By Elizabeth B. Hessami | – If a seven-day truce between the United States and the Taliban holds until Feb. 28, 2020, Afghanistan’s decades-long conflict may finally end. A peace deal could be signed as soon as Feb. 29, according to the State Department. The draft accord follows months of stop-and-go negotiations between the United […]
Archives for February 2020
Russia wants Trump reelected, and may be Making a Bet that Bernie Sanders can’t Defeat Him (They’re Wrong)
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Julia Arciga at The Daily Beast writes that the Bernie Sanders campaign is convinced that notorious far right wing internet troll Richard Grenell, whom Trump wants to make acting Director of National Intelligence, is the source of the leak that Russia is backing the Sanders campaign. At the same time, […]
With a Million Fresh Refugees and a 9-Year Civil War, Can Impoverished Syrians Survive?
( Middle East Monitor ) – A devastating civil war and international sanctions have destroyed Syria’s economy, leaving it with a GDP that is a third of what it was in 2010. The monetary crisis and depreciation of the currency is the latest chapter of the country’s economic meltdown. Despite the lack of accurate statistics, […]
Trump’s New Spy Chief Used to Work for a Foreign Politician the U.S. Accused of Corruption
By Isaac Arnsdorf | – (ProPublica) – Richard Grenell did not disclose payments for advocacy work on behalf of a Moldovan politician whom the U.S. later accused of corruption. His own office’s policy says that could leave him vulnerable to blackmail. President Donald Trump’s new acting intelligence director, Richard Grenell, used to do consulting work […]
Nondisclosure and secrecy laws protect Bloomberg – not the women who sued him
By Elizabeth C. Tippett | – Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg received a lot of flak at the Feb. 19 Democratic debate for his refusal to release employees who sued his company from nondisclosure agreements. He admitted to having a “few nondisclosure agreements,” after Sen. Elizabeth Warren challenged him over the […]
White Terrorism targeting Innocent Muslims in Germany is not termed “Terrorism”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Thursday, a racist extremist went to two shisha bars in Hanau, Germany, randomly shooting the people there. Since smoking hookah is a Middle Eastern custom, he clearly thought he could be sure of killing Muslims at these establishments. He killed a pregnant woman and bar staff, leaving at least […]
New Findings: 251.9 Million Years Ago Rapid Climate Change from CO2 Wiped out 90% of Species
By Jennifer Botha | – The end-Permian mass extinction is considered to be the most devastating biotic event in the history of life on Earth – it caused dramatic losses in global biodiversity, both in water and on land. About 90% of marine and 70% of terrestrial (land) species went extinct. This event may have […]
Retired US Officers are all in on Forever Wars: Where are the Smedley Butlers of Today?
(Tomdispatch.com) – There once lived an odd little man — five feet nine inches tall and barely 140 pounds sopping wet — who rocked the lecture circuit and the nation itself. For all but a few activist insiders and scholars, U.S. Marine Corps Major General Smedley Darlington Butler is now lost to history. Yet more […]
As Tensions Flare between Russia and Turkey in Syria, will Trump be Drawn in on side of Ankara?
By Bakr Sidqi | – Amid international neglect of the tragedy of an additional one million displaced individuals from the “de-escalation” zones in the countryside of Idlib and Aleppo provinces, Moscow and Ankara announced that the talks that took place on Monday and Tuesday failed to reach any new understandings. “We did not accept the […]
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