Professor Juan Cole of the University of Michigan and the creator of Informed Comment Blog explains the different factions fighting ISIL in Mosul. How ISIL is using Civilians as human shields. How many ISIL fighters are there in Mosul? The future of ISIL after it loses territory. What is Turkey’s...

The lack of objective in US “jihadi” terror shootings. The instrumentalism of religion by ISIS leaders, and why it’s a mistake to assume they are truly pious. How Donald Trump is playing a role that helps ISIL. Why Bill O’Reilly is wrong about how defeating ISIS works and saying they’re the “same...

Juan Cole of Informed Comment Blog and author of The New Arabs , explains why Turkey’s Justice Development Party won big in yesterdays elections. Why President Erdogan is getting more authoritarian and rigid. Why Erdogan is campaigning against the Kurds and the why of Turkey’s interventions in Sy...

Professor Juan Cole explains how the climate crisis in Syria helped create the conditions that led to the creation of ISIL. Sea level rises and the next wave of instability in the Middle East. The importance of water in Israel/Palestine. Why Martin O’Malley’s recent comments on climate change and...

Princeton Professor Julian Zelizer, explains what motivated his new book The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society. Why Congress was also broken during the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations. How liberals were stifled on civil rights, Medicare and ...

Professor Juan Cole author of the new book  The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East, explains why most Muslims do not take ISIS proclaiming a Caliphate seriously, the shifting politics of Kurdish independence, why oppression of Sunnis is fueling the crisis in Iraq...

Professor and Informed Comment Juan Cole explains India’s election results, the controversial history of India’s next Prime Minister Narendra Modi, why the Congress Party lost, the politics of the Hindu far right, the fusion of religious nationalism and free market policies, what led to Turkey’s ...

Mike Konczal explains the Carmen Reinhart Kenneth Rogoff thesis, how influential the Rhienhart Rogoff paper was, why there study was riddled with errors, how an excel spread sheet error destroyed the methodology of the study, the perils of wonkery and why there is no accountability for elites.

Professor Juan Cole, explained how President Morsi alienated the Egyptian public, is the same coalition that pushed Mubarak from office the one that moved against Morsi? why the labor movement may have been in worse shape under Morsi’s leadership, why regional monarchies support the Egyptian mili...

Professor Juan Cole, explained the corporate distortion of the Constitution, why NSA whistle blowers are turning the tables on the surveillance state, why data mining is a flawed counter terrorism strategy, the origins of Turkey’s recent protests and the youth driven global backlash against neo-l...

Professor Juan Cole gave a regional overview of recent events in the Middle East, cleared up some of the confusion on the attack on the US embassy in Benghazi, described a poor security situation in Libya and noted that the transitional government is making slow progress there. Cole noted that th...

Middle East expert Juan Cole discusses Egyptian elections and the country’s current political landscape; the Muslim Brotherhood’s agenda and what their victory means for the country.  You may be surprised. And three important Supreme Court rulings today: reversal of Montana’s anti-Citizens United...

Blogger, professor and Middle East specialist, Juan Cole on the regime crackdown in Syria, expulsion of Hamas and Afghanistan reaction to Qur’an burning.  Plus, Wikileaks’ massive email dump.  In the better half, Mitt Romney shows again he’s not a regular Joe and bad news for Murdoch and the Sun....