2019

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The campaign to retake parts of Idlib province in northwest Syria by the Russian Aeronspace Forces and the Damascus government of Bashar al-Assad picked back up on Saturday. Two days of cloudy, foggy weather had grounded the Russian Su-24 jet bombers, but yesterday saw clear skies. The Syrian Arab Army […]

Israel/ Palestine

Is 2020 the Year Gaza under Israeli Occupation Becomes Unlivable?

Middle East Monitor

By Motasem A Dalloul | @abujomaaGaza | – Middle East Monitor | – It was a very happy moment when the Palestinians knew that they would cast their votes in order to choose their representatives, after waiting a long time. They voted and unexpectedly, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, won the overwhelming majority of […]

Environment

Polluter’s Paradise: How Oil Companies Avoided Environmental Accountability After 10.8 Million Gallons Spilled

ProPublica

By Joan Meiners, The Times-Picayune and The Advocate This article was produced by ProPublica in partnership with The Times-Picayune and The Advocate, which is a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network. ( ProPublica ) – Louisiana still hasn’t finished investigating 540 oil spills after Hurricane Katrina. The state is likely leaving millions of dollars […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Crisis and Carbon: Six Positive Developments in 2019

The Conversation

By Heather Alberro, Dénes Csala, Hannah Cloke, Marc Hudson, Mark Maslin, and Richard Hodgkins | – The climate breakdown continues. Over the past year, The Conversation has covered fires in the Amazon, melting glaciers in the Andes and Greenland, record CO₂ emissions, and temperatures so hot they’re pushing the human body to its thermal limits. […]

Featured

Massive new 1.5 Gigawatt Solar Farm in Upper Egypt is Visible from Space

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Aidan Lewis at Reuters reports that Egypt has just opened the 1.5 gigawatt Benban solar plant near the Upper Egyptian city of Aswan (pop. 339,000). It is part of a $2.1 billion development project. The plant, one of the largest in the world, was inauguarated on December 12. It may […]

Israel/ Palestine

After the Horrible Past Year, will 2020 be a Game Changer in Palestine?

Ramzy Baroud

( Middle East Monitor) – This has been a defining year for Palestine and Israel. Despite the usual political stagnation of the Palestinian leadership, two factors contributed to making 2019 particularly eventful and, looking ahead, consequential as well: The unprecedented political power struggle in Israel, and the total US retreat from its own self-proclaimed role […]

Afghanistan

‘Art-ivist’ Omaid Sharifi: “There is so much more the world should know about Afghanistan”

contributors

By Lin Xin and Luzie Mayer | Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung: The Green Political Foundation | – Interview: Omaid Sharifi is a pioneer Afghan activist and one of the co-founders of ArtLords, an artist association which has been attracting widespread international attention in recent years. How did you start your career as a painter and artist? I am […]

Environment

Did Undersea Volcanoes Hasten Fall of Eastern Rome and Pave way for Rise of Islam?

The Watchers

By Julie Celestial ( The Watchers) – Researchers presented underwater volcanism as a new interpretation of why the sky mysteriously went dark for over a year beginning 536 A.D., with some parts of Europe and Asia seeing the Sun for only about four hours a day and accounts saying the Sun gave no more light […]

Donald Trump

Is Trump playing Impeachment Politics by Slamming Putin for Offensive in Syria’s Idlib?