Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – African-Americans face aggressive policing in part because, on average, they lack resources. Household wealth allows a family to donate to political campaigns, to ensure a good education for their children, and to join influential civic clubs and organizations. The Center for American Progress reports that in 2019, before the distortions […]
Archives for April 2021
George Floyd’s legacy: Could Derek Chauvin guilty verdicts spell the end of police immunity?
By Kent Roach | – The police killing of George Floyd begs for effective remedies that respond both to past harms while also preventing future harm. Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of three counts in the killing of Floyd after he kneeled on the Black man’s neck for more than nine […]
Israeli Intelligence Chiefs Assess that Biden, Iran will Rejoin Nuclear Deal; Netanyahu wants to Stop it
By Motasem A Dalloul | – After two weeks of deliberations in Vienna about reactivating the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal with Iran, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell told reporters on Monday that, “There is a real goodwill on both parts to reach an agreement.” He pointed out that the […]
Washington is Spoiling for a new Cold War with China, but this Ambition needs a Reality Check
( Tomdispatch.com ) – Like his immediate predecessor, Joe Biden is committed to a distinctly anti-China global strategy and has sworn that China will not “become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world, and the most powerful country in the world… on my watch.” In the topsy-turvy universe created by […]
Why the Founding Fathers would have approved of Biden banning phrase “Illegal Alien”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Biden administration has announced that it will no longer use the phrase “illegal alien” and will replace it with “undocumented noncitizen.” Biden will also drop “assimilation” in favor of “integration.” These changes are long overdue and necessary for human dignity. For one thing, human beings cannot be “illegal.” They […]
Blocked from Civil Dissent, Women in Saudi Arabia are turning to business as ‘quiet’ Feminist activism
By Sophie Alkhaled | – Prominent Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul was released from prison on February 10 2021 after 1,001 days in custody. Al-Hathloul, a leading campaigner for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, had been sentenced to five years and eight months in prison in 2018 for pushing a foreign agenda and using […]
US Resuming Arms Sales to United Arab Emirates is Disastrous, Given its Wars on Yemen, Libya
By Afrah Nasser | – Yemen Researcher, Middle East and North Africa Division | – ( Human Rights Watch) – United States President Joe Biden called in early February for “ending all American support for offensive operations in Yemen, including relevant arms sales.” At the time, I, like many human rights advocates who have been […]
Despite Hawks Seeking new Cold War, the US and China can only Confront Climate Emergency by Cooperating
( China Dialogue ) – They say don’t mess with Texas, but Mother Nature didn’t get the memo. A surprise winter storm killed at least 111 people in March, when rolling blackouts left several million Texans without power for several freezing days. Their misery came just a few years after Hurricane Harvey put a US$125 […]
US spent $2.261 Trillion on Afghanistan War, in which ~240,000 Have Died; We could have Greened Half the Grid Instead
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Costs of War Project at Brown University has just brought out a new report on Afghanistan. The September 11, 2001 attacks were launched from Khost and Qandahar in Afghanistan by al-Qaeda, though it is not clear that this organization of Arab expatriates informed their Taliban hosts of what they […]