Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Memorial Day should be rethought, as a day to mourn the death and destruction caused by war. Trump is using a legal loophole to declare an emergency in the Gulf and sell Saudi Arabia and its allies $8 billion in weaponry despite the opposition of Congress. Both houses of Congress […]
Archives for May 2019
US Army Tweeted ‘How has Serving Impacted You?’ It didn’t Go Well.
Tweet Inadvertently Triggers Responses Revealing ‘Real, Painful, and Horrifying Human Costs of War’
Would Israelis & Saudis be Targets in any Trump-Iran Conflict?
By Maysam Behravesh | @behmash | – Although neither the United States nor Iran want war, tensions and along with them the likelihood of conflict-triggering miscalculations and accidents, have been running high since the Trump administration designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organisation and revoked sanctions waivers for buyers of Iranian oil. […]
Bad for Memorial Day, Bad for America: Trump Must not Pardon War Criminals
By Andrew Bell | – As a veteran, I was astonished by the recent news that President Trump may be considering pardons for U.S. military members accused or convicted of war crimes. But as a scholar who studies the U.S. military and combat ethics, I understand even more clearly the harmful long-term impact such pardons […]
No, Ben Shapiro, Science isn’t White
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In this clip via Twitter, Ben Shapiro, who is somehow touted as a serious thinker on the Right, alleges that the scientific method is peculiar to something he calls “the West.” He appears to think it consists of Greek empiricism mixed with what he terms a “Judeo-Christian” conviction that to […]
Race and Inequality: Black college graduate Families have 33 percent less wealth than White High School Dropouts
By Josh Hoxie | – ( Inequality.org) – It’s not individual behavior that drives the racial wealth divide — it’s a system that many folks pretend doesn’t exist. I don’t get that much hate mail — except when I write about race. This spring I coauthored a report called “Ten Solutions to Bridge the Racial […]
What do they have to Hide? Syria Refuses Visa for Chemical Weapons Investigation Chief
(Al-Bab.com ) – Syria is resisting efforts by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to identify the perpetrators of chemical attacks and has refused a visa for the head of its investigative team, al-bab has learned. The Syrian deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, has written to the OPCW saying that Syria does […]
A New Coalition of Diaspora, Israeli Jews and Palestinians is Confronting Israeli Military Violence
By Rafi Ellenson |- ( Waging Nonviolence ) – When diaspora Jews and those living in Israel join with Palestinians, they forge a more powerful and just movement to end the occupation. I watched the Israeli Defense Forces throw several stun grenades — one right after the other — deep into a crowd of my […]
No Fair! Iran Puts their Country Right next to US Military Bases in Gulf
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Trump administration made a grand and empty show Friday of announcing the dispatch to the Middle East of 1,500 US military personnel, allegedly to signal Iran not to attack US troops in the region. Update: Actually, it is 900 new troops and 600 having their deployment extended. I.e. nothing. […]