By Michael E Mann | – After years studying the climate, my work has brought me to Sydney where I’m studying the linkages between climate change and extreme weather events. Prior to beginning my sabbatical stay in Sydney, I took the opportunity this holiday season to vacation in Australia with my family. We went to […]
Archives for January 2020
With College Students Drowning in Debt, the Best Solution is Gov’t-Backed Free Tuition for All
(Special to Informed Comment) – Some developments in this campaign have been predictable. Once Senators Sanders and Warren had expressed support for free post secondary education it was inevitable that other candidates would have to jump in. College costs have grown rapidly in recent years and the jobs that colleges promise—when available at all—have failed […]
Trump’s “WMD” Scandal? Was the Charge of “Imminent” Soleimani Attack Just Made Up?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Trump administration’s claims that it assassinated Gen. Qasem Soleimani because he posed an imminent threat to American lives and was coming to Baghdad to launch an immediate attack the US embassy there have fallen apart. Commentators are suggesting that the “imminent threat” argument is the equivalent for the Trump […]
The Emperor’s Clothes: The Absurdity of the US-Iran Conflict
Sacramento, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment) – The leaders of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, and the United States, President Donald Trump, share an identical strategic aim: ending the US’s military presence in the Middle East. I cannot recall any other conflict where the antagonists fully agree on a specific end goal. This fact alone makes the […]
The European Union must Stop Mimicking Trump on Iran: DiEM25 should call on Brussels to live up to its own Responsibilities
Amsterdam (Special to Informed Comment) – In the spirit of what the EU calls “de-escalation’’ German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer recently asserted an official belief that Iranian general Qassem Soleimani masterminded the 2019 Yemeni attacks on Saudi Aramco oil fields in Abqaiq —necessitating US retaliation. Demmer denied the Yemeni origin of the guerrilla response to […]
How the President Became a Drone Bomber: From Obama to Trump, from Afghanistani to Soleimani
By Allegra Harpootlian | – (Tomdispatch.com) – We’re only a few days into the new decade and it’s somehow already a bigger dumpster fire than the last. On January 2nd, President Trump decided to order what one expert called “the most important decapitation strike America has ever launched.” This one took out not some nameless […]
Trump Admin. declares US an Occupying Power in Iraq, Puts US Troops in Jeopardy by Refusing to Leave
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Iraqi prime minister Adil Abdulmahdi late last week requested a meeting with the US government to plan out the departure of US troops, which has been mandated by the Iraqi parliament (it was a firm order, not “advisory”– see below). Abdulmahdi asked the US to sent two delegates to […]
Is Iran Conflict a War for the Arms Corporations? Congress Needs to End Profiteering
By Sarah Anderson | – (Otherwords.org) – Surging stock prices for military contractors gave several CEOs an early payday after Trump’s Iran aggression. The prospect of war with Iran is terrifying. Experts predict as many as a million people could die if the current tensions lead to a full-blown war. Millions more would become refugees […]
Top 10 Ways Trump’s Actions against Iran Hurt the US, the Mideast, and the World
By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J S Davies | – Revised. (Commondreams.org) – The U.S. assassination of General Qassem Soleimani has not yet plunged us into a full-scale war with Iran thanks to the Iranian government’s measured response, which demonstrated its capabilities without actually harming U.S. troops or escalating the conflict. But the danger of […]