Juan Cole

“Blogging is a conversation, not a lecture.”

“The American public is not well-served by a press that is timid and that is not willing to call a lie a lie.”

“History is not a morality play. It's a complex and often brutal story of human beings and their societies.”

“The idea that you can create a democracy in the Middle East from the outside is a fantasy.”

“The occupation of Iraq was a strategic blunder of historic proportions.”

“I think the Sunni-Shia split is the most significant geopolitical fault line in the Middle East today.”

“Extremism is a symptom of political and social grievance, not just a theological problem.”

“You can't have a modern economy without a modern education system.”

“The Muslim world is not monolithic. It's incredibly diverse.”

“Climate change is the existential threat of our time. It dwarfs all others.”

“Informed comment is a responsibility of citizenship.”

“A post-American world is coming, and it's not something to be feared but something to be managed.”

“We have to distinguish between the religion of Islam and the political ideologies that some people have tried to attach to it.”

“The biggest security threat to the United States is the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran.”