2019

(Tomdispatch.com ) – At its best, the earth was once likened to a spaceship that sails through the heavens with a crew working together for the common good. Thanks to climate change, this metaphor no longer works. Our planet is now more like a lifeboat that’s sprung a major leak. People onboard are beginning to […]

Iran

Expert Letter on Deescalating with Iran (Bacevich, Cole, Esposito et al.)

contributors

Via NIAC: July 30, 2019 As foreign-policy practitioners with decades of collective experience in national security and diplomacy, we write to warn that U.S.-Iran tensions have entered a dangerous new phase that has put us on the brink of a disastrous and avoidable war. The administration’s decision to violate the Iran nuclear agreement in pursuit […]

Climate Change

The Climate Emergency comes for the Democrats

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Despite the reluctance of corporate America, its cable news channels and its favorite candidates to tackle the looming menace of our climate crisis, it came for the Democrats big time in the second CNN debate. Credit where credit is due; the governor of Washington state, Jay Inslee, was the primary […]

Islamophobia

Russian Twitter trolls stoke anti-Immigrant & anti-Muslim lies, and not Just in US

The Conversation

By Ahmed Al-Rawi and Yasmin Jiwani | – Russian troll activity on Twitter aimed at influencing public opinion has attracted a lot of attention in the United States and other western democracies. Canadians may feel it’s not an issue here. But a recent examination of Twitter data suggests there are reasons to be concerned as […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel Summons 5-year-old for Police Interrogation

Middle East Monitor

Muhammad Rabi’ Elayyan was summoned by the Israeli police to be interrogated; the summons was handed to his family in occupied Jerusalem, who had to take him to the police station. The boy is just five years old, but he is not the first child to be taken for interrogation. We know of this particular […]

Climate Change

Climate denial: Donald Trump mimics criminal behaviour when justifying his stance

The Conversation

By Ruth McKie | – While much of the world now recognises the need for immediate action, there are still those who question the scientific consensus on climate change and deter efforts to tackle it. As might be expected, they have the attention of US President Donald Trump and his Republican administration. The Heartland Institute’s […]

Solar Energy

Saving the Planet: Can Global Solar Power be Crowd-Funded? Germany’s “Green Energy Valley”

Clean Energy Wire

By Freja Eriksen | – German start-up Ecoligo has created a crowd investment structure to encourage the expansion of solar power in developing countries, writes business daily Handelsblatt. The two founders, Martin Baart and Markus Schwaniger, saw high interest rates on loans and high investment risks as hurdles for solar power expansion in countries like […]

Donald Trump

Why Trump let Saudi Arabia and UAE censor his “America First” Speech on Energy

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Sunday the NYT revealed that Trump’s staff ran his May, 2016 speech on “America First” by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for their input into the energy passages, and actually altered the text based on their editing. The hollow joke of Trump’s “America first” slogan could not […]

Israel/ Palestine

As the Far Right goes Global, so do Bills trying to Outlaw boycott of Israel

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Rachel Hodes | – (Foreign Policy in Focus) – An increasingly global campaign to tar the BDS movement as “anti-Semitic” comes as Israel’s staunchest global defenders are increasingly anti-Semites themselves. Israeli politics have moved into uncharted territory over the past several months, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu found himself unable to form a coalition […]

Archives for 2019

Combatting the Climate Emergency: The Chinese Path or the Green New Deal?