By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – On Thursday, Trump delivered himself of one of the most brain-dead speeches ever given by an American president, more imbecilic even than Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” or Nixon’s “I am not a crook.” He withdrew from the Paris climate accords, saying that he was elected to represent […]
Archives for June 2017
Trump’s Great Retreat, from Asia Too
John Feffer | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – Asia has been the future for more than a generation. When Americans try to glimpse what’s to come, images of the Pacific Rim flood the imagination. For movie audiences in 1982, the rain-soaked Los Angeles of Blade Runner looked like downtown Tokyo. By 2014, the City […]
Why Thomas Jefferson’s vision of American Islam matters today
Denise A. Spellberg | (The Conversation) | – – An estimated 3.3 million American Muslims are celebrating the month of Ramadan. It was during this month that Prophet Mohammad first received revelations from God. The Thomas Jefferson memorial in Washington, DC. Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA The holiday has been celebrated at the White House with […]
In Trump’s DC, Noose Found in African American Museum
TeleSur | – – It’s the second time this week a noose has been discovered on the grounds of a Smithsonian museum. A noose was found on Wednesday in an exhibition on segregation at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution officials said. The exhibit gallery at the […]
Trump, Paris Accords and the End of the American Century
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – As Trump seems likely to pull out of the Paris Climate accord, he will be creating several kinds of leadership vacuum. One is a vacuum of global political leadership. Another is a vacuum of corporate and technological leadership. In short, renouncing American commitments on Climate is […]
Trump’s ‘Good Muslim, Bad Muslim’ False Divide
By Dina El-Rifai | (Otherwords.org) | – – The “war on terror” has killed millions of innocent people. You don’t have to be a “bad Muslim” to oppose that. All right, America. We need to have a talk. The president recently returned from Saudi Arabia, where he gave his Muslim hosts a speech about the […]
Is US Winning its Longest War? Huge Bomb Hits Kabul Embassy Row, kills at least 80
TeleSur | – – Health ministry spokesman Ismael Kawoosi said: “They are still bringing bodies, and wounded people to hospitals.” A powerful vehicle bomb has hit the diplomatic area of the Kabul. The blast reportedly claimed the lives of at least 80 people and injured another 350. Civilians are said to make up a large […]
Saudi-US War on Yemen: No Victory, but Cholera, Famine, State Collapse
Sophia Dingli | (The Conversation) | – – Yemen and its people are engulfed by utter devastation. In the two-plus years of the conflict between the Houthi movement and its allies, including ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, and an interim government supported by a Saudi-led military coalition, more than 10,000 people have died – and not […]