2020

Pompeo Says Israel can Thumb Nose at Geneva Conventions (Crafted to Prevent More Axis-Style Atrocities)

( Middle East Monitor ) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Israel tomorrow for discussions with its leadership about annexation, among other issues. After politically facilitating the annexation process for Israel, Pompeo is attempting, and failing, to divert attention away from the role the US played in the recent colonial decision. During […]

Afghanistan

Celebrated to Death: Memorial Day Is Killing Us, says an Afghanistan Vet

Tomdispatch

[Note for TomDispatch Readers: Here’s a way to support TomDispatch in tough times and end up with a good book while you’re stuck at home in this pandemic moment. For a donation of $100 ($125 if you live outside the U.S.), you can get a signed, personalized copy of Erik Edstrom’s striking new work, Un-American: […]

Constitution

Pence, who urged Impeachment of Bill Clinton for Lying, Would join Trump in Welcoming Confessed Liar Michael Flynn back to White House

Juan Cole

Vice President Mike Pence says he would be happy to have disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn back in the White House. The statement came after Bill Barr’s Department of Justice said it did not want to prosecute Flynn for lying to the FBI. Note, Barr does not deny that Flynn committed this crime. […]

Donald Trump

Why Unemployment under Trump is way worse than even the Depression-Era Numbers Suggest

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Friday May 8 unemployment statistics were as dire as many had expected. The US Department of Labor released an unemployment rate for April of 14.7%, the worst since the Great Depression and far surpassing the worst days of the Great Recession. In light of these numbers it […]

Bashar al-Assad

Is Russia set to abandon its ally, Syria’s al-Assad?

Nikola Mikovic

Rumors are flying that Russia may be trying to topple Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad, or at least to force him to accept a new constitution that would significantly limit his power. Moscow unexpectedly started criticizing its only ally in the Middle East, which has raised questions on the future of Russia’s involvement in the Syrian […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Social Distancing: As sea levels rise, are we ready to live behind giant walls?

The Conversation

By Hannah Cloke | – Climate change, it’s fair to say, is complicated. And it’s big. One of the main challenges of responding effectively is simply getting your head around the scale of the problem. This is not unique in the study of the physical world, of course. Scientists and economists spend a lot of […]

Books

Washington Irving, “Legend of the Arabian Astrologer”

contributors

Washington Irving, Tales from the Alhambra (New York: Lea and Carey, 1832). Legend of the Arabian Astrologer. IN OLD times, many hundred years ago, there was a Moorish king named Aben Habuz, who reigned over the kingdom of Granada. He was a retired conqueror, that is to say, one who having in his more youthful […]

Afghanistan

If only we Had that $6.4 Trillion we wasted on Iraq and Afghanistan to Lift the Economy and Fight Coronavirus

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Wouldn’t it be nice if the richest country in the world had some resources stored up to deal with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and the worst health crisis since the 1918 Influenza Pandemic that killed 600,000 Americans? I mean, we had a $21 trillion a year […]

Israel/ Palestine

Mother’s Day for Palestinian Women in Gaza Means Children Maimed, Jailed, Killed or Living under Israeli Blockade

Middle East Monitor

By Eman Abusidu | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – While families around the world have celebrated Mother’s Day, Palestinian mothers in the Gaza strip continue to remember their missing motherhood, which is all too often cut short by Israel’s military occupation. Mother’s Day itself is no different to any other under occupation and […]

Archives for 2020