By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper. – T. S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men” Whatever the fate of the world, Eliot’s verse is appropriate to […]
Archives for June 2017
Trump’s new Clash of Civilizations: Carbonites v. Greens
By Michael T. Klare | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – That Donald Trump is a grand disruptor when it comes to international affairs is now a commonplace observation in the establishment media. By snubbing NATO and withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, we’ve been told, President Trump is dismantling the liberal world order created […]
Top Reasons Why Qatar Will Survive the Saudi-led Diplomatic Offensive
By Mohammed Nuruzzaman | (Informed Comment) | – – The Saudi – Qatar diplomatic rift is intensifying, showing no sign of immediate solution. Since June 5, the day Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt broke off relations with Qatar, both sides have kept hardening their mutually opposed positions. The limited diplomatic initiative the Emir […]
Speaking Truth to Erdogan: His Authoritarian Turn and Europe
By Ludwig Schulz | German Orient Institute | (Via Euractiv.com ) | – – Ludwig Schulz looks at how scientific analysis can help counter President Erdoğan’s fake narrative of Turkey’s thriving democracy and why the European Union should reconsider its policy towards EU accession countries. In his official message for Europe Day on 9 May […]
Sorry, Trump, Electric Car sales doubled last Year, dooming dirty Fossil fuels
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The number of electric vehicles (EVs) on the road doubled worldwide to 2 million in the past year with 40% of EVs being in China. If the number of EVs went on doubling annually, they’d take over the world in short order. Moreover, all-electric automobiles outsold […]
Does Watching too much TV turn you into a Trump Voter?
By James Shanahan. | (The Conversation) | – – Many gallons of ink (and megabytes of electronic text) have been devoted to explaining the surprise victory of Donald Trump. Reasons range from white working-class resentment, to FBI Director James Comey’s decision to reopen the Hillary Clinton email investigation, to low turnout. All likely played some […]
Execution-Crazy Saudi Gov’t railroads 14 Shiite Dissidents with unfair Death Penalty
Human Rights Watch | – – (Beirut) – Saudi Arabia should immediately quash the death sentences of 14 members of the Shia community for protest-related crimes, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. The Court of Appeal of the notorious Specialized Criminal Court upheld the sentences in May 2017, after they were handed down […]
Palestinian Children’s Lives Are Shaped By 50 Years of Military Occupation
By Jennifer Bing | ( Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – Five decades of occupation have turned military violence into the norm for Palestinian children. There are two places to visit if you want to know the human impact of Israel’s 50-year military occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory: an Israeli military court and […]
Tillerson-Trump Rumble over Qatar shows White House Divisions
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday called on Saudi Arabia and its allies to halt their blockade of Qatar. “There are humanitarian consequences to this blockade,” he said. In addition, he worried that the dispute would undermine the struggle against ISIL (ISIS, Daesh): “The blockade […]