By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – ABC News reports that Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that a U.S. attack on the Syrian army “will lead to terrible, tectonic consequences not only on the territory of this country but also in the region on the whole.” She maintained that if the regime […]
Archives for October 2016
Backfire: Did Volkswagen’s Dieselgate ensure victory of Electric Cars?
By EurActiv.com | – – The ‘Dieselgate’ scandal will mark an important step towards phasing out the hundred-year-old internal combustion engine which doesn’t have a place in a modern, low-carbon transport system, says Ulf Björnholm. Ulf Björnholm is head of the EU office for the UN Environmental Programme. He spoke to EurActiv.com at the European […]
Nixonian Donald Trump threatens writers who dare Criticize him
By Richard Tofel | ProPublica | – – In 1733, New York printer John Peter Zenger began publishing the eighth newspaper in the American colonies, and the first willing to venture criticism of the government. The New-York Weekly Journal was the second paper in a city of 10,000 or so people, 1700 of them slaves. […]
President Trump’s Extreme Vetting of Immigrants (Satire Skit)
Maz Jobrani | (Video skit) | – – “Donald Trump has said that if he wins he will do EXTREME VETTING of all immigrants. He hasn’t said how that would work, but maybe it would go a little something like this?” Maz Jobrani, “Donald Trump EXTREME VETTING
Syria Quagmire: Has Russia Accomplished anything in a year of Bombing?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Alarabiya says that Russia has killed over 3,000 civilians in its bombing raids of the past year. BBC Monitoring translated an article by Mikhail Khodarenok at the Gazeta.ru site from 23 September that tries to explain why any decisive victory in Syria has eluded Russia during […]
Iran releases Canadian Academic it accused of ‘Feminism,’ but Crackdown on Women Activists Continues
By Mahsa Alimardani | ( Globalvoices.org) | – – Some good news reached Canada this week when Homa Hoodfar, an Iranian-Canadian anthropologist, was released after months of incarceration in Iran. Hoodfar is known for her research on women and Islam, especially women's participation in Iranian elections. Her arrest highlighted two particular areas of sensitivity for […]
‘Smoking Gun’ Shows GOP-Oil Industry Climate Denial Collusion
By TeleSur | – – Republican attorneys general are accused of helping shield ExxonMobil over climate change fabrications. Environmental groups have called allegations of Republican attorneys generals colluding with lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry “a smoking gun when it comes to fossil fuel industry corruption.” These Republican officials are accused of protecting oil giant […]