I know about Juan Cole but I never knew he was so virulent. Same old lame old leftist Trotskyite take on the world. What dinosaurs. Anyone know how how a Cole gets the name Juan? Was he born into multi-kulti?

Rebecca. You're doing a good job selecting articles to post. I hear Robert got a scholarship to the AL - AZHAR Mosque university. That he's boning up on the inner and outer Jihad. That he's struggling to become a better downhill skier and Muslim. That he's bopping down the streets of Cairo listening to his iPod; stocked with Muslim rants from superstar Mullahs, Ayatollahs and Imams

Posted by: dennisw at November 15, 2005 8:47 AM

"Same old lame old leftist Trotskyite take on the world."

I'm not sure what the terms "left" and "right" mean anymore in the context of Israel and anti-semitism. Juan Cole could just as easily be speaking on behalf of the Ku Klux Klan as MESA. Other than his grudging, pro forma, comment about the "ethical" aspect of Judaism, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find where Cole and the KKK disagree. They both think that "Zionist" forces control the US, they both think that Jews cannot be loyal American citizens, they both call for the extermination of Israel. When it comes to Israel and the Jewish people, the extreme left and the extreme right converge.

Posted by: Howard, Fine & Howard at November 15, 2005 9:20 AM

Do not be put off by the learned professor's views of Israel. I am sure he has a lesser opinion of the United States. I am sure he believes that because any country is successful, it must be successful because it stole the labor of an exploited proliteriat. His world view and how economy and business works is as ignorant as his view of Islam. I guess Hitler hoodwinked the Moslem Brotherhood into not recognizing the Jews were fascists too. When Hitler made alliance with the brotherhood to kill the Jews of the Moslem countries, not just those who wanted to return from Europe, he was secretly aligned with the Jews no doubt. I pray the professor have a long tenure to consider the limitation of his ignorant paradigms. If you use the term "fascism" to mean a group or politics of a group that advocates the murder of another group, perhaps the Professor should watch daily television from Moslem countries or listen to weekly mosque sermons. This will perhaps give him a broader Renaissance view.

Posted by: David England at November 15, 2005 10:02 AM

Howard,

The problem with your notion of convergence is that it makes no allowance for the relative impact of the respective spheres - Left & Right - on the discourse in society. The racist, anti-semitic Right is appropriately consigned to the lunatic fringe in our country...where it languishes impotently on an island inhabited exclusively by the like-minded. Conversely, the anti-Semitic Left has found a home in our universities and is able to work its pernicious black-magic by indoctrinating young, impressionable minds.

Meanwhile, MESA has not produced a single scholarly tract on the who, what, why, when and where of Islamic terrorism (that I'm aware of) since 9-11. The most important political and sociological issue of our day...and MESA is out to lunch.

QUESTION: Why?

ANSWER: The Gods of multiculturalism and political correctness forbid such an expose.

But it's not a Left-Right issue?

Thank God for the conservative think-tanks.

Posted by: Cornelius at November 15, 2005 10:38 AM

Cornelius,

I'm not sure we really disagree, but I would suggest that the most obvious place where the extreme left and extreme right converge is at the university. The Juan Coles of the world, who are described as "left wing," advocate an Islamic-Fascist world view that is as "right wing" as you can get. It is anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-democratic. It advocates barbaric punishments for petty crimes and censorship of all communications that are not Islamic. Yet, try to point this out at a university in the U.S. and see what happens. Visit the web site www.thefire.org for some real world examples. That the extreme "left" tries to use the rhetoric of liberation and political correctness as a fig leaf to hide its extreme "right" views is beside the point. As a practical matter. there is no fundamental difference between the views of the extreme "left" and extreme "right" on Israel and the Jewish people. I'll stand by that statement.

Posted by: Howard, Fine & Howard at November 15, 2005 11:07 AM

From "Across the Bay" a Beiruti blogger's blogsite, assessments of Juan Cole:

Juan of Arabia

More lessons from Cole for all you aspiring blogger-experts out there.

The following (cached) is from a post on Saturday:

Al-Zaman reports that Shiite nationalist Muqtada al-Sadr has decided to launch a petition and fundraising in several Shiite regions, including Pakistan and Lebanon, in a drive to build a Shiite shrine at Baqi` in Saudi Arabia. The statement said that surely the Saudis did not have an objection to do so.

As Muqtada knows, the Saudi Wahhabi branch of Islam abhors shrines and has often attacked and defiled them.

It's obvious that Cole really hasn't the slightest idea what the reference to al-Baqi' (al-Baqee') is really about (let alone what al-Baqi' actually is!).

Apparently someone must've tipped him off, and so what does Cole do? He falls back on his standard M.O.: quietly delete, edit, republish, and maintain veneer of infallible expertise (you know, like what he did with the famous Jenin post, embarrassing chunks of which consequently "vanished").

So, true to form, and after quickly dusting off his Google, Cole went back and surreptitiously edited his post. Here's the brand new product:

Al-Zaman reports that Shiite nationalist Muqtada al-Sadr has decided to launch a petition and fundraising in several Shiite regions, including Pakistan and Lebanon, in a drive to build a Shiite shrine at the Jannat al-Baqi` Cemetery in Saudi Arabia. The statement said that surely the Saudis did not have an objection to do so.

The Jannat al-Baqi` cemetry in Medina contains the graves of Shiite holy figures.

As Muqtada knows, the Saudi Wahhabi branch of Islam abhors shrines and has often attacked and defiled them.

Mission accomplished. Expertise reaffirmed. Well, not quite. Apparently, he didn't spend enough time on Google to learn more about Jannat al-Baqi'. It's not just a cemetery where the "ahl al-Bayt" (members of Muhammad's family, including his daughter Fatima Zahra and Ali son of Husayn) are buried, but it once contained large mausoleums. Then in 1925, having seized Mecca (1924) and then Medina, the Wahhabi King Abdulaziz Al Saud (Ibn Saud) destroyed these mausoleums (the second time the House of Saud had done so in the span of 125 years), in accordance with Wahhabi doctrine (esp. about grave sites. King Fahd for instance, was buried in an unmarked grave). After he was finished, the place layed in ruins. The graves now look like this.

The Sadrists were then making a very specific reference that Iraqi Shiites and Saudis would not miss. The only "expert on Shiism" to miss it, even after a Google-assisted attempt at a cover-up, is the Grand Imam of Cole-abad. And he still has the audacity to use terms like "on the street in Iraq" and "on the ground in Iraq" when he not only has never set foot in the place, but he even fails to catch a glaringly specific reference from that Iraqi Shiite "street".

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Sunday, November 13, 2005
Cole-cocked

You gotta love Cole. Here's Cole yesterday, on the Jordan attacks:

Claims were made on the internet that the four suicide bombers who attacked tourist hotels in Amman, Jordan on Thursday were Iraqis, including a wife-husband team. Although the four were claimed as members of "al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia" by "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," this allegation makes little sense. Zarqawi's group is alleged to be made up primarily of foreign fighters, including Jordanians, Saudis, Algerians, etc. So where did they get these Iraqi members, and why send them to Jordan, when Jordanians from say Zarqa would have been under less scrutiny than foreigners? Some eyewitnesses heard one of the bombers speaking with an Iraqi accent. This information bolsters the case I made yesterday for the remnants of the Baath Party being behind these bombings. I believe that they blame their worst misdeeds on "al-Qaeda," so as to divert attention from their own sinister role. The Iraqi nationalists and post-Baathists fighting the guerrilla war routinely punish "collaborators" with the Americans. Since those tourist hotels are typically full of "collaborators," and since the Jordanian regime cooperated extensively with the US invasion of Iraq, the Baathists intended the bombings to punish King Abdullah II.

Hmmm, yes. Oozing expertise, categorical, and... full of it. I especially loved the scare quotes around Zarqawi. You know, maybe he's a Shiite forgery.

Of course, there is no real analysis or any mention of Baathist money in Jordan (see Lee Smith's piece on the subject) or any of that jive. It's just a categorical assertion (like the one he made after the London attacks, which was also 100% wrong) based on absolutely nothing.

Here's Cole today:

Jordanian authorities have captured Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, the wife of suicide bomber Ali Hussein Ali al-Shamari, who detonated his belt bomb at the Radisson in Amman. She turns out to be the sister of the Anbar leader of the Monotheism and Holy War (al-Qaeda in Iraq), who was killed at some point in Fallujah. His name was Thamir al-Rishawi.

So this Amman operation really does seem to have come out of Zarqawi's group, rather than just using that group as a cover, as is so often done inside Iraq.

No more scare quotes. Here today gone tomorrow. The guy makes it up as he goes along. Like my friend, who recently came back from Iraq put it: "you'd think he'd take it easy with the speculating, given how often he gets it wrong."

My friend just doesn't understand the depth of the expertise involved here. Besides, "Speculative Comment" just doesn't have the same ring to it as "Informed Comment."

Posted by: waterdragon52 at November 15, 2005 12:25 PM

I now understand even better, kj as potential Philosphy teacher- and why he and nariz champion the likes of these teachers. After all, we can clearly see Cole's Philosophy. Its Progressive.

Posted by: Gary at November 15, 2005 12:32 PM

Don't be stuck on stupid Dr. Howard.
The Left's anti Semitism is perilous these days. Muslim anti Semitism is Nazi like in the Arab press. Ever see their anti-Jewish cartoons and caricatures? The KKK is an artifact. Right wing anti Semitism is not a factor. Not today.

Arabs have always revered Hitler and his Nazi crew. Nazis are nominally on the right though they also were socialists. National socialists.

Posted by: dennisw at November 15, 2005 2:33 PM

The Middle Eastern Studies Department in most universities has become a propaganda machine for Islamism and an agent to feed the "America is guilty" mentality that is pervasive in contemporary education.

Posted by: epg at November 15, 2005 2:44 PM

Musing over this a little, I wonder if it isactually all that new for academia to come out on the side of totalitarians, left or right, whether in government or not? I'm thinking about the way German academia accepted the Nazi purge of "Jewish science" in particular, but in general, I suspect the active ingredient/common cause is that academics may tend to be utopian in their outlook and are thus inclined toward extreme ideologies that promise a perfect world to its followers. As for Cole, in reviewing some of his rantings, it seems he hankers to be the Middle East studies equivalent of Noam Chomsky.

And as epg notes, there's no small influence to be attributed to the generosity of the Arab princes in funding certain chairs, associations, etc.

Posted by: waterdragon52 at November 15, 2005 3:37 PM

Dennisw,

Did you bother to read what I wrote before you commented? What I said was that there is no fundamental difference between left wing and right wing anti-semitism. That's exactly what you said, too. If I'm stuck on stupid, so are you.

Posted by: Howard, Fine & Howard at November 15, 2005 4:10 PM

Hmmmm, Middle East Studies huh? No such thing these days just propaganda to make some university look "open minded".
Therefore, by Definition Middle East Studies = Nothing useful just bullshit muslim propoganda!

We muzleem we nice peeples, reeleegion of peeeece we love you long time...

I think im losing it!

Muslims should eat some shunkleash they might get brain power...LOL!

Posted by: Shunkleash at November 15, 2005 5:29 PM

This all reminds me of an old quote by P.J. O'Rourke: "I'm not a liberal, so I don't have a good grasp on things I know nothing about."

Cole IS a liberal (cloak-word for whiny wannabe Marxist commissar), so of course he knows everything there is to know about things which he knows nothing about.

When the history of this decade is written, the shameful role of MESA and Cole in particular will resonate with those who have read about Heidegger and the Nazification of German universities in the 1930's.

Posted by: Cato the Elder at November 15, 2005 5:42 PM

Dr. Larry Fine:
Did you bother to read what I wrote before you commented? What I said was that there is no fundamental difference between left wing and right wing anti-semitism. That's exactly what you said, too. If I'm stuck on stupid, so are you.

The fundamental difference is that right wing anti Semitism is a minor factor today. Left wing anti Semitism and Israel hatred is a major factor. The Islamics are shacking up with the left wing in Europe and the USA

Posted by: dennisw at November 15, 2005 6:47 PM

Howard,

"I'm not sure what the terms "left" and "right" mean anymore in the context of Israel and anti-semitism. Juan Cole could just as easily be speaking on behalf of the Ku Klux Klan"

The problem with your casual blurring of the importance of degrees is that the only people on the Right now who are anti-Semitic are marginal ultra-right flakes. On the Left, however, the numbers of anti-Semitic apologists for Islam far outweigh them and are not marginal but part of the mainstream Left nebula.

Posted by: Dr. Pepper at November 15, 2005 9:53 PM

Cole is a closet Muslim, need we say more (or expect any less)?

See my blistering retort to Gary's "The Racist Democrats" over at the comments for Spencer's vacation announcement for the reasons why I believe this.

Burn in Hell, Juanboy. That's why they invented it. Your lies get innocent people murdered in Israel, India, and everywhere else your brethren put down roots.

Posted by: kj at November 16, 2005 12:09 AM

Good 'ol kj, always defending the indefensible. Let's see him thank me for showing us all how to spell 'FrontPage' next time I print a link detailing yet another Accadhimmi who well represents the 'libruhl' Left.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=20191

Posted by: Gary at November 16, 2005 5:26 AM

Maybe there's too much focus on the words "left" and "right." Maybe we should think more in terms of interests, that is, what is a particular state or person or foundation, etc., interested in accomplishing. Ask where the $$$ comes from. Ask who is giving $$ to whom for which purpose. Left and right are part of the silly notion of a political spectrum. In fact, today, many leftists say what was said by "rightists" [including Nazis] in the past, especially about Jews, but not only.

Posted by: Eliyahu at November 16, 2005 8:02 AM

I know about Juan Cole but I never knew he was so virulent. Same old lame old leftist Trotskyite take on the world. What dinosaurs. Anyone know how how a Cole gets the name Juan? Was he born into multi-kulti? Dennis W

What do you mean Trotskyite. Think Trotksyites think neo con, or don't you know that Wolfowitz, Perle,
Kristol, Frum, etc are all Trotskyites and no those leopards don't change their spots, they just find different horses to ride.

I now understand even better, kj as potential Philosphy teacher- and why he and nariz champion the likes of these teachers. After all, we can clearly see Cole's Philosophy. Its Progressive. Posted by: Gary

Slander Gary, pure cowardly slander. You understand absolutely nothing about me, your ears are clogged with fecal matter. Juan cole does not echo my sentiments at all, on the contrary.

And Gary, you are a craven coward, with a hair up your butt, you hurl slanderous accusations, about posters who may or may not have read your posts. You remind of a child, and your behavior is childish and churlish, this forum does not provide an opportunity for crosstalk, and no means to courtesy flag people who you seek to slander and insult. Take that hair out of your butt and grow up. Your behavior is childish and were you an adult, you would be embarassed

Your problem is that you can't stand toe to toe in a rational, and intelligent conversation, so you cut and paste links, hurl slander into the air, and then cut and run. You cannot be an adult.

Grow up Gary, you embarass yourself

ANSWER: The Gods of multiculturalism and political correctness forbid such an expose.Posted by Cornelius

Howard Fine I agree with your analysis and statement, but amend it or parts of it to include the right wing as well, considering that they are vehemently anti feminist, antigay, anti multicultural and in some cases (like the Presbyterians and even, gasp, the Dominionists) are also anti semitic. The religious right, are Zionist yes, but their reasons are antisemitic.. and most of the people I know on the extreme left are actually Jews, such as A.N.S.W.E.R. Yes, idealistic, but misbegotten Jews, their humanitarian ideals are worthy, but there sympathies are misplaced.

I watched a young Israeli today, on Democracy Now,Jonathan Pollak in a thick Israeli accent, denounce the policies of Israel and advocate for a one state solution (which of course would be Arab and Muslim, and on the heels of which would follow most certainly a massacre or exodus of Jews)

The antisemitism of the religious right is based on their belief that the Jews will either recognize Jesus and accept him, or perish to hell in the end times. Feeling the Hate with the National Religious Broadcasters

I speak as well with an Israeli woman, who introduces herself as Marina. She has long blonde hair and is wearing knee-high leather boots. Marina, who emigrated to Israel from Holland and lives on a cooperative mango farm near the Sea of Galilee, says she is “embarrassed” to be at the convention. “These people are anti-Semitic,” she says, speaking softly as conventioneers move past the large Israeli display space. The demonization of Muslims and Palestinians by the speakers makes her especially uneasy. I ask her why the tourism ministry is here in the first place. “Money,” she says. “It is all about money. No one else visits Israel.”

Posted by: Nariz at November 17, 2005 12:21 AM

Not completely unexpected. From what I can gather "Middle Eastern Studies" is just a buzz word for pro-palestinian propaganda rallies.

Posted by: JadeDragoness at November 17, 2005 2:30 AM

Must be striking a nerve with nariz, he is rapidly joining the pelosi/kennedy/kerry crowd with his rants.

Posted by: Gary at November 17, 2005 3:11 AM

Gary you idiot. I never defened the lout Juan Cole. I said that he is a closet Muslim, so why would we expect him to do anything BUT criticize multicultural societies like America and Israel?

Funny that cretins like you and Cornelius find a way to blame everything on liberalism and multiculturalism.

If you like WASP monoculturalism, then move to South Africa. Oh wait, the liberals have "ruined them too" with "multiculturalism."

Well, there's always Sand Lake, Idaho...or Cour d'Alene.

Gary, Nariz walks ALL OVER YOU and all you can do is answer with an insult...hey, don't leave me out. I wait to be in the Pelosi/Kerry/Kennedy crowd too.

Gary, please just answer one question:

Who is the bigger Dhimmi:

Bush, Pelosi, Kennedy, or Kerry?

Who has killed more US Troops:

Bush, Pelosi, Kennedy, or Kerry?

*****************************************

Gary, the house of cards is starting to fall. Bush and his cronies aren't able to keep deflecting the truth with their lies... it won't be long now.

Bush's approval rating is down to 37%. It's only 41% among military families. The only thing that could save Bush at this point would be another terrorist attack on America... but how will you blame it on the liberals this time?

Posted by: kj at November 17, 2005 9:52 AM

House of cards?

'If a LIE is repeated often enough.....'

Praise be for Mr. Spencer And Mr. Horowitz! May they keep exposing indoctrination on-campus for the next 20 years!

Posted by: Gary at November 17, 2005 10:31 AM