(Tomdispatch.com) – The Situation Room, October 2039: the president and vice president, senior generals and admirals, key cabinet members, and other top national security officers huddle around computer screens as aides speak tokey officials across the country. Some screens are focused on Hurricane Monica, continuing its catastrophic path through the Carolinas and Virginia; others are […]
Archives for November 2019
Beacon on a Hill: Iraq Hitting Protesters so Hard even Medics are Attacked
Fire Teargas, Live Ammunition; Destroy Medical Tents
How Saudi-Iranian oil rivalry has been shaped by American power
By Sukru Cildir | – The relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran, both oil-rich states in the Middle East, has oscillated from co-operation to conflict throughout history. Alongside a range of factors that shape their rivalry including sectarianism and nationalism has been the politics of oil. Oil is a strategic international commodity, and its use […]
Top 4 Reasons Turkish Pres. Erdogan got a Tense Reception in DC, Despite Trump’s Warmth
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump warmly hosted Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, praising him to the skies, despite Congressional deep frustration with Turkey Four big issues have introduced a severe strain into the US-Turkey relationship, though Trump for some reason treats Erdogan as teflon, just as he does Vladimir Putin. 1. Turkey’s invasion […]
Brexit decides Tesla to Open Gigafactory in Germany in Win for E-Mobility
By Sören Amelang | – Tesla’s announcement to build a “gigafactory” for e-car production in Germany is likely to speed up the slow shift to electric mobility in the country, politicians and mobility experts have said. Media called the announcement a “head-on attack” on the country’s mighty carmakers BMW, Daimler and VW that will force […]
Did Ancient Iraq’s Huge Assyrian Empire Rise and Fall on Climate Change?
By Ashish Sinha and Gayatri Kathayat | – Ancient Mesopotamia, the fabled land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, was the command and control center of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This ancient superpower was the largest empire of its time, lasting from 912 BC to 609 BC in what is now modern Iraq and Syria. […]
Jazz Legend Talib Dawud: Be-Bop and Islam’s “Elevation of the Mind”
(Informed Comment) – Jazz Trumpeter Talib Dawud, whose given name was Alfonso Nelson Rainey, was one of the early American jazz converts to Ahmadiyya Islam. In the mid-twentieth century over a hundred other jazz musicians would follow in Dawud’s path. The background to these many conversions was articulated forcefully and dramatically by John Coltrane’s first […]
European Court of Justice rules Israeli Squatter Products from Stolen Palestinian Lands must be Labeled
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Associated Press reports that the European Court of Justice has ruled that goods produced in the West Bank by Israeli squatters on Palestinian land must be labelled as such, and cannot pretend to be from Israel proper. The move does not go as far as some EU members. Ireland’s […]
Foreign Powers are Buying American Policy and it is all Perfectly Legal
By Ben Freeman | – (Tomdispatch.com) – Foreign influence in America is the topic du jour. From the impeachment inquiry into President Trump’s request that a foreign power investigate a political opponent to the indictment of associates of his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, for illegally funneling foreign money into U.S. elections, the nation has been […]