2020

Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei Pulls a Trump on Coronavirus: Denies Own Responsibility, Blames a Foreign Country (US)

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump and his cronies in the GOP got high-level, frantic briefings from US intelligence in January and February that the coronavirus would produce a major pandemic and send the US economy into a tailspin. That would have been the time to order test kits (rather than having Jared Kushner futz […]

Epidemics

Thucydides’ Other War: His Chilling Account of the plague of Athens and What it can Teach us Now

The Conversation

By Chris Mackie | – The coronavirus is concentrating our minds on the fragility of human existence in the face of a deadly disease. Words like “epidemic” and “pandemic” (and “panic”!) have become part of our daily discourse. These words are Greek in origin, and they point to the fact that the Greeks of antiquity […]

Epidemics

Coronavirus and the ‘Shock Doctrine’: Does Even this Disaster have to Make Rich Richer and Poor Poorer?

Sam Pizzigati

By Sam Pizzigati and Sarah Anderson | – ( Otherwords.org) – Powerful interests used the Great Recession to hardwire more inequality into our system. This time, let’s do the opposite. By Sarah Anderson, Sam Pizzigati | March 17, 2020 We all have to come together. We need to help each other. We don’t have time […]

Books

Nicola’s Books Staff Picks for Best New Reads – Support our Indie Bookstores, Stay Sane by Reading

Juan Cole

Nicola’s Books | Ann Arbor’s Premier Independent Book Store | 734-662-0600 | info@nicolasbooks.com You need to read some books while sheltering in place to keep sane. Independent bookstores need to sell books to stay in business while their stores are shuttered. It is a match made in heaven. It may seem convenient to order books […]

Afghanistan

What Americans Don’t Know About the hardships of Military Families

Tomdispatch

By Andrea Mazzarino | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – As each of my husband’s Navy submarine deployments came to an end, local spouses would e-mail me about the ship’s uncertain date of return. They were attempting to sell tickets to a raffle in which the winner would be the first to kiss her returning sailor. […]

Donald Trump

As US Pulls Military Trainers from Iraq, will the Coronavirus Finally End America’s Forever Wars?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Will the coronavirus result in the second withdrawal of US troops from Iraq? There is an increasing question of whether the some 5,000 US military personnel there can be protected from the outbreak if they remain in that country. In any case, many of those servicemen are involved in training […]

Epidemics

Medical Worker on Covid-19: Struck me How Different it is when I saw Young Guy gasping out Pink Froth

ProPublica

By Lizzie Presser | – (ProPublica ) – As of Friday, Louisiana was reporting 479 confirmed cases of COVID-19, one of the highest numbers in the country. Ten people had died. The majority of cases are in New Orleans, which now has one confirmed case for every 1,000 residents. New Orleans had held Mardi Gras […]

Epidemics

A Psychologist Explains: Top 3 Ways the Coronavirus Pandemic is Changing Who We Are

The Conversation

By Arie Kruglanski | – For most Americans, the coronavirus pandemic represents a completely unprecedented circumstance, as novel as it is life-changing. No event in recent history has affected us as profoundly and pervasively. Not only does it remind us of our physical fragility, it undermines economic security, throws daily routines topsy-turvy, wreaks havoc on […]

Bush

17 Years and $2 Trillion Ago, Bush and Neocons thought it would be a Good Idea to Attack Iraq

Middle East Monitor

By Nasim Ahmed | @Nasimbythedocks | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Seventeen years ago, on 19 March 2003, the US led the western invasion of Iraq in a war many consider to be the worst foreign policy disaster in modern history. Justified under the pretext of destroying weapons of mass destruction (WMD) allegedly […]

Archives for 2020