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Juan Cole is a professor of history at the
University of Michigan. His web log, Informed Comment, is at the top of
my newsreader index.
It's usually the first thing I read most days, before I look at other blogs, the
papers or listen to the news.
Cole is an expert on the mid-east and has been writing about events in Iraq since before the war began. HIghly critical of the the American led coalition he found himself unable to oppose the war even as he questioned its legality and conduct. He believes Saddam Hussein's and his Baathist Party should have been removed by the United Nations Security Council on the grounds of genocide. Instead Bush et al acted as vigilantes with a careless arrogance that may yet undo the good that was done by the invasion.
Besides forcing me and other supporters of the war to continually re-examine our position Cole has begun a project to further the debate about democracy in the Arab world. He wants to translate the works of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Ben Franklin, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King and other American authors into Arabic and make them available as paperbacks in Iraq and the rest of the mid-east. While Arabic translations of American fiction are somewhat available (Mark Twain for example, is still in print) political writings are generally not.
Cole is setting up a foundation, soliciting funds and doing the media rounds, where he is already a familiar face.
You can read more, and make a donation, at this web page: The "Americana in Arabic" Translation Program - A Project of the Global Americana Institute.
An interview February 26 with Cole on Chicago's Public Radio Worldview program is available on RealAudio here.
Cole is an expert on the mid-east and has been writing about events in Iraq since before the war began. HIghly critical of the the American led coalition he found himself unable to oppose the war even as he questioned its legality and conduct. He believes Saddam Hussein's and his Baathist Party should have been removed by the United Nations Security Council on the grounds of genocide. Instead Bush et al acted as vigilantes with a careless arrogance that may yet undo the good that was done by the invasion.
Besides forcing me and other supporters of the war to continually re-examine our position Cole has begun a project to further the debate about democracy in the Arab world. He wants to translate the works of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Ben Franklin, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King and other American authors into Arabic and make them available as paperbacks in Iraq and the rest of the mid-east. While Arabic translations of American fiction are somewhat available (Mark Twain for example, is still in print) political writings are generally not.
Cole is setting up a foundation, soliciting funds and doing the media rounds, where he is already a familiar face.
You can read more, and make a donation, at this web page: The "Americana in Arabic" Translation Program - A Project of the Global Americana Institute.
An interview February 26 with Cole on Chicago's Public Radio Worldview program is available on RealAudio here.
Posted: Fri - February 27, 2004 at 02:33 PM
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Published On: Sep 12, 2007 03:13 PM
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Published On: Sep 12, 2007 03:13 PM