Analyst Juan Cole on War in the Middle East - from Baghdad to Beirut"], [[August 4]], [[2006]]</ref> == Academic interests == Having converted to the [[Bahá'í Faith]] in 1972, Cole began his academic life in the field of [[Bahá'í Studies]], in which he would become quite influential. Life as a Bahá'í encouraged Cole to study the languages, cultures, and history of the Middle East (where the religion originated), and also to "[[Pioneering (Bahá'í)|pioneer]]" on behalf of his faith in several countries with large Muslim populations. These included Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and India. (For a fuller description of Cole's overseas experience, see here.)<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2005/09/hitchens-galloway-and-cole-i-just.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Cole now speaks [[Arabic language|Arabic]] ([[Fusha|Modern Standard]] as well as [[Levantine Arabic|Lebanese]] and [[Egyptian Arabic|Egyptian]] dialects), [[Persian language|Persian]], and [[Urdu language|Urdu]], and is familiar with [[Turkish language|Turkish]].<ref name="CV" /> Some of Cole's interests have their origins in his Bahá'í background. For example, his interest in [[Shaykh Ahmad]]-i-Aksa'i is explainable in terms of [[Shaykhi]] influence on the nascent Babí and Bahá'í faiths. All of these movements arose in the context of [[Shi'a]] [[Islam]], and like many Bahá'í scholars, Cole made Shi'ism another academic specialty, ultimately writing several monographs on the subject (including historical and political as well as religious dimensions). Native Shi'a communities stretch in an [[Shi'ite Crescent| arc]] from Saudi Arabia to India, and Cole has written on various countries in this arc as well as on Islam in general, the secular history and politics of the region, and comparative studies. As a result of conflict with the Bahá'í leadership, Cole resigned his membership in the religion in 1996. He later announced that he had recovered his private faith, but remains "out of communion" with the Bahá'í hierarchy.<ref>Juan Cole, [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/1999/persdec.htm personal statement on Baha'u'llah, 3 years on], [[2 March]] [[1999]]</ref> Cole continued to publish on the Bahá'í religion for several years after his resignation; however, with the decade of the 2000s he seems to have moved on to other subjects. Since [[9-11]] his writings have become more expressly political. === Bahá'í studies=== Early in his career Cole established contacts with a number of like-minded Bahá'í scholars, whose discussions took on a life of their own with the rise of the internet. For example, Cole created H-Bahai, a (now inactive, though still extant) website making available a wealth of difficult-to-obtain primary sources on the religion.<ref>[http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/ H-Bahai Website]</ref> Many of Cole's early writings on the Bahá'í Faith were for Bahá'í presses, or else for an online journal which he co-edited (''Occasional Papers in the Shaykhi, Babi, and Baha'i Religions,'' associated with H-Bahai). Some of these were translations, including several "unofficial" scriptural translations, and two volumes by/about early Bahá'í theologian [[Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl]].<ref> They are: ''Letters and Essays 1886-1913 [Rasa'il va Raqa'im ] of Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl Gulpaygani'' [tr. from Arabic and Persian] (Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1985); and ''Miracles and Metaphors [Ad-Durar al-bahiyyah] of Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl Gulpaygani'' [tr. from the Arabic and annotated](Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1982).</ref> He has maintained much of this material, as well as other documents and links, online.<ref>[http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/bahaixb.htm Baha'i Studies: Papers, Translations, Documents<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ===Mainstream Shi'ism=== Cole is the author of the following monographs: :*''Sacred Space and Holy War'' (IB Tauris 2002), a collection of essays on Shi'ism in Iraq, Iran and the Gulf states; :*''The Ayatollahs and Democracy in Contemporary Iraq'' (Amsterdam University Press, 2006) :*''The Roots of North Indian Shi`ism in Iran and Iraq'' (California, 1989) In addition, he co-edited (with Nikkie R. Keddie) the volume ''Shi`ism and Social Protest'' (Yale, 1986); and edited ''Religion in Iran: From Zoroaster to Baha'u'llah'' by Alessandro Bausani (New York: Bibliotheca Persica Press, 2000). The latter is a translation of Bausani's ''Persia Religiosa'' (Milan, 1958) with afterwords and bibliographical updates. ===Egypt=== Cole wrote :*''Colonialism and Revolution in the Middle East: Social and Cultural Origins of Egypt's `Urabi Movement'' (Princeton, 1993); :*''Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East'' (Macmillan: 2007). ===Kahlil Gibran translations=== [[Kahlil Gibran]] is a well-known Lebanese-American poet, essayist, and artist who wrote in Arabic as well as English. Cole has translated three volumes of his Arabic-language literary writings: :*''Broken Wings: A Novel by Kahlil Gibran.'' [Translation of the Arabic novel, ''al-Ajnihah al-Mutakassirah'' .] Ashland, Or.: White Cloud Press, 1998. :*''The Vision'' [ar-Ru'ya] ''of Kahlil Gibran'' [collection of 24 essays and prose poems translated from the Arabic, one of which is called "The Vision"]. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1998. [Hardcover Edn.: Ashland, Or.: White Cloud Press, 1994.] :*''Spirit Brides'' [`Ara'is al-muruj] ''of Kahlil Gibran'' [three short stories translated from the Arabic]. Santa Cruz: White Cloud Press, 1993. Note that Gibran was a [[Maronite]] Christian, not a Muslim (despite Sufi influence). Cole has mentioned being contacted by a lawyer representing Gibran's heirs, who asserted the family's claim to copyright, although these works (published 1905 - 1915) were clearly out of copyright.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/index.html/2005/11/woodward-and-insider-trading-bob.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> == Commentator on Middle Eastern affairs == Cole has been cited in the press as a Middle East expert several times since 1990.<ref>See, for example, Melinda Beck, et al., "The Case Against War," Newsweek ([[29 October]] [[1990]]) p. 24; "The Gulf War," Los Angeles Times ([[13 February]] [[1991]]) p. 8; Scott Shane, "Muslim world suffers by actions of terrorists," Baltimore Sun ([[23 August]] [[1998]]) p. 1A; and Bill Schiller, "Locals tied to Al Jihad terror network," Toronto Star ([[21 October]] [[2001]]) p. A10.</ref> However, he was considered obscure outside his field prior to 2002, when he began publishing his weblog.<ref> Curt Guyette, "The Blog of War," ''Metrotimes'' ([[25 August]] [[2004]]).</ref> From 2002 onwards, Cole has been an active commentator in the UK and US media on topics related to the Middle East. His focus has primarily been Iraq, Iran, The Palestinian Authority, and Israel. He has published op-eds on the Mideast at the ''[[Washington Post]]'', ''[[Le Monde Diplomatique]]'', ''[[The Guardian]]'', the ''[[San Jose Mercury News]]'', the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'', ''The [[Boston Review]]'', ''[[The Nation]]'', the ''[[Daily Star]]'', ''[[Tikkun (magazine)|Tikkun magazine]]'' as well as at [[Salon.com]], where he is a frequent contributor.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/essays/essays.htm Essays and Op-Eds], Juan Cole's website.</ref> He has appeared on the [[PBS]] [[The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer|Lehrer News Hour]], [[Nightline]], [[ABC Evening News]], the [[Today (NBC program)|Today Show]], [[Anderson Cooper 360°]], [[Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer]], [[Al Jazeera]] and [[CNN Headline News]].<ref>[http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june06/sadr_3-27.html As Violence Escalates, President Bush Assures Iraq of U.S. Support] PBS NewsHour transcript, Originally Aired: [[October 16]], [[2006]]</ref> == ''Informed Comment'' blog== Since 2002, Cole has published the blog ''Informed Comment'', covering "History, Middle East, South Asia, Religious Studies, and the [[War on Terror]]". Blog entries include comments on widely-reported articles in Western media, summaries of important articles from Arabic and Israeli news sources, and letters and discussions with both critics and supporters. The blog has won various awards; as of April 2006 the most prominent is the 2005 James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism from [[Hunter College]].<ref>"[http://www.juancole.com/2006/03/cole-receives-aronson-award-from.html Cole Receives Aronson Award from Hunter College]", ''Informed Comment'', [[March 29]], [[2006]].</ref> It has also received two 2004 [[Koufax Awards]]: the "Best Expert Blog" and the "Best Blog Post".<ref>Drum, Kevin. [http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_02/005713.php Koufax Awards], ''[[Washington Monthly]]'' blog, [[February 23]], [[2005]].</ref> It has since dropped off the list, but ''Informed Comment'' has been ranked as the 99th most popular blog on the Internet by [[Technorati]] on [[October 21]], [[2006]].<ref>[http://www.technorati.com/pop/blogs/ Technorati blog ranking page]</ref> Cole is a strong critic of the [[George W. Bush administration]] and is one of the most respected foreign policy commentators amongst [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]] bloggers.<ref>The Hotline: National Journal's Daily Briefing on Politics, [http://blogdirectory.nationaljournal.com/2006/10/informed_comment.html Blogometer Profiles: Informed Comment], [[National Journal]], [[October 2]], [[2006]]</ref> The [[July 28]], [[2006]] issue of ''[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]]'' featured a story on Cole's blog and its role in his career. Following essays by several academic bloggers, Cole was given a chance to respond to the question of whether academics should risk career advancement by blogging. His reply, in part, was: <blockquote>The question is whether Web-log commentary helps or damages an academic's career. It is a shameful question. Intellectuals should not be worrying about "careers," the tenured among us least of all. Despite the First Amendment, which only really protects one from the government, most Americans who speak out can face sanctions from other institutions in society. Journalists are fired all the time for taking the wrong political stance. That is why most bloggers employed in the private sector are anonymous or started out trying to be so.<ref> "[http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i47/47b00601.htm Can Blogging Derail Your Career]? 7 Bloggers Discuss the Case of Juan Cole." ''Chronicle of Higher Education: The Chronicle Review'' 52:47 ([[28 July]] [[2006]]) p. B6.</ref> </blockquote> == Other activities == In 2004, the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations]] requested Cole's testimony at hearings to better understand the situation in Iraq.<ref>''[http://foreign.senate.gov/testimony/2004/ColeTestimony040420.pdf Juan Cole's Senate Testimony Brief]'', [[U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations]], [[April 20]], [[2004]].</ref> Cole is president and treasurer of the [[Global Americana Institute]], a group of academics specializing in the Middle East who are working to translate the seminal works of American democracy into various Middle Eastern languages. The group's web site states that the "project will begin with a selected set of passages and essays by Thomas Jefferson on constitutional and governmental issues such as freedom of religion, the separation of powers, inalienable rights, the sovereignty of the people, and so forth."<ref>[http://www.globam.org/ Global Americana Institute], accessed [[July 3]], [[2006]].</ref> Cole is an avid [[science fiction]] fan and has a strong personal interest in [[human rights]] issues.<ref>Juan Cole, [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/index/indexd.htm Juan R. I. Cole: Personal Interests], "Juan R. I. Cole Home Page", [[University of Michigan]] website.</ref> ==Views== Generally speaking, Cole approaches the Middle East and [[West Asia]] from the point of view of [[anti-colonialism]]. Viewing the USA as a colonialist power, he sees it as defending the post-World War I "[[Sykes-Picot]]/[[Arthur Balfour| Balfour]] architecture" (described as "a colossal failure") against [[Arab nationalism|Arab nationalist]] or pan-Islamic challengers. These foundered for various reasons, especially "particularism." The U.S., like previous empires, seeks to take advantage of such internal rivalries in order to "divide and rule." <ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2002/09/architecture-of-middle-east-it-has.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>[[Terrorism]], he explains (after comparing several countries in the region), is the result of foreign occupation in combination with weak states.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2002/09/architecture-of-middle-east-it-has.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Cole's perspective is also informed by his Bahá'í background which favors [[internationalism]], [[ethnic]] [[diversity]], and [[modernism]] — values which he traces to various 19th-century Middle Eastern historical developments (the subject of his ''Modernity and the Millennium''.) One important consequence is that he tends to value multinational (and especially UN) initiatives over unilateral military ones.<ref> See http://www.juancole.com/2002_04_01_juanricole_archive.html </ref> Another is that he favors multi-ethnic states over separatist movements. A third is that he views Islam (along with other religions) as essentially good, but distorted by certain of its political appropriators (and critics).<ref> See http://www.juancole.com/2006/03/peace-and-love-in-quran-list-of.html</ref> Cole's resignation from his religion {{Fact|date=May 2008}} freed him from Bahá'í strictures against political involvement, and his blog often offers center-left political opinion. ===Iraq=== From the beginning of his blog in 2002, Cole has warned of the difficulties a U.S. invasion of Iraq would present, especially in its aftermath. At first he tried to dissociate himself from either pro-war or anti-war stances, stating that he had "mixed feelings" on the issue. (I.e., he opposed Saddam Hussein's regime, but feared disaster.) <ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2003/03/british-are-asserting-that-there-has.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Cole now blames the [[George W. Bush administration]] for creating what he calls a "failed state" in Iraq. He particularly cites its decision to disband the [[Iraqi Army]], its treatment of prisoners, its alienation of neighboring countries, its corrupt economic policies, and long delays in organizing elections and forming a (weak) government.<ref>{{ cite web | first = Juan | last = Cole | title = Critique of US Policy in Iraq | url = http://www.juancole.com/2006/05/critique-of-us-policy-in-iraq-bush.html | publisher = Informed Comment | date = [[24 May]] [[2006]] }}</ref> Bush's decision to invade Iraq, Cole wrote in 2005, resulted from a "coalition of disparate forces" within the Bush administration, "each with its own rationale" for going to war. He identifies: Bush's own "obsession with restoring family honor" slighted by Saddam Hussein's remaining in power after the Gulf War; [[Dick Cheney]]'s interest in benefits to the oil industry (he cites "billions in no-bid contracts for [Halliburton]" - of which Cheney was CEO in the 1990s - and which "saved [[Halliburton]] from bankruptcy"); Cheney's "[[Manichaean]], Cold War-inspired worldview -- in which the U.S. battled an evil enemy"; Evangelical Christians who "wanted to missonize Iraq"; [[Karl Rove]]'s wanting to "turn Bush into a war president" to ensure re-election; and [[neo-conservative]] s who hoped to transform the Middle East and remove what they perceived as a danger to Israel.<ref>{{ cite web | first = Juan | last = Cole | title = All the vice president's men | url = http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news2/salon65.html | publisher = Salon | date = [[28 October]] [[2005]] }}</ref> The public focus on purported weapons of mass destruction, he added, was an attempt to find a rationale acceptable to the general public. Cole rejects the Bush administrations early claims of Iraqi cooperation with [[Al-Qaeda|al-Qaida]], noting that [[Saddam Hussein]] had "...persecuted and killed both Sunni and Shiite fundamentalists in great number.";<ref>{{ cite news | first = Elizabeth | last = Sullivan | title = Iraq No Friend of al-Qaida, Experts Say | publisher = Cleveland Plain Dealer | date = [[26 September]] [[2002]] | pages = A11 }}</ref> as well as claims to the effect that Iraq was developing [[Iraq and weapons of mass destruction|weapons of mass destruction]]<ref>{{ cite web | first = Nicholas | last = Blanford | url = http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0909/p06s01-wome.html | title = Syria Worries U.S. Won't Stop at Iraq | publisher = Christian Science Monitor | date = [[9 September]] [[2002]] | pages = 6 }}</ref> Rather than making America safer, he says, the war has ironically had the opposite effect, inspiring anti-U.S. militants. Cole, who began to call the Iraqi conflict a "civil war" as early as 2004 <ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2004/12/shiite-sunni-shiite-shiite-no-civil.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>, now says that it consists of three distinct wars: "for control of Basra among Shiite militiamen; for control of Baghdad and its hinterlands between Sunnis and Shiites; and for control of Kirkuk among Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen."<ref> Informed Comment [[November 13]], [[2007]] </ref> Two of these conflicts are traceable to Arab enmity against the U.S. invaders, perceived as supporting Shi'is and Kurds, while the conflict in Basra ("...among SCIRI, the Sadr Movement, Da`wa and Fadhila, plus some small Sadrist offshoots") is unrelated.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2007/06/eighth-front-according-to-turkish.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> A key issue is whether some of the southern Iraqi provinces are to be joined together into a "regional confederacy" (Cole's language), as in Kurdistan. Several Shi'i political parties support incompatible plans which would benefit their respective constituencies and home regions. In a 2003 editorial entitled "Iraq must be Kept together as a Single State,",<ref> Informed Comment, 9/20/2003 </ref> Cole states that partition would be "unacceptable to all the neighbors" and undesired by most Iraqis. Furthermore, the Sunni daughter state would be unviable, while Kurdistan would face dire problems. Cole writes: :The Middle East suffers from having small countries imposed by Western colonialism, such that the petroleum wealth is in tiny principalities and the human capital in huge but poor countries like Egypt. The region doesn't need any more small poor countries with populations of 4 million each. :The alternative is to build into the new Iraq guarantees against a tyranny of the Shiite majority. Have a bicameral legislature that over-represents the Sunnis slightly. Have a bill of rights. Have elected provincial governors and legislatures with their own local purview that the central state cannot over-rule. In other words, learn something from a success story: the US constitution. Cole's "nightmare scenario" for Iraq ([[August 22]], [[2005]]): :And as I have argued before, an Iraq civil war will likely become a regional war, drawing in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey. If a regional guerrilla war breaks out among Kurds, Turks, Shiites and Sunni Arabs, the guerrillas could well apply the technique of oil pipeline sabotage to Iran and Saudi Arabia, just as they do now to the Kirkuk pipeline in Iraq. If 20% of the world's petroleum production were taken off-line by such sabotage, the poor of the world would be badly hurt, and the whole world would risk another Great Depression. His proposed exit strategy for the U.S. may be found in the same article,<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2005/08/ten-things-congress-could-demand-from.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> with additional comments here.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/index.html/2006/04/exit-plans-senator-john-kerry-argues.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ===Iran=== Cole's perspective on Iran is informed by his Bahá'í background. The Bahá'í Faith first arose in Persia whose government caused the exile of the religion's Prophet-Founder, Baha'u'llah, as well as family members and disciples to a prison in Akka (or Akko, [[Acre, Israel]]) in the Ottoman empire (located today in Israel), has many of its scriptures in Persian, and represents the largest religious minority in Iran. Cole's writings accordingly celebrate Persia as a source of culture. At the same time, Cole has met Bahá'ís who were later [[Persecution of Bahá'ís|executed]] by the Khomeini regime.<ref>[http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/1999/persdec.htm J. Cole Personal statement on Baha'u'<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Cole supported the reformist president [[Muhammad Khatami]] and rued his electoral loss to [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]]. He reports that in 2003, Iran (addressing the Bush administration through the Swiss embassy) proposed a comprehensive peace agreement, which Bush refused even to discuss: :Recognition of Israel within 1967 borders, pressure on Hizbullah and the Palestinians to moderate, signing the additional protocols of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, it was all there for Bush's taking.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2006/05/iran-offered-recognition-of-israel.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Cole has written numerous posts warning that the Bush administration is attempting to create a war with Iran. He suggests that sabre-rattling offers a way for two unpopular regimes to attract nationalistic support.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2006/04/iran-can-now-make-glowing-mickey-mouse.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> He has also speculated that the Bush administration's objective in Iran is to control future supplies of oil and natural gas, while denying them to energy-hungry China and India.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2006/08/one-ring-to-rule-them-wholesale.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> On the nuclear issue, he writes that "Iran is a good ten years away from having a bomb," and points out that [[Ali Khamenei]] and other leaders have condemned nuclear weapons as un-Islamic.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2006/04/iran-can-now-make-glowing-mickey-mouse.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Cole also dismisses the Bush administration's allegation that Iran has supported terrorism in Iraq or Afghanistan. Rather, the U.S. has lent support to anti-Iranian terrorist groups such as [[PEJAK]].<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2007/10/us-sanctions-on-iran.html Informed Comment: US Sanctions on Iran<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Cole chastizes several U.S. presidential candidates including [[Hillary Clinton]], [[Rudolph Giuliani]], and [[Mitt Romney]], for making bellicose statements about Iran in order to present themselves in a tougher or more conservative light: :Among the Republican front-runners, debate about Iran occurs in a dark, upside-down fantasy land, where a weak third-world regime with no air force to speak of plots a military strike on the planet's sole superpower.[...] Iran has not launched an aggressive war against a neighbor since 1785 and does not have a history of military expansionism. Its population is a third that of the United States and its military is small and weak.<ref>[http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/10/17/iran/ The Iran hawks | Salon<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ==== Ahmadinejad's remarks on Israel ==== {{seealso|Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Israel}} <!-- This is a controversial topic that has been the subject of heated debate and edit warring. PLEASE DISCUSS PROPOSED CHANGES ON THE TALK PAGE before making any but the smallest edits. Edits made without discussion are likely to be reverted. --> Cole and [[Christopher Hitchens]] have traded barbs regarding the translation and meaning of a passage referring to Israel in a speech by Iran President [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]]. Fathi Nazila of the ''[[New York Times]]'''s [[Tehran]] bureau translated the passage as "Our dear Imam [Khomeini] said that the occupying regime must be wiped off the map."<ref name="r26">{{cite web | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/weekinreview/30iran.html?ex=1161230400&en=26f07fc5b7543417&ei=5070 | title = Text of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Speech | accessdate = 2006-10-17 | last = Fathi | first = Nazila | date = [[October 30]] [[2005]] | work = Week in Review | publisher = ''[[The New York Times]]'' }}</ref> In an article published at the [[Slate Magazine]] website, Hitchens accused Cole of attempting to minimize and distort the meaning of the speech, which Hitchens understood to be a repetition of "the standard line" that "the state of Israel is illegitimate and must be obliterated". Hitchens also denigrated Cole's competence in both Persian and "plain English" and described him as a [[Muslim apologist]].<ref name="Hitchens">{{cite web | publisher=[[Slate Magazine]] | title = The Cole Report: When it comes to Iran, he distorts, you decide | first = Christopher | last = Hitchens | date = [[May 2]] [[2006]] | url = http://www.slate.com/id/2140947 | accessdate = 2007-03-03 }}</ref> Cole responded that while he personally despised "everything Ahmadinejad stands for, not to mention the odious Khomeini",<ref name="ICHitchens">{{ cite web | url = http://www.juancole.com/2006/05/hitchens-hacker-and-hitchens.html | date = [[May 3]] [[2006]] | title = Hitchens the Hacker; And, Hitchens the Orientalist And, "We don't Want Your Stinking War! | first = Juan | last = Cole | accessdate = 2006-05-04 }}</ref> he nonetheless objected to the New York Times translation."<ref name="ICHitchens" /> Cole wrote that it inaccurately suggested Ahmadinejad was advocating an invasion of Israel ("that he wants to play Hitler to Israel's Poland"). He added that a better translation of the phrase would be "the occupation regime over Jerusalem should vanish from the page of time," a metaphysical if not poetic reference rather than a militaristic one.<ref name="ICHitchens">{{ cite web | url = http://www.juancole.com/2006/05/hitchens-hacker-and-hitchens.html | date = [[May 3]] [[2006]] | title = Hitchens the Hacker; And, Hitchens the Orientalist And, "We don't Want Your Stinking War! | first = Juan | last = Cole | accessdate = 2006-05-04 }}</ref> He also stated that Hitchens was incompetent to assess a Persian-to-English translation, and accused him of unethically accessing private Cole emails from an on-line discussion group.<ref>[[Juan Cole]], [http://www.juancole.com/2006/05/hitchens-hacker-and-hitchens.html ''Hitchens the Hacker; And, Hitchens the Orientalist And, "We don't Want Your Stinking War!''], [[Informed Comment]], [[May 3]], [[2006]]</ref><ref>News Hits staff, [http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=9200 ''Juan up''], [[Metro Times]], 5/10/2006</ref><ref>Joel Mowbray, [http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060521-102935-2861r.htm ''Hatchet man or scholar?''], [[The Washington Times]], [[May 22]], [[2006]]</ref> ===Israel=== Cole is a strong critic of [[Israel]]'s foreign and military policy and its treatment of Palestinians. He criticizes the nature of America's support for Israel and the activities of the [[Israel lobby in the United States|"Israel Lobby"]],<ref name="IsraelLobbyComment">{{ cite web | url = http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/04/18/taboo/ | first = Juan | last = Cole | title = Breaking the silence | publisher = Salon.com | date = [[19 April]] [[2006]] }}</ref> and claims that some senior US officials such as [[Doug Feith]] have dual loyalties to America and the Israeli [[Likud]] Party.<ref name="DualLoyal">{{ cite web | first = Juan | last = Cole | url = http://www.juancole.com/2004/09/dual-loyalties-many-readers-have.html | title = Dual Loyalties | publisher = Informed Comment | date = [[9 September]] [[2004]] }}</ref> Cole opposes [[academic boycotts of Israel|boycotts of Israeli academics]] because he believes that the academic community in Israel is mostly opposed to the policies of the Likud party.<ref>{{ cite web | first = Juan | last = Cole | url = http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i46/46b01301.htm | title = Why We Should Not Boycott Israeli Academics | publisher = The Chronicle of Higher Education | date = [[26 July]] [[2002]]}}</ref> Cole's positive prescriptions can be summarized thus: :It wouldn't take much now to settle the Israel-Palestine thing, and the time is ripe to have Israel give back the Golan to Syria and the Shebaa Farms to Lebanon in return for a genuine peace process. The Israelis are not made more secure by crowding into the West Bank or bombing Gaza daily. South Lebanon has demonstrated the dangers of ever more sophisticated microwars over rugged territory. It is time for Israel, and for the United States, to do the right thing and rescue the Palestinians from the curse of statelessness, the slavery of the 21st century. Ending this debilitating struggle would also be the very best thing for the Israelis themselves. In one fell swoop, the US would have solved 80 percent of its problems with the Muslim world and vastly reduced the threat of terrorism.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2006/09/war-with-al-qaeda-war-with-al-qaeda.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Cole also writes on his blog regarding Muslim attitudes toward modern Israel: :To any extent that contemporary Muslims have a problem with Jews, it is largely driven by what they see as injustices done by Zionists to the Palestinians. Most Muslims when pressed would insist that there is a difference between criticizing Zionism and criticizing Jews per se.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2002/11/safwat-al-sharif-minister-of-culture.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ===Al-Qaeda=== Cole distinguishes "traditional" [[al-Qaeda]] from various 4-6 man cells scattered around the world who may identify with its goal, and use the name, but are not otherwise in contact with it. The former group consists of perhaps 5,000 members ("probably no more than a few hundred of them actually dangerous to the United States") whose activities "should be combatted by good police and counter-terrorism work." According to Cole, the Bush administration's view of "al-Qaeda" conflates various unrelated Muslim groups into a "bogeyman."<ref name="bush-turns-to-fear-mongering-creation">{{cite web | url=http://www.juancole.com/2006/09/bush-turns-to-fear-mongering-creation.html | title= Bush Turns to Fear-Mongering Creation of "Islamic" Bogeyman}}</ref> As of 2006 there were "less than 1000" foreign (i.e., genuine) al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq,<ref name="bush-turns-to-fear-mongering-creation"/> although the Bush administration's actions have caused increasing numbers of Iraqi Sunnis to sympathize or identify with that organization.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2005/09/911-77-and-830-on-fourth-year.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Such native sympathizers are referred to on his blog as "Salafi jihadis." Cole dismisses as "implausible" the prospect of such groups taking over Iraq.<ref name="bush-turns-to-fear-mongering-creation"/> ===Afghanistan=== Cole calls the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan "the right war at the right time," and credits it with breaking up a network of al-Qaeda training camps which posed a danger to the U.S.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2004/07/arguing-with-bush-yet-again-president.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> However, he charges that Bush :left the job half done in Afghanistan and ran off to Iraq, which was always irrelevant to al-Qaeda. There were no good [oil-related] targets in Afghanistan, just [[Bin Laden]] and [[Zawahiri]].<ref name="bush-turns-to-fear-mongering-creation"/> Cole complains that Iraq has displaced Afghanistan from the public consciousness. "As for money, Iraq has hogged the lion's share," he writes. "What has been spent on reconstruction in Afghanistan is piddling." <ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2006/05/kabul-under-curfew-after-anti-us-anti.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Talk of furthering democracy and women's rights, or eliminating [[opium poppy]] cultivation there, has all but evaporated.("Half of Afghanistan's gross domestic product now comes from poppy sales.") <ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2006/01/reconstruction-aid-to-afghanistan.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Al-Qaeda now controls some territory in the south of Afghanistan, and is poised to return to power.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2005/06/guerrillas-shoot-down-us-helicopter.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ===Turkey=== Cole praises Turkey's secularism and booming economy, calling it "the strongest ally that the United States has had in the Middle East since the end of WW II." He chastizes the Bush administration for alienating Turks by failing to control the [[PKK]] in Iraqi Kurdistan, and because of a (failed) 2007 Congressional resolution condemning the [[Armenian genocide]]. At the same time, he also warns Turkey not to invade Kurdistan, as this would result in disaster for these two relatively well-off regions.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2007/10/who-lost-turkey.html Informed Comment: Who Lost Turkey?]</ref> ===Saudi Arabia=== Cole writes: :I don't like the lack of democracy in Saudi Arabia, because I think it makes a key country unstable (on the whole, democracies are stable in the long run and dictatorships are not). I don't like radical fundamentalism in any religion because it is reactionary and threatens the liberty of us all. [...] But the Saudi state is not like the Iraqi Baath Party or a sponsor of international terrorism as that is currently defined by the Bush administration.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2002/07/date-wed-3-jul-2002-152902-0400-edt-to.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> However, Cole acknowledges that 45 percent of the foreign fighters in Iraq are Saudi.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2007/07/few-foreign-fighters-in-iraq-many-are.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> On another occasion he observed that "there is no prospect in my lifetime of Saudi Arabia being less than indispensable to the United States in the global energy market." <ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2005/08/us-dependent-on-saudi-arabia-bush.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ===Lebanon=== Cole lived in Beirut for several years, and was present for part of the 1975-1976 civil war. His overview of 20th century Lebanese history <ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2005/03/lebanon-realignment-and-syria-it-is.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> blames the CIA for rigging elections there in 1957, in order to allow then-president [[Camille Chamoun]] a second term. (Chamoun had apparently persuaded President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] that the [[Druze]] leaned towards [[Communism]].) This had the effect of forcing pro-[[Nasser]] Arab nationalists outside the political process. Cole additionally blames the influx of 100,000 Palestinian refugees in 1948--and the various later military actions against them by Syria and Israel--for the condition of Lebanese politics today. Cole often points out the incongruity of the U.S. allying itself with offshoots of the [[Daawa Party]] in Iraq, but vehemently opposing [[Hizbollah]] in Lebanon. He says: :The Shi'ites in southern Lebanon are the poorest part of the population in Lebanon with the possible exception of the Palestinian refugees. [...] They're the movement of the deprived. And this is especially played to by the Hizbullah, which is what it is in part because of its social services and the way in which it has gotten clinics and other services to the poor in southern Lebanon. However, I wouldn't actually say that the resentments among the Shi'a in southern Lebanon are formulated in particular with regard to Sunni Arabs. They've had resentments about the Palestinians poaching on their resources. They've had resentments occasionally against the Maronite elite. In Lebanon, you know, it's a kaleidoscope. Sometimes these groups will be allied with one another. Then sometimes they'll switch off and not. But the main rhetoric has been to focus on Israel. I think Hizbullah has benefited from the Iraq situation. It has an old - in fact, Hizbullah in some ways was formed under the tutelage of the Iraqi Da'awa party. It has old and long-standing relationships with the Iraqi Shi'ite religious groups.<ref> http://www.mepc.org/forums_chcs/41.asp scroll down to the questions section </ref> During the [[2006 Lebanon War]], Cole accused both sides of committing "war crimes" against civilians. Cole stated that "[Israel has] every right to defend itself against [[Hassan Nasrallah|Nasrallah]] and his mad bombers" while voicing disapproval for the "wholesale indiscriminate destruction and slaughter in which the Israelis have been engaged against the Lebanese in general."<ref>{{ cite web | first = Juan | last = Cole | title = Israel Widens Airstrikes; 140 Civilians Dead since Weds; Nasrallah Threatens Haifa with Worse Attacks | url = http://www.juancole.com/2006/07/israel-widens-airstrikes-140-civilians.html | publisher = Informed Comment | date = [[17 July]] [[2006]] }}</ref> Cole also accused Israel of having planned the operation as much as a year in advance, rather than simply responding to provocation.<ref> Informed Comment, [[July 25]], [[2006]] </ref> ===Syria=== Cole describes Syria thus: :Syria, population 19 million. Poor, militarily weak. Gross Domestic Product of $26 bn. [I.e. nothing.] Minority ruling clique of Alawi Shiites (think New Age California Shiism). State ideology, secular Baath Socialist Arab Nationalism, an ideology founded by Arab Christians and which has nothing much to do with Islam. Would make peace with Israel and the US in exchange for the return of the Golan Heights and an equitable resolution of the plight of the Palestinians.<ref name="bush-turns-to-fear-mongering-creation"/> Syria helped bring about Lebanon's [[Cedar Revolution]] by "overplaying its hand and making the Lebanese accept its choice for president, Gen. [[Émile Lahoud]]..." <ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2006/11/bushs-cedar-revolution-collapses-in.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> As a result of these political shifts, the Baathists are concerned that their Lebanese opponents "will try to use the UN, the US and Israel to unseat them," and in order to forestall this, have attempted or successfully arranged several assassinations in that country.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2006/08/battle-of-speeches-breaks-out-in-wake.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> As to the possibility of "regime change," Cole writes: :If the Baath regime in Syria really were overthrown at this point in time, likely the Muslim Brotherhood would take power in Damascus. [...] It would be far more menacing to Israel than the secular Baathists, who just want the Golan back and a basic humane settlement for the stateless Palestinians. The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood in power would certainly fully back the Sunni Arab resistance in Iraq, would connive at overthrowing the Hashemite monarchy in Jordan, and would hook up powerfully with Hamas in Gaza. A Muslim Brotherhood Saladin might emerge who could unite the entire Sunni Arab Greater Syrian hinterland against Israel, posing a profound threat to it.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2007/04/israel-vs.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Syria now hosts 1.4 million refugees from Iraq, but has recently tightened visa rules and is attempting to gradually repatriate them (despite the arrival of 500 more every day).<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2007/11/maliki-said-to-induct-18000-militiamen.html Informed Comment: Maliki Said to Induct 18,000 Militiamen into Security Services<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ===Kurdistan=== Cole takes a generally negative view of [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] separatist movements, though he supports cultural and language rights for the Kurdish people. On [[June 18]], [[2007]], in regard to an article in ''[[The Guardian]]'' on tensions between [[Turkey]], the [[PKK]], and [[Iraqi Kurdistan]], Cole wrote: :...things [in Turkey] have changed in the past 30 years, though the good Lord knows that much remains to be done in ensuring that Turkish Kurds are first class citizens (not a goal that will be reached by thuggish, murderous PKK tactics). First of all, Turkish Kurds have spread all over Turkey as guest workers. There are millions living in cities such as Istanbul and other industrial centers. Political scientists studying their voting patterns have found that they vote like other Turkish citizens living in the same place. That is, Kurds in Istanbul vote like the Turks in surrounding neighborhoods. There is no pan-Kurdish political identity in Turkey. Only a tiny proportion of Turkish Kurds supports the PKK, which has a very nasty history as a far-left terrorist group that killed thousands. See here <ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2007/11/poll-turkish-kurds-would-not-emigrate.html Informed Comment: Poll: Turkish Kurds Would not Emigrate to a Kurdistan <br> 72% say US soft on Terror<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> for Cole's analysis of a political opinion poll in southeastern Turkey. Cole criticizes Iraqi Kurdistan under [[Massoud Barzani]] as "proto-fascist" <ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2006/03/kamal-sayid-qadir-jailed-for-criticism.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>, and opposes the partition of Iraq into multiple sovereign states, while conceding that some sort of devolution is inevitable. As of 2006, Cole recommended the establishment of five "superprovinces" ("Deep South, Middle Euphrates, Baghdad, Sunnistan, and Kurdistan, along with two smaller ethnic enclaves, of Turkomanistan and Chaldeanistan in the north..."); the partition of the Kirkuk region as a compromise between Kurdish, Arab, Chaldean, and Turkmen aspirations (with Kirkuk itself as a shared capital on the model of India's Chandigarh); and a complex oil-sharing formula: :Of Kirkuk's petroleum profits, the central government gets 33 percent. The Kurdistan regional confederacy gets 33% if it stays in Iraq. If Kurdistan secedes, it gets nothing. The oil belongs to Iraq. This principle should be guaranteed by the Coalition. :Some formula would have to be worked out for apportioning the 33% among Turkomans, Chaldeans and Sunnistan. Sunnistan is much bigger but will have other sources of income... :And here's the rest. The [southern Iraqi] Rumaila oil field income is also split up. 20% goes to the federal government. 20% goes to Deep South Provincial Confederacy. 20% goes to Middle Euphrates Provincial Confederacy. 20% goes to Baghdad Province. And 20% goes to Sunni Arab Confederacy. [''Informed Comment'', [[May 1]], [[2006]]] He often cites the [[partition of India]], in which hundreds of thousands died and tens of millions were made refugees, as a cautionary example arguing against a division of Iraq into multiple sovereign states. As for Syria (home to 2 million Kurds), [[Bashar al-Assad]]'s government views Kurdish aspirations as a threat, and therefore supports Turkey (despite having secretly assisted Iraq's Kurds during the 1990s.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2007/10/turkish-parliament-authorizes-iraq.html Informed Comment: Turkish Parliament Authorizes Iraq Incursion <br> Blackwater Leaving Iraq<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The Kurdish situation in Iran, and the government's attitude to it, is roughly similar. Cole suspects the U.S. military and intelligence services of supporting [[PEJAK]] <ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2007/07/are-we-already-at-war-have-us-enabled.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and counts this as yet another of the various "fronts" of the Iraqi civil war.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2007/06/eighth-front-according-to-turkish.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ===Pakistan=== Cole opposes the [[Pervez Musharraf]] regime, which he blames for cracking down on democracy activists, while simultaneously allowing [[Islamism| Islamists]] based in Pakistan's [[Northwest Frontier Province]] to consolidate and expand their political power. He points out that Musharraf is actually a "hawk" with respect to India (in contrast to the government of [[Nawaz Sharif]], which had made overtures to it before the coup), and cancelled a special-forces operation aimed at killing [[Osama bin Ladin]]. (The operation had been urged by President [[Bill Clinton]], and if successful, would likely have prevented the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]].) Cole also censures the [[George W. Bush]] administration for not pushing for democratization in Pakistan. Such a development would not threaten U.S. interests, he writes, since whenever elections have been held, [[Taliban]]-like movements have not received much support from voters. On the contrary, the danger is that U.S. support for Musharraf may alienate middle-class Pakistanis.<ref>[http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/11/06/musharraf/ Bush and Musharraf's grand illusion | Salon<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Cole's wife Shahin received her legal education in Lahore, Pakistan, and has also written against Musharraf's crackdown.<ref> Informed Comment, [[November 8]], [[2007]]. </ref> ===Kashmir=== Cole recommends that "the US should strong-arm India and Pakistan into a final settlement of the Kashmir issue. [...]The Kashmir issue generates far more terrorism, and even the threat of nuclear war, than Iraq ever did."<ref> "Al-Qaeda's New Geostrategic Master Plan," Informed Comment, [[September 11]], [[2003]] </ref> In 2002 he wrote that "It is unclear whether Musharraf simply cannot stop the terrorists [from Kashmir into India], or whether his military government is still lukewarm about trying to do so."<ref> ("The Downside to the Bush Doctrine", Informed Comment, [[June 7]], [[2002]]). </ref> However, in 2005 he expressed doubt that one would find :many, if any, persons engaged in international terrorism from Kashmir. There has been a lot of political violence in Kashmir, but there are two sides to it, and heavy-handed Indian military tactics have killed a lot of Kashmiris. The UN had decreed that a referendum would be held in Kashmir on its future, which India has ever since 1948 refused to allow.<ref> "Arguing with Bush and the GWOT," Informed Comment [[October 7]], [[2005]]. </ref> ===Egypt=== Cole lived in Cairo for several years during the 1970s (after fleeing Lebanon). On pressures for democracy in Egypt, he writes that "Having a slightly more representative government is always to the good, but the Muslim Brotherhood is not exactly a force for progressivism in the region." <ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2005/12/middle-east-and-america-in-2005-how.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> He attributes the success of the Muslim Brotherhood to 1960's-era support from Saudi Arabia (which distrusted Nasser's secular nationalism); and more generally, to the legacy of British imperialism.<ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2003/03/british-are-asserting-that-there-has.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> His book ''Napoleon's Egypt'' holds up that historic episode as a mirror of contemporary American policies in Iraq. ===Sudan=== While Cole does not often discuss Sudan ("There are lots of massacres, deaths and tragedies in the world that I don't have time to cover in my little blog...") <ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2005_03_01_juanricole_archive.html Informed Comment: 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>, he does argue that rather than a "black African" versus "Arab" conflict (as "rightwing Zionists" characterize it for the benefit of American domestic politics), "the [North / South] dispute is not about race. It is about political separatism and regionalism." <ref>[http://www.juancole.com/2005/03/googlesmear-as-political-tactic-google.html Informed Comment<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The parties to the conflict are, in fact, racially indistinguishable. In [[Darfur]] they are also religiously indistinguishable (both groups being Muslim), and Arabic is spoken to some extent on both sides. == Criticism == <!-- This is a controversial topic that has been the subject of heated debate and edit warring. PLEASE DISCUSS PROPOSED CHANGES ON THE TALK PAGE before making any but the smallest edits. Edits made without discussion are likely to be reverted. --> [[Alexander H. Joffe]] in the ''[[Middle East Quarterly]]'' has written that "Cole suggests that many American Jewish officials hold [[Dual loyalty|dual loyalties]], a frequent anti-Semitic theme.".<ref name="DeclineOfMES">{{ cite web | url = http://www.meforum.org/article/789 | title = Juan Cole and the Decline of Middle Eastern Studies | first = Alexander H | last = Joffe | publisher = Middle East Quarterly | date = Winter 2006 }}</ref> Cole argues that his critics have "perverted the word 'antisemitic,'" and also points out that "in the Middle East Studies establishment in the United States, I have stood with Israeli colleagues and against any attempt to marginalize them or boycott them".<ref>{{ cite web | first = Juan | last = Cole | url = http://www.juancole.com/2004/12/character-assassination-yes-im-aware.html | title = Character Assassination | publisher = Informed Comment | date = December 8, 2004 }}</ref> According to [[Efraim Karsh]], Cole has done "hardly any independent research on the twentieth-century Middle East", and Karsh characterized Cole's analysis of this era as "derivative." He has also responded to Cole's criticism of Israeli policies and the influence of the "[[Israel lobby in the United States|Israel lobby]]", comparing them to accusations that have been made in anti-semitic writings.<ref name="Karsh">{{ cite web | title = Juan Cole's Bad blog | url = http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi%3D20050425&s%3Dkarsh042505 | first = Efraim | last = Karsh | publisher = The New Republic }}</ref> Cole responded directly to Karsh in his blog, dismissing one of Karsh's charges, that Cole's criticisms echo themes in the antisemitic tract ''[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion|Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]'', as a "propaganda technique," adding that "No serious person who knows me or my work would credit his outrageous insinuations for a moment." Cole also defended his knowledge of modern Middle Eastern history, comparing his experience "on the ground" in the modern [[Arab world]] favorably with that of [[Bernard Lewis]], a historian he said is "lionized" by Karsh.<ref name="WP-Karsh">{{cite web | first = Juan | last = Cole | publisher = Informed Comment | url = http://www.juancole.com/2006/10/wikipedia-karsh-and-cole-encyclopedia.html | title = Wikipedia, Karsh and Cole | date = [[October 12]] [[2006]] }}</ref> ==Selected bibliography== ===Texts=== * ''Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East'', [[Palgrave Macmillan]], 2007. ISBN 1403964319 * ''The Ayatollahs and Democracy in Iraq,'' [[Amsterdam University Press]], 2006. ISBN 9789053568897 * "Historiography of the Muslim Brotherhood", essay in ''Middle East Historiographies: Narrating the Twentieth Century'' by Israel Gershoni et al., 2006. * "The Imagined Embrace: Gender, Identity and Iranian Ethnicity in Jahangiri Paintings", in Michel Mazzaoui, editor, ''Safavid Iran and her Neighbors,'' pp. 49-62; Salt Lake City: [[Utah University Press]], 2003. * ''Sacred Space and Holy War: The Politics, Culture and History of Shi`ite Islam,'' London: [[I.B. Tauris]], 2002. ISBN 1860647367 * ''Modernity and the Millennium:The Genesis of the Bahá'í Faith in the Nineteenth-Century Middle East.'' New York: [[Columbia University Press]], 1998. ISBN 0-231-11081-2 * ''Colonialism and Revolution in the Middle East: Social and Cultural Origins of Egypt's `Urabi Movement.'' Princeton: [[Princeton University Press]], 1993. Paperback edn., Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1999. * ''Comparing Muslim Societies'' (edited, Comparative Studies in Society and History series); Ann Arbor: [[University of Michigan Press]], 1992. * ''Roots of North Indian Shi`ism in Iran and Iraq: Religion and State in Awadh, 1722-1859.'' Berkeley and Los Angeles: [[University of California Press]], 1988; New Delhi: [[Oxford University Press]], 1991) * ''Shi'ism and Social Protest.'' (edited, with Nikki Keddie), New Haven: [[Yale University Press]], 1986. *"Baha'u'llah and the Naqshbandi Sufis in Iraq, 1854-1856", from ''Iran East and West: Studies in Babi and Baha'i History, vol. 2'' (edited, with Moojan Momen, and contributor); Los Angeles: [[Kalimat Press]], 1984. ===Journal Issues=== * [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/2000/rida.htm ''Rashid Rida on tne the Baha'i Fairth: A Utilitarian Theory of the Spread of Religions''], [[Arab Studies Quarterly]] 5, 3 (Summer 1983): 276-291 * ''Nationalism and the Colonial Legacy in the Middle East and Central Asia.'' Co-edited with Deniz Kandiyoti. Special Issue of The International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol. 34, no. 2 (May 2002), pp. 187-424. * [http://www.mideasti.org/pdfs/543-566mejCole5704.pdf ''The United States and Shi‘ite Religious Factions in Post-Ba‘thist Iraq''], MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL VOLUME 57, NO. 4, AUTUMN 2003 * [http://www.newschool.edu/centers/socres/vol70/issue703.htm#cole ''The Taliban, Women, and the Hegelian Private Sphere''], Social Research- An International Quarterly of the Social Sciences: Islam Private and Public Spheres, Volume 70 No. 2 (Fall 2003) * [http://bostonreview.net/BR28.5/cole.html ''The Iraqi Shiites: On the history of America’s would-be allies,''], Boston Review, Fall, 2003. * [http://www.mepc.org/journal_vol12/0512.asp ''A Shia Crescent: What Fallout for the United States''], J.I. Cole ''et al'' Symposium Middle East Policy Council Journal Volume XII, Winter 2005, Number 4 * ''The Reelection of Bush and the Fate of Iraq,'' Constellations, Volume 12, no. 2 (June 2005): 164-172. * ''A ‘Shiite Crescent’? The Regional Impact of the Iraq War.”'' Current History. (January 2006): 20-26. ===Translations=== * ''Religion in Iran: From Zoroaster to Baha'u'llah by Alessandro Bausani.'' [Editor of this English translation of Persia Religiosa, Milan, 1958, and contributor of afterwords and bibliographical updates]. New York: Bibliotheca Persica Press, 2000. * ''Broken Wings: A Novel'' by Kahlil Gibran. [Translation of the Arabic novel, al-Ajnihah al-Mutakassirah.] Ashland, Or.: White Cloud Press, 1998) * ''The Vision [ar-Ru'ya] of Kahlil Gibran'' [prose poems translated from the Arabic]. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1998. [Hardcover Edn.: Ashland, Or.: White Cloud Press, 1994) * ''Spirit Brides [`Ara'is al-muruj] of Kahlil Gibran'' [short stories translated from the Arabic]. Santa Cruz: White Cloud Press, 1993. * ''Letters and Essays 1886-1913 [Rasa'il va Raqa'im] of Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl Gulpaygani'' [tr. from Arabic and Persian]. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1985. * ''Miracles and Metaphors [Ad-Durar al-bahiyyah] of Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl Gulpaygani [tr. from the Arabic and annotated]. Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1982) == References == {{reflist|2}} == External links == {{wikiquote}} * [http://www.theyoungturks.com/story/2008/3/26/174356/408/tytvideoclips/Making-Sense-of-the-Chaos-in-Iraq/ Juan Cole's interview with The Young Turks.] * [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/ Juan R. I. Cole Home Page] at the [[University of Michigan]] * ''[http://www.juancole.com/ Informed Comment]'' - Juan Cole's weblog * [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040329/cole <nowiki>[Iraq]</nowiki> Three-State Solution?] ''[[The Nation]]'' review, [[March 29]], [[2004]] * [http://www.meforum.org/article/789] Alexander H. Joffe, "Juan Cole and the Decline of Middle Eastern Studies", article in ''Middle East Quarterly'', Winter 2006 *''See'' [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/cv.htm Juan R. I. Cole Publications] for complete list of publications. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Juan}} [[Category:1952 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:American bloggers]] [[Category:American historians]] [[Category:American political pundits]] [[Category:University of Michigan faculty]] [[Category:Islamic politics and Islamic world studies]] [[Category:American Middle Eastern studies]] [[Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni]] [[Category:Northwestern University alumni]] [[Category:People from Albuquerque, New Mexico]] [[Category:Science fiction fans]]