Juan Cole

@jricole.bsky.social

6.7K followers 1.4K following 4.8K posts

Historian, essayist: Middle East, South Asia, Islam, Social History, Foreign Policy, Environment, Culture, Progressive Politics;
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John Ricardo Irfan "Juan" Cole is an American academic and commentator on the modern Middle East and South Asia. He is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. Since 2002, he has written a weblog, Informed Comment (juancole.com). .. more

Political science 68%

Sociology 17%

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Juan Cole @jricole.bsky.social · Oct 26

Gaza Yet Stands: Juan Cole’s New E-Book

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Many observers have complained that our understanding of the current Mideast War too often begins with the horrendous Hamas attacks on Israelis on October 7, 2023. Historian, here, hand up. I’ve not only studied the history…

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Reposted by Juan Cole

Jacobin @jacobinmag.bsky.social · 2h

A century ago, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters launched a union drive against a railroad giant, changing the course of the 20th century and forever entwining the causes of labor and black civil rights.

How One Black Labor Union Changed American History

jacobin.com

Reposted by Juan Cole

Tick Segerblom @tsegerblom.bsky.social · 2h

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Trump Ban on Wind Energy Projects Ruled Illegal by US Judge

President Donald Trump’s executive order directing government agencies to halt approving new wind energy projects was ruled illegal by a federal judge.

www.bloomberg.com

Reposted by Juan Cole, Brian Keegan, Ann Bartow , and 1 more Juan Cole, Brian Keegan, Ann Bartow, Anne Hilborn

ACLU @aclu.org · 3h

BREAKING: A federal judge ordered the government to restore Rümeysa Öztürk's SEVIS student record after it was wrongfully terminated in retaliation for exercising her freedom of speech.

This allows her to fully engage with the opportunities of her PhD program.

Reposted by Juan Cole

Nicole Foy @nicolefoy.bsky.social · 4h

Hey folks 👋 I'm the reporter who revealed immigration agents detained 170+ citizens this year

My fellowship w/ProPublica has been incredible, but it wraps January. I'm looking for my next gig. Please reach out to share leads & opportunities! [email protected]
www.propublica.org/people/nicol...

Nicole Foy

ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

www.propublica.org

Reposted by Juan Cole

Abu Aardvark @abuaardvark.bsky.social · 5h

Syria After Assad- post-Assad but not post-war. Read the introduction by me, Andre Bank and Wendy Pearlman, and all the amazing contributions to our new POMEPS Studies collection.

abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io/syria-after-...

Syria After Assad

I'm delighted to announce the publication of POMEPS Studies 57 Syria After Assad on the anniversary of the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad one year ago. There have been a number of really good, thoughtfu...

abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io

Reposted by Juan Cole, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Helen Lewis @helenlewis.bsky.social · 7h

Do the universities have no responsibility for what happened? I don’t like the leftist argument that things just happen to institutions with multi-billion dollar endowents. Their vast DEI & HR bureaucracy has failed many staff and students eg www.nytimes.com/2024/10/16/m...

The University of Michigan Doubled Down on D.E.I. What Went Wrong? (Published 2024)

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Juan Cole, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

Drop Site @dropsitenews.com · 7h

🔴 Top Israeli Ministers Proudly Adorn a Global Symbol of Racial Terror

Israeli Nat'l Security Min. Itamar Ben-Gvir & allies were photographed wearing gold noose pins in public to signal support for executing Palestinian detainees. Also visible in the image is Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu...

🔴 Top Israeli Ministers Proudly Adorn a Global Symbol of Racial Terror

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and allies were photographed wearing gold noose pins in public to signal support for executing Palestinian detainees. Also visible in the image is Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, whose ministry oversees settlement expansion and displacement in the occupied West Bank. For Americans and many in former settler colonies, the noose is inseparable from the history of racial terror and lynching, making its public display an endorsement of extrajudicial killing and violent intimidation. Israeli military courts that try Palestinians convict more than 99% of defendants. Over half of the nearly 9,500 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel are held without charge or trial.

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Ben Gvir and friends wearing a noose to signal their support for executing detainees, clearly designed to look like a yellow hostage ribbon at first glance. That’s heritage minister Amichai Eliyahu on the right, who oversees the ethnic cleansing of Sebastia.

Juan Cole @jricole.bsky.social · 11h

Small plug-in solar panels gain traction as an affordable way to cut electricity bills flip.it/7cYxil

Small plug-in solar panels gain traction as an affordable way to cut electricity bills

For years, solar power at home was mostly limited to people who owned their rooftops and could afford the steep upfront costs. But now, a new generation of small, affordable systems — often called “pl...

flip.it

Reposted by Juan Cole

Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 12h

Video footage shows Israeli bulldozers forcibly uprooting hundreds of Palestinian olive trees in Qaryut, a village south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

Juan Cole @jricole.bsky.social · 12h

this is the chief heresy of the historians

Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 1d

One argument I used to make to my students about why it was important to learn history (and historical thinking) is that someone was always going to be trying to tell you things were natural or had always been this way and that you needed to be able to see that as an exercise of power.

Reposted by Juan Cole

Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 12h

Do the Trump administration's lethal strikes on boats at sea constitute war crimes? "If this were a war, this would be a war crime. But because it's not a war, it's just murder," says Reed Brody, an expert on international law and a veteran war crimes prosecutor.

Reposted by Juan Cole

Middle East Eye (Unofficial) @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social · 13h

Ben Gvir flaunts noose at Knesset hearing on execution bill for Palestinians - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/ben-gvir-flaunts-noose-knesset-hearing-execution-bill-palestinians

Ben Gvir flaunts noose at Knesset hearing on execution bill for Palestinians

<article data-history-node-id="432437" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/ben-gvir-flaunts-noose-knesset-hearing-execution-bill-palestinians" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/ben-gvir-flaunts-noose-knesset-hearing-execution-bill-palestinians" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Ben Gvir flaunts noose at Knesset hearing on execution bill for Palestinians</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p data-end="116" data-start="0">Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir turned up to a Knesset National Security Committee session on Monday wearing a bright yellow pin shaped like a gallows noose, as lawmakers debated a proposed bill that would introduce the death penalty for Palestinians accused of resisting the Israeli occupation.</p> <p data-end="810" data-start="551">The gesture, designed to provoke, came as Ben Gvir and other members of his extremist Jewish Power party attended the hearing ahead of the bill’s second and third parliamentary readings, despite mounting legal and ethical objections to the proposal.</p> <p data-end="1118" data-start="812">Ben Gvir publicly championed execution as an acceptable tool of state violence. “One of the options by which the law will enforce a death penalty for terrorists,” he said, according to Haaretz. “Of course, there is the option of the gallows, the electric chair, and there is also the option of anesthesia.”</p> <p data-end="1314" data-start="1120">A day earlier, the committee’s legal advisers warned that the bill raises serious constitutional problems, casting doubt on its legality and compatibility with even Israel’s own legal framework.</p> <p data-end="1825" data-start="1549">Ben Gvir dismissed those concerns, boasting about alleged support from within the medical community. “Since it was announced that doctors would not want to help with the law, I have received a hundred calls from doctors saying, ‘Itamar, just tell me when,’” the minister said.</p> </div> </div> </article>

www.middleeasteye.net

Reposted by Juan Cole

Middle East Eye (Unofficial) @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social · 13h

Jordan condemns Israeli raid on Unrwa office in Jerusalem - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/jordan-condemns-israeli-raid-unrwa-office-jerusalem

Jordan condemns Israeli raid on Unrwa office in Jerusalem

<article data-history-node-id="432435" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/jordan-condemns-israeli-raid-unrwa-office-jerusalem" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/jordan-condemns-israeli-raid-unrwa-office-jerusalem" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Jordan condemns Israeli raid on Unrwa office in Jerusalem</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><article data-scroll-anchor="true" data-testid="conversation-turn-34" data-turn="assistant" data-turn-id="request-WEB:831f4b5f-31b3-4622-adb9-838c1e9e5a2a-16" dir="auto" tabindex="-1"> <p data-end="116" data-start="0">Jordan has issued a sharp condemnation after Israeli police forces stormed the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem.</p> <p data-end="656" data-start="451">Amman described the incursion as a clear breach of international law and a direct violation of the privileges and protections granted to United Nations institutions operating under international mandate.</p> <p data-end="897" data-start="658">Foreign ministry spokesperson Ambassador Fouad Majali said Jordan rejects what it sees as Israel’s systematic campaign to undermine Unrwa, stressing that the agency remains essential for delivering basic services to Palestinian refugees.</p> <p data-end="1230" data-is-last-node data-is-only-node data-start="899">Majali warned that targeting Unrwa threatens the historical and legal rights of Palestinian refugees, including their right to return and to seek compensation. He urged the international community to step in, confront Israel’s actions and provide the political and financial backing needed to allow the agency to continue its work.</p> </article> </div> </div> </article>

www.middleeasteye.net

Reposted by Juan Cole

Mark Hebden @unionlib.bsky.social · 13h

GB News has had to pay substantial damages to Islamic Relief. Hopefully this news gets thoroughly spread:

www.islamic-relief.org.uk/gb-news-apol...

GB News apologises to Islamic Relief over unfounded allegations

The broadcaster GB News has apologised and paid substantial damages to Islamic Relief after airing unfounded allegations by an interviewee on its Camilla Tominey Show programme.

www.islamic-relief.org.uk

Reposted by Juan Cole

hstarbrick.bsky.social @hstarbrick.bsky.social · 14h

Another example. All climate articles use Celsius. Use Fahrenheit if you want to have an impact on Americans. I'm comfortable using Celsius but still react more 4F than to 2C. It's kinda like $6 is more than $5.99.

Juan Cole @jricole.bsky.social · 20h

Rate of Global Heating in the Arab World is Twice the Global Average

2024 was the hottest year on record in the Middle East, around 1º Celsius (1.8º F.) hotter than the average for 1990-2020

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Reposted by Juan Cole

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 20h

Linguists start compiling first ever complete dictionary of ancient Celtic

More than 1,000 words used as far back as 325BC to be collected for insight into past linguistic landscape

www.theguardian.com

Juan Cole @jricole.bsky.social · 20h

At Trump’s Prompting, Israel’s Netanyahu seeks a Pardon, But Israeli Law may not Work that Way

This is not Netanyahu asking for a pardon so much as an attempt by the prime minister to portray himself as a great man wronged by the elite

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Juan Cole @jricole.bsky.social · 20h

U.S. Imperialism Latin America from the Monroe Doctrine to Maduro: The Trump Corollary

In recent months, the Trump administration has escalated a decades-long campaign against the Venezuelan government and people.

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Reposted by Yezid Sayigh, Juan Cole

Steven Heydemann @stevenhyde.bsky.social · 23h

Actually a big deal for Syria’s economy.

www.thenationalnews.com/business/eco...

Visa returns to Syria as Damascus seeks access to global financial system | The National

Al Shara government has restored SWIFT access, is courting foreign investors and is working to revive pound

www.thenationalnews.com

Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Juan Cole

Simon Willison @simonwillison.net · 1d

I thoroughly recommend reading all of Cory Doctorow's recent speech on AI skepticism, it's crammed with new arguments and interesting new ways of thinking about these problems pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...

Pluralistic: The Reverse-Centaur’s Guide to Criticizing AI (05 Dec 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

pluralistic.net

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Juan Cole

Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 1d

Reposted by Juan Cole

Drop Site @dropsitenews.com · 1d

Spain aired a split-screen showing scenes of destruction in Gaza alongside Israel’s Eurovision performance, underscoring why the Spanish broadcaster withdrew after the competition refused to allow a vote on excluding Israel.

Video: Trita Parsi via X (X: @tparsi, @tparsi.bsky.social)

Juan Cole @jricole.bsky.social · 1d

Western media coverage of Gaza erases Palestinians from the story flip.it/GtCNWp

Western media coverage of Gaza erases Palestinians from the story | Flipboard

How language on covering Gaza deletes Palestinians from view and turns Israel’s genocidal war into a one-sided narrative

flip.it

Juan Cole @jricole.bsky.social · 1d

Hamas says it will hand over weapons to a Palestinian authority 'if the occupation ends' flip.it/u5.mvi

Hamas says it will hand over weapons to a Palestinian authority 'if the occupation ends'

Palestinian militant group Hamas said Saturday it was ready to give up its arms to a future Palestinian authority "if the occupation ends". Israel has killed more than 360 Palestinians in the devastat...

flip.it

Reposted by Juan Cole, Alan Richardson

Lincoln Michel @thelincoln.bsky.social · 1d

It was very naive how many STEM people thought Republicans would stop at the humanities

Steve Brusatte @stevebrusatte.bsky.social · 2d

Heartbreaking. The University of Nebraska will terminate its entire Earth science department.

One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.

When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?

Celeste Labedz @celestelabedz.bsky.social · 2d

It's over.

Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.

www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...

Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Norbert Schwarz, John Horgan , and 7 more Anne Applebaum, Norbert Schwarz, John Horgan, Simon Wren‐Lewis, Juan Cole, Andreas Wagner, Kate Starbird, Juanjo Medina, Jeannette Sutton, Esther Peeren

Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 1d

Most discussions about “misinformation” treat the problem as if people simply don’t have good enough critical-thinking skills. It sounds intuitive, but it’s not entirely accurate. The problem isn’t just individual ignorance, it’s the structure of the information environment people are placed into.