Germany, which generates 16% of its power from renewable sources such as hydro-electric, wind and solar, now plans to get 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2050. It is an audacious plan, but German economists maintain it will actually improve the German economy and forestall the dislocations of the global warming that will otherwise […]
Archives for July 2010
Asadi on Iran: “Today’s Internal Affairs, Tomorrow’s Global Impact”
Houshang Asadi writes in a guest op-ed for Informed Comment Iran: Today’s Internal Affairs, Tomorrow’s Global Impact The international community’s demand that clemency be shown to a woman condemned to death for adultery, possibly by stoning, has once again grabbed the world’s headlines. The past year’s events in Iran, which have attracted the world’s attention […]
World Cup Death Threats for Paul the Oracle Octopus
RT reports on death threats received by Paul the Oracle Octopus from German soccer fans because he correctly predicted Spain’s victory in the most recent World Cup match between the two countries. Paul has an unbroken winning streak in his predictions.
Taliban Kill 65 in Bomb Blast;
Blackwill Urges Partition
A suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck at a government office in the Mohmand region of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 48 65 and wounding over 100. This is an area where the Pakistani military has fought the Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan (the Taliban Movement of Pakistan). […]
US Ally Maliki & Octavia Nasr Both Praised Fadlallah
So help me understand this. Nuri al-Maliki, still the Iraqi prime minister for the moment, expressed his appreciation for the accomplishments of the late Grand Ayatollah Hussein Fadlallah: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki paid tribute for late Fadlallah, who provided the “Islamic library” with “tens of books in jurisprudence, interpretation and Islamic culture.” “He devoted […]
50 Dead in Baghdad Attacks on Shiites;
Netanyahu Warns of Eastern Front
A series of bloody attacks killed some 50 persons across Baghdad in the midst of a massive Shiite pilgrimage to the shrine of Imam Musa Kazem A suicide bombing that targeted the pilgrims passing through the Sunni Arab district of Adhamiya on their way to Kazimiya killed 32 and wounded over 90. Sunni guerrillas launched […]
The Orientalism of Israeli Troops Dancing
Israeli troops dance to Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok.”: Some comments on the semiotics. The piece begins with the Muslim call to prayer in al-Khalil, a Palestinian city in the Palestinian West Bank, which Israelis call Hebron. Some 30,000 Palestinians are being kept in an urban prison for the sake of 600 far-right armed Jewish colonists who […]
Odierno: Kurdish-Arab Fighting may Require UN Force in post-American Iraq
Despite the optimism obvious in the speeches of Vice President Biden on Iraq, the outbreak of fighting between the Iraqi army and Kurdish forces in the town of Qara Tappa in Diyala province on Sunday and Monday is a reminder of how divided Iraq remains on the eve of the US withdrawal of combat troops. […]
Turkey Threatens Israel with cut-off of Diplomatic Relations
As Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu flew to Washington, DC, on Monday, a further war of words has broken out between Turkey and Israel over comments made by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to the press corps on an airplane returning from Kyrgyzstan. The Zaman correspondent heard him to say of Israel, ““It will either apologize, […]