By Brett Sudetic and Giorgio Cafiero | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – The upcoming US presidential election’s outcome is bound to significantly impact Iran’s future. President Donald Trump securing another term could leave Tehran continuing to face Washington’s “maximum pressure” campaign—a policy of harsh and sweeping sanctions crippling the country’s already faltering economy, […]
Archives for July 2020
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez: Republican Ted Yoho authorized all Men to call all Women F*cking B*tches
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – It all started when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) remarked at a virtual Town Hall last week regarding the recent increase in violent crime in New York, ““Do we think this has to do with the fact that there’s record unemployment in the United States right now? The fact that people […]
The Attack of the Feds from the Deep: Autocratic Trump is Testing his Limits
( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Federal agents poured into Portland, Oregon this month to crack down on anti-racism protests. They beat up peaceful protesters and fired impact munitions at demonstrators, seriously injuring one of them. They drove around the city in unmarked vans pulling people off the street. Oregon officials at every level — […]
Turkey: how President Erdoğan is using coronavirus to clamp down further on dissent
By Balki Begumhan Bayhan | – Turkey’s increasingly authoritarian government led by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has always made use of crises to consolidate its power. The coronavirus has been no exception. The regime has cracked down on opposition and attempted to undermine its effectiveness, while endeavouring to legitimise the rule of the […]
Essential Work suddenly Valued during Pandemic: Why does it Pay so Little, Cost so Much?
( Tomdispatch.com ) – In two weeks, my partner and I were supposed to leave San Francisco for Reno, Nevada, where we’d be spending the next three months focused on the 2020 presidential election. As we did in 2018, we’d be working with UNITE-HERE, the hospitality industry union, only this time on the campaign to […]
“The most significant civil rights bill for Muslim Americans in our country”: House Bans Trump’s Muslim Ban as Dingle, Tlaib Preside
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a largely party-line vote by 233-183, the House of Representatives voted Wednesday to overturn Trump’s Muslim ban, according to Hassan Abbas at The Arab American News. The floor debate was presided over by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Michigan), and the final vote was presided over by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan). […]
A Russia-China-Iran ‘Axis of the Sanctioned?’ Will Russia risk defying Trump to sell arms to Iran?
Belgrade (Special to Informed Comment) – Russia risks facing severe US sanctions if it starts selling weapons to Iran after October 18, which is when the United Nations arms embargo on the Islamic Republic expires. Although the UN Security Council will likely decline to extend the bar on such sales, since Russia and China are […]
More Afraid of Int’l Criminal Court than it Lets On, Israel makes Secret List of its Officials who may be Charged with War Crimes
( Middle East Monitor) – The International Criminal Court (ICC) has adjourned without issuing its ruling on whether Israeli officials will be tried for war crimes against the Palestinian people since 2014, when Gaza was destroyed during “Operation Protective Edge”. With an extended timeframe until the ruling is due, Israel now has additional time to […]
Energy isn’t just electricity – the common mistake obscuring the mammoth task of decarbonisation
By George Loumakis | – One of the first things I teach students is the difference between energy and electricity. Electricity is a particular form of energy, but often the two words are used interchangeably. Britain recently celebrated its longest streak without burning coal to generate electricity. For the first quarter of 2020, global electricity […]