| Juan Cole |
Article Index for Juan |
Website Links For Juan |
Information AboutJuan Cole |
|
Juan R. I. Cole is a Professor of Modern Middle East and South Asian History in the History Department at the University Of Michigan . Since 2002, he has become prominent as a Pundit critical of U.S. and Israeli policy in the Middle East . EDUCATION AND BACKGROUND
Cole was awarded Fulbright-Hays Fellowships to India ( 1982 ) and to Egypt (1985-1986). He speaks Arabic ( Modern Standard as well as Lebanese and Egyptian dialects), Persian , and Urdu , and is familiar with Turkish . Juan Cole CV , Juan Cole's Academic Web site, accessed April 23, 2006 Cole has travelled extensively in the Middle East '' Hitchens, Galloway and Cole '', Juan Cole, Informed Comment , September 16, 2005. He was formerly a member of the Bahá'í Faith . CAREER Academia Cole is a Professor of Modern Middle East and South Asian History in the History Department at the University Of Michigan . From 1999 until 2004, he was the editor of '' The International Journal Of Middle East Studies ''. He has served in professional offices for the American Institute Of Iranian Studies . Juan Cole @ University of Michigan , Professional Homepage, accessed April 23, 2006 He was elected president of the Middle East Studies Association Of North America in November 2004, term to start in November 2005. MESA Board of Directors , MESA of America Website, accessed April 23, 2006 "Informed Comment" blog and punditry From 2002 onwards, Cole has became increasingly active as a Pundit in UK and US media on topics related to the Middle East. His focus has primarily been Iraq, Iran and Israel. In 2002, Cole started his '' Informed Comment '' blog covering "History, Middle East, South Asia, Religious Studies, and the War On Terror ". Cole has published political writings in '' The Guardian '', the '' San Jose Mercury News '', Salon.com , the '' San Francisco Chronicle '', '' The Boston Review '', '' The Nation '', '' Tikkun '', and others. Essays and Op-Eds , Juan Cole's Website In 2004, the , April 20 , 2004 CONTROVERSY Views On Israel Economist Steven Plaut , on the Right-wing Web site FrontPageMag.com , mentions Cole's collaboration with Justin Raimondo , and charges that Cole "harps constantly on supposed human rights abuses by Israel – which is a way to demonize and delegitimize Israel, a country under threat of annihilation from the Arab dictatorships Cole supports - while ignoring human rights in other countries is acting in behalf of malevolent political agendas." Juan of a Kind by Steven Plaut (FrontPageMagazine) March 29, 2005 Criticism Charges of antisemitic conspiracy theory and narrative Professor and Head of Mediterranean Studies at , Assistant Director of Government Relations of the Zionist Organization Of America , characterizes some of Cole's positions as "...blindly anti-Israel to the point of being an Antisemitic conspiracy theorist." Juan Cole, Media - and MESA - Darling by Jonathan Calt Harris (FrontPageMagazine) December 7, 2004 Juan Cole and the Decline of Middle Eastern Studies Alexander H. Joffe, Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2006 13(1) In a response to charges of antisemitism, Cole has asserted that his US already had to settle one lawsuit, by Douglas Card , for throwing the word around about him irresponsibly." Furthermore, Cole accuses his critics of redefining "anti-Semitism" such that it is "unacceptable that Jews should be liberals or should criticize Likud Party policies." Juan Cole, "Character Assassination" , Informed Comment, December 8, 2004 With regards to American Jews, Cole states: :"Again, I underline that the American Jewish community does not support most AIPAC positions (a majority are much closer to Americans For Peace Now ), and that this issue has to do with a small fanatical leadership of a specific lobbying organization, nothing more." {Link without Title} :"American Jews were less likely to support the Iraq war than the general US population. So no one should blame 'the Jews' for the Iraq War. Mainly they should blame Bush and Cheney and Delay and Frist. But the case for an Iraq War was significantly bolstered by American supporters of Ariel Sharon (by no means all of them Jewish) high in the Bush administration." {Link without Title} Cole central claim as well as his contention of intimidation has also been supported by the prominent and controversial blog Areas of expertise Dr. Cole's 'Informed Comment' Blog has won various awards as of April 2006 the most prominent being the 2005 James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism from , Washington Monthly blog, February 23, 2005. Professor regarding Islamic and Arab history, the creation of the modern Middle East in the wake of World War I, and its relations with the outside world." Charges Regarding Intellectual Integrity , National Review , February 07, 2005 --> Legal Threats Following Juan Cole's charges that the Middle East Media Research Institute "is funded to the tune of $60 million a year" and accusations that MEMRI is an "anti-Arab propaganda machine... acting on behalf of the... Likud Party ", Yigal Carmon, MEMRI's founder, sent Cole a letter threatening legal action if they were not retracted.Ibid. Cole called the legal threat a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation and refused to retract his comment. Cole did not however, repeat his "$60 million a year" claim, but instead, referred to MEMRI as "well funded". Cole had himself once sent a letter threatening legal action against Daniel Pipes and historian Martin Kramer , after Campus Watch (an organization which Pipes runs and which Kramer is associated with through its parent organization also run by Pipes Martin Kramer, Sandstorm blog, September 18, 2002) published a Juan Cole "dossier" on the Campus Watch website. [http://electronicintifada.net/artman/uploads/dossierjc.jpg Dossiers: COLE, Juan , Screenshot on ei: The Electronic Intifada Cole believed that the dossier incorrectly portrayed him as a supporter of Islamic extremism, exposed him to acts of violence, and that it therefore constituted "stalking". Campus Watch subsequently removed the "Dossiers on Professors" section of the website. Kramer made clear his distaste for Carmon's legal threat, but claimed that, "...the sad truth is that Cole himself was the first to hurl the threat of a frivolous lawsuit against a website—and with far less justification." Juan Cole Jogs My MEMRI at "Martin Kramer's Sandstorm" blog To date, no legal action launched by, or against Cole, has ensued. Yale Position Cole currently has been shortlisted for a professorship of contemporary Middle East studies at , April 18, 2006 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
EXTERNAL LINKS
Cole and other pundits
REFERENCES |
|
|