raharris1973
Well-known member
Three links to Juan Cole's Informed Comment blog focused in turn on the hot topics of:
1. Saudi government culpability for 9/11 and AQ:
2. Scoring the successes of the Global Jihadist movement, a 15 year old analysis, mostly holding up
2. This third one is not so much an impressive analytic slam dunk and more of any easy lob against a BS headline and weak, lazy argument:
I find Mr. Cole's site informative, and the pieces penned by Cole himself, (the quality of guests varies) consistently some of the most succinct, logical, authentic, and bullshit-free Middle East commentary available on the web. I don't read him all that often. He says or repeats things I often don't like hearing. But then again the things he's criticizing are repeated time and again. Another key to his credibility with me is he spares no one and makes excuses for no one.
If you find him easy to dismiss, shocking, or highly unpersuasive, it truly is worth asking yourself once, twice, or three times: "Am I having that reaction because he is presenting no evidence, weak evidence, poor logic, or just because the conclusions are different from what I believe/want to believe?"
1. Saudi government culpability for 9/11 and AQ:
2. Scoring the successes of the Global Jihadist movement, a 15 year old analysis, mostly holding up
2. This third one is not so much an impressive analytic slam dunk and more of any easy lob against a BS headline and weak, lazy argument:
I find Mr. Cole's site informative, and the pieces penned by Cole himself, (the quality of guests varies) consistently some of the most succinct, logical, authentic, and bullshit-free Middle East commentary available on the web. I don't read him all that often. He says or repeats things I often don't like hearing. But then again the things he's criticizing are repeated time and again. Another key to his credibility with me is he spares no one and makes excuses for no one.
If you find him easy to dismiss, shocking, or highly unpersuasive, it truly is worth asking yourself once, twice, or three times: "Am I having that reaction because he is presenting no evidence, weak evidence, poor logic, or just because the conclusions are different from what I believe/want to believe?"
)