https://znetwork.org/author/juan-cole/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Sat, 27 Dec 2025 13:54:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/author/juan-cole/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/was-colonialism-a-crime-algerian-parliament-criminalizes-130-years-of-french-rule/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/was-colonialism-a-crime-algerian-parliament-criminalizes-130-years-of-french-rule/#respond Sat, 27 Dec 2025 13:54:18 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292830  The Algerian newspaper al-Masa’ reports that on December 24, the Algerian parliament passed a law recognizing French colonialism in that country, 1830-1962, as having been a crime that involved mass killing, rape, displacement of populations, usurpation of land, and marginalization of people. The law also makes claims on France for reparations. The great Algerian historian Mahfoud [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/was-colonialism-a-crime-algerian-parliament-criminalizes-130-years-of-french-rule/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/have-we-reached-peak-fossil-fuels-wind-solar-met-all-new-energy-demand-in-q1-q3-25/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/have-we-reached-peak-fossil-fuels-wind-solar-met-all-new-energy-demand-in-q1-q3-25/#comments Tue, 02 Dec 2025 17:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291883 Richard Black and other analysts at the Ember energy consultancy find that all new electricity demand in the first three quarters of 2025 was met by solar and wind, mainly solar. That statistic requires us to conclude that there was no growth in fossil fuels globally during that period. Ember anticipates that Q4 will show the same result. Fossil fuel [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/have-we-reached-peak-fossil-fuels-wind-solar-met-all-new-energy-demand-in-q1-q3-25/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/sorry-white-nationalists-europeans-were-black-until-the-rise-of-rome-and-rome-was-multiracial/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/sorry-white-nationalists-europeans-were-black-until-the-rise-of-rome-and-rome-was-multiracial/#comments Sun, 30 Nov 2025 15:52:19 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291790 We live in a time when a once level-headed anti-populist politician such as J. D. Vance has increasingly adopted the language of white nationalism, signing on to the Great Replacement theory that nefarious forces, often coded as Jewish, are bringing in immigrants to replace “white” Americans, attacking “multiculturalism” and aligning himself with Christian theocratic nationalism. That his [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/sorry-white-nationalists-europeans-were-black-until-the-rise-of-rome-and-rome-was-multiracial/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/amnesty-so-called-gaza-ceasefire-becoming-smokescreen-for-continued-israeli-genocide/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/amnesty-so-called-gaza-ceasefire-becoming-smokescreen-for-continued-israeli-genocide/#respond Fri, 28 Nov 2025 18:04:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291750 Amnesty International concludes that, over a month after a ceasefire was agreed upon in Gaza and all living Israeli hostages were returned, the Israeli authorities continue to pursue the textbook definition of genocide “by continuing to deliberately inflict conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.” Moreover, Israeli leaders continue openly to affirm that [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/amnesty-so-called-gaza-ceasefire-becoming-smokescreen-for-continued-israeli-genocide/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-hot-tub-of-death/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-hot-tub-of-death/#respond Mon, 24 Nov 2025 18:03:07 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291622 In late October, Hurricane Melissa (that should have been called “Godzilla”) battered western Jamaica with 185-mile-an-hour winds. It tossed the roofs of buildings about like splintering javelins, demolished municipal buildings and hospitals, snapped telephone poles like matchsticks, flattened crops, and dumped torrential floodwaters everywhere, leaving $8 billion in damage. That Category 5 storm’s unprecedented ferocity was driven by an [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-hot-tub-of-death/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israelis-block-syringes-refrigerators-for-unicef-vaccination-of-toddlers-in-gaza/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israelis-block-syringes-refrigerators-for-unicef-vaccination-of-toddlers-in-gaza/#respond Wed, 12 Nov 2025 19:25:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291146 UNICEF, the United Nations Children Fund says it is attempting to begin a catch-up campaign of immunization in the Gaza Strip for the thousands of children who have been cut off by the Israeli total war on the Strip from life-sizing services. UNICEF also wants to provide nutrition and growth monitoring, since the deliberate Israeli [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israelis-block-syringes-refrigerators-for-unicef-vaccination-of-toddlers-in-gaza/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-huge-airbase-with-a-small-country-attached-to-it/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-huge-airbase-with-a-small-country-attached-to-it/#respond Wed, 15 Oct 2025 18:14:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1289989 Donald Trump’s and Benjamin Netanyahu’s nomination of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, his hands already crimson with the blood of innocent Iraqis, to run post-war Gaza, brings to mind a distant era when London sent its politicians out to be viceroys in its global colonial domains. Consider Blair’s proposed appointment, made (of course!) without [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-huge-airbase-with-a-small-country-attached-to-it/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/syrias-parliamentary-election-results-look-alarmingly-like-iraq-2005-which-produced-a-civil-war/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/syrias-parliamentary-election-results-look-alarmingly-like-iraq-2005-which-produced-a-civil-war/#respond Sun, 12 Oct 2025 16:04:44 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1289838 Syria’s parliamentary elections on October 5 raised alarm flags for me on several grounds. First, they were not conducted on the basis of a direct vote. Sixty “constituencies” were established to elect 121 members of the People’s Assembly of Syria (only 119 were actually elected). Another 70 members will be appointed by the self-appointed president of the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/syrias-parliamentary-election-results-look-alarmingly-like-iraq-2005-which-produced-a-civil-war/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israeli-government-votes-to-implement-trump-peace-plan-for-gaza-hamas-pledges-to-uphold-it/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israeli-government-votes-to-implement-trump-peace-plan-for-gaza-hamas-pledges-to-uphold-it/#respond Fri, 10 Oct 2025 16:31:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1289778 According to the Israeli newspaper Arab 48 , the Israeli government on Friday approved the ceasefire in Gaza and the hostage exchange, and agreed to begin withdrawing troops from the west of the Strip. The approval came after the arrival of President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and their meeting with Israeli [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israeli-government-votes-to-implement-trump-peace-plan-for-gaza-hamas-pledges-to-uphold-it/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-netanyahu-addresses-empty-un-chamber-with-genocidal-claims-after-mass-walkout/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-netanyahu-addresses-empty-un-chamber-with-genocidal-claims-after-mass-walkout/#respond Mon, 29 Sep 2025 15:44:54 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1289254 Even the tiniest detail is litigated in newspaper headlines when it comes to the Israeli government. Many news outlets reported that “some” or “dozens” of delegates walked out of the UN hall where the General Assembly had gathered as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to address them. The truth is, almost everyone left, so that Netanyahu addressed [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-netanyahu-addresses-empty-un-chamber-with-genocidal-claims-after-mass-walkout/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/76-years-after-colonial-britain-scheduled-a-palestinian-state-uk-to-recognize-palestine/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/76-years-after-colonial-britain-scheduled-a-palestinian-state-uk-to-recognize-palestine/#respond Sun, 21 Sep 2025 11:45:25 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1288831 Nadeem Badshah at The Guardian reports that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to recognize a Palestinian state today, Sunday. Spain, Norway and Ireland took this step in May 2024 when Israel disregarded the International Court of Justice’s preliminary injunction against continuing actions in Gaza that were plausibly genocidal, especially the invasion of Rafah, then the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/76-years-after-colonial-britain-scheduled-a-palestinian-state-uk-to-recognize-palestine/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-netanyahu-starves-1-in-5-gaza-children/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-netanyahu-starves-1-in-5-gaza-children/#respond Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:03:59 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1288592 The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that 19 of every 100 Palestinian children in Gaza are malnourished. That is up from 15 in July. Even more worrying, UNICEF found an increase in cases of acute malnutrition. In July 8.5% of children examined manifested symptoms of the condition. In August, it was 13.5%. Al Jazeera reports that Lamia Heggi is [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-netanyahu-starves-1-in-5-gaza-children/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/4-reasons-why-israel-bombed-peace-negotiators-offices-in-qatar/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/4-reasons-why-israel-bombed-peace-negotiators-offices-in-qatar/#respond Wed, 10 Sep 2025 18:39:10 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1288387 The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bombed the building being used by civilian Hamas negotiators in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday, in the midst of ongoing indirect negotiations with them. Five low-level Hamas members were killed, along with a Qatari security guard, but the top negotiators survived. Earlier this summer Israel and the U.S. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/4-reasons-why-israel-bombed-peace-negotiators-offices-in-qatar/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/genocide-scholars-israel-is-committing-a-genocide-in-gaza-and-we-should-know/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/genocide-scholars-israel-is-committing-a-genocide-in-gaza-and-we-should-know/#respond Sat, 06 Sep 2025 14:28:56 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1288219 On the last day of August, 2025, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, a scholarly body with more than 500 members, passed a resolution with 86% support of those who voted, concluding that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. These scholars study genocide professionally, researching it, theorizing it, and publishing on it in peer-reviewed journals. In peer [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/genocide-scholars-israel-is-committing-a-genocide-in-gaza-and-we-should-know/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/russia-china-reject-attempt-of-e3-to-reimpose-sanctions-on-iran-over-nuclear-program/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/russia-china-reject-attempt-of-e3-to-reimpose-sanctions-on-iran-over-nuclear-program/#respond Fri, 29 Aug 2025 17:59:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1287926 France, the United Kingdom and Germany (the “E3”) on Thursday sent a formal letter to the UN Security Council asking for snap back sanctions on Iran over its nuclear enrichment activities, which they maintain breach the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or nuclear deal. The joint letter of the three governments complains that [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/russia-china-reject-attempt-of-e3-to-reimpose-sanctions-on-iran-over-nuclear-program/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/netanyahu-far-outscores-putin-and-george-w-bush-in-killing-innocent-civilians/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/netanyahu-far-outscores-putin-and-george-w-bush-in-killing-innocent-civilians/#respond Sun, 24 Aug 2025 16:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1287704 Political Scientist and liberal Zionist Michael Walzer gave an interview early in the Israeli campaign against Gaza in which he said, “It’s not easy for me to say such a thing, but if there were almost 10,000 Hamas fighters among the 30,000 Palestinians killed, it’s not a bad ratio for such a war on urban terrain.” But [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/netanyahu-far-outscores-putin-and-george-w-bush-in-killing-innocent-civilians/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/state-of-climate-earth-hottest-on-record-again-as-co2-still-climbs-and-glaciers-wilt/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/state-of-climate-earth-hottest-on-record-again-as-co2-still-climbs-and-glaciers-wilt/#respond Sun, 17 Aug 2025 14:12:41 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1287403 The American Meteorological Society has issued its annual climate report, this one summarizing changes in 2024 now that all the data is in. It paints an alarming picture, especially at a moment when Big Oil has taken over the US government via its Republican puppets and is spiking all our efforts to reduce carbon dioxide [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/state-of-climate-earth-hottest-on-record-again-as-co2-still-climbs-and-glaciers-wilt/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/were-all-palestinians-now/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/were-all-palestinians-now/#respond Sun, 27 Jul 2025 16:01:39 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286641 The United States has focused on the Middle East since World War II, seeking its oil, gas, and other mineral resources and coveting control of its strategic waterways. The old colonial powers and the superpowers of the Cold War era most often backed dictatorial regimes there, because they were easier to control than democracies, and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/were-all-palestinians-now/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/top-10-signs-that-israeli-government-is-starving-people-in-gaza/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/top-10-signs-that-israeli-government-is-starving-people-in-gaza/#respond Tue, 22 Jul 2025 16:16:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286499 The Israeli military has destroyed most of the cropland in Gaza and won’t let Palestinians fish. There isn’t enough food in the Strip, and Israeli authorities are actively preventing the massive food stockpiles on the border from entering. The Israelis let a little bit of food and fuel in as a face-saving measure, but it [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/top-10-signs-that-israeli-government-is-starving-people-in-gaza/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israeli-minister-gaza-must-be-in-ruins-for-decades-as-airstrike-kills-children-seeking-water/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israeli-minister-gaza-must-be-in-ruins-for-decades-as-airstrike-kills-children-seeking-water/#respond Wed, 16 Jul 2025 19:32:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286266 In an interview with Israel’s Channel 14, Minister of Energy Eli Cohen said that “Gaza must remain in ruins for decades to come” and that Israel will not help rebuild its civilian infrastructure. The Israeli army has damaged or destroyed some 90% of the Gaza Strip’s housing stock, as well as destroying most hospitals and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israeli-minister-gaza-must-be-in-ruins-for-decades-as-airstrike-kills-children-seeking-water/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/top-things-you-still-think-you-know-about-iran-that-are-not-true/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/top-things-you-still-think-you-know-about-iran-that-are-not-true/#comments Sat, 21 Jun 2025 15:38:17 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1285284 A revised version of an essay from a long time ago. It didn’t need much revision. Belief: Iran is aggressive and has threatened to attack Israel, its neighbors or the US Reality: Iran has not launched an aggressive war in modern history (unlike the US or Israel), and its leaders have a doctrine of “no [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/top-things-you-still-think-you-know-about-iran-that-are-not-true/feed/ 2 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/spain-convenes-intl-conference-to-call-for-arms-embargo-on-israel/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/spain-convenes-intl-conference-to-call-for-arms-embargo-on-israel/#respond Mon, 26 May 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1284218 The Spanish wire service EFE reports that delegations from 20 countries met Sunday in Madrid in a push to pressure Israel to halt its total war on Gaza and to establish a Palestinian state. Convened by Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, the conference sought to move to concrete actions. Israel had blocked all humanitarian aid for [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/spain-convenes-intl-conference-to-call-for-arms-embargo-on-israel/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/chinas-power-sector-emissions-fall-5-8-in-q1-as-renewables-rapidly-replace-coal/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/chinas-power-sector-emissions-fall-5-8-in-q1-as-renewables-rapidly-replace-coal/#respond Fri, 16 May 2025 16:30:00 +0000 Lauri Myllyvirta writes at Carbon Brief that China’s CO2 emissions over-all fell by 1% in the past 12 months, and by 1.6% in the first quarter of this year compared to Q1 of 2024. In the first quarter of this year, moreover, power sector emissions fell a dramatic 5.8 percent. That change came about because China burned less [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/chinas-power-sector-emissions-fall-5-8-in-q1-as-renewables-rapidly-replace-coal/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-pope-francis-divinized-palestinian-suffering-the-gaza-pieta/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-pope-francis-divinized-palestinian-suffering-the-gaza-pieta/#respond Tue, 22 Apr 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1282848 Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936 in Buenos Aires to Italian immigrant parents, is dead at 88 after a prolonged illness. Almost alone of Western leaders, he showed enormous sympathy for the plight of the Palestinian civilians of Gaza. He called the small Catholic community there every evening. In honor of his passing, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-pope-francis-divinized-palestinian-suffering-the-gaza-pieta/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-administration-to-draw-down-troop-presence-in-new-fundamentalist-syria/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-administration-to-draw-down-troop-presence-in-new-fundamentalist-syria/#respond Sun, 20 Apr 2025 11:47:28 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1282714 Tara Copp at AP reports that the Trump administration will withdraw some of the 2000 troops now based in southeastern Syria. Some 600 will come out, leaving about 1400. The US has 8 small bases there and will close 3 of them. According to the UAE press which draws on in part on the NYT, the move reflected the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-administration-to-draw-down-troop-presence-in-new-fundamentalist-syria/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-majority-of-americans-views-israel-negatively-in-wake-of-gaza-genocide/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-majority-of-americans-views-israel-negatively-in-wake-of-gaza-genocide/#respond Sun, 13 Apr 2025 12:33:28 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1282400 Laura Silver at the Pew Research Center reports that 53% of Americans now have a negative view of Israel, a stark deterioration from 42% in spring 2022 before the Israeli total war on Gaza. Moreover, in just 3 years the percentage of Americans with very negative views of Israel has nearly doubled, from 10% to 19%. That is nearly [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-majority-of-americans-views-israel-negatively-in-wake-of-gaza-genocide/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-officials-errant-signal-messages-reveal-the-cynical-and-shallow-motivations-behind-bombing-of-civilians-in-yemen/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-officials-errant-signal-messages-reveal-the-cynical-and-shallow-motivations-behind-bombing-of-civilians-in-yemen/#respond Wed, 26 Mar 2025 18:01:43 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1281606 The high-level Trump administration Signal message thread on bombing Yemen on which someone on the staff of National Security Adviser Michael Waltz included The Atlantic‘s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg is what is impolitely called in the military a SNAFU (Situation Normal All F*cked Up). Yes, it is a security breach of gargantuan proportions. Yes, the whole exchange was illegal [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-officials-errant-signal-messages-reveal-the-cynical-and-shallow-motivations-behind-bombing-of-civilians-in-yemen/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cyberpunk-nation/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cyberpunk-nation/#respond Sat, 08 Mar 2025 13:21:38 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1280723 The opening weeks of the second Trump administration have produced daily headlines that read — no, this is not hyperbole! — like science fiction. The spectacle of a South African tech billionaire and his cronies staging a twenty-first-century cybercoup with the acquiescence of an aging lunatic of a president beggars belief. Elon Musk has given [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cyberpunk-nation/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-west-has-long-demanded-of-palestinians-what-trump-demanded-of-ukraine-and-more/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-west-has-long-demanded-of-palestinians-what-trump-demanded-of-ukraine-and-more/#respond Sat, 01 Mar 2025 15:55:17 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1280425  David Smith of The Guardian reminds us that Trump is a fan of World Wrestling Federation matches, in attempting to explain the sad spectacle at the White House on Friday. Trump is demanding that Volodymyr Zelenskiyy, the president of Ukraine, “make peace” with Russia, accusing him of risking plunging the planet into WW III with his [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-west-has-long-demanded-of-palestinians-what-trump-demanded-of-ukraine-and-more/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/should-biden-blinken-austin-and-trump-be-tried-at-the-hague-for-gaza-genocide/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/should-biden-blinken-austin-and-trump-be-tried-at-the-hague-for-gaza-genocide/#respond Wed, 26 Feb 2025 18:59:12 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1280288 The civil society human rights NGO DAWN (Democracy for the Arab World Now) has submitted a detailed filing to the International Criminal Court in the Hague urging that Joe Biden, Tony Blinken and Lloyd Austin be indicted for war crimes for their deep involvement in prosecuting the genocide in Gaza. The 172-page filing argues that “President Biden has made [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/should-biden-blinken-austin-and-trump-be-tried-at-the-hague-for-gaza-genocide/feed/ 0