I was really very impressed by Obama’s speech this week. And somewhat suprised to hear a major US politician speak on complex, subtle issues in thoughtful, nuanced terms. For non USAmericans, I think it’s often hard to empathise with US-style patriotism; in particular, the seeming impossibility of seeing the US as anything other than a […]
Tag Archives: Juan Cole
Empathy, Art or Science?
From xForums, “the last bastion of intelligent discussion”, via Daily Kos: That sucks and the guy deserves money but it’s really not the guards fault his spine is made out of paper mache. If America were Iraq what would it be?, Juan Cole (Informed Comment, 22 September 2004). What if, from time to time, the […]
Juan Cole on blogging and the middle east
Juan Cole on The Blogging Phenomenon, and speculation from Steven Levy and Jeff Jarvis. Who knows English in the Middle East? Usually young men from wealthy or at least middle class families. They are disproportionately likely to favor capitalist, unregulated markets, to be secular in their outlook, and to be pro-Western. I.e., the views of […]