Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Energy Information Administration, the primary authority in the federal government on energy numbers, concludes that renewables, primarily hydro, wind and solar, rose to become 21% of electricity generation in the US in 2020. This is the first time on record that renewables were the second-largest generator of electricity in […]
Archives for July 2021
Palestinian Activist: The Problem is not Ignorance of Israeli Occupation’s Brutality, it is Inaction
“I am tired of reporting the same brutality every day, of thinking of new ways to describe the obvious.” Those are the words of Mohammed El-Kurd, the renowned Palestinian activist from East Jerusalem. He and his family are threatened with expulsion from their homes. They have committed no crime, but are being kicked out solely […]
Iran: Deadly Repression of Khuzestan Protests: Hundreds Arrested; At Least 9 Deaths, Including a Child (HRW)
( Human Rights Watch) – (Beirut) – The rising death toll and mass arrests raise grave concerns about the Iranian authorities’ response to recent protests in Khuzestan and other provinces, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should immediately and unconditionally release peaceful protesters, provide information about deaths, and allow an independent international investigation into […]
Is Russia Helping Syria or Stripping it of its Few Remaining Resources?
By Scott Lucas | – All the standard public relations ploys were in evidence for the recent meeting between Syria’s leader Bashar al-Assad and Russian envoy Alexander Lavrentiev in Damascus. More than 230 officials from 30 federal executive bodies, five Russian regions, and the Russian defence ministry had trekked to the Syrian capital. There were […]
The U.S. Committed Cliocide (Destruction of History) in Iraq, and even Returning Gilgamesh Can’t Fix it
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The US government has returned 17,000 archeological artifacts to Iraq, many of them over 4,000 years old. This, according to Al Jazeera The objects and tablets were looted from the country during the chaos of the Bush administration’s rule of that country and were smuggled into the U.S., then sold […]
Top 5 Ways Coal and Gasoline-Driven Ocean Change can Threaten Human Health
By Tiff-Annie Kenny, Malaya Bishop and Mélanie Lemire | – Humans have a deep and complex relationship with the sea. It provides food and essential nutrients, medicine and renewable energy. People swim, surf and scuba dive in this “blue gym.” It’s even an important part of therapeutic recreation, like surf therapy for war veterans and […]
Open Letter to Chancellor Merkel: Germany’s Mega-Floods are a Wake-Up Call that We need Radical Climate Action, Now
Prof. Dr. Eicke R. Weber 10625 Berlin An Bundeskanzlerin Dr. Angela Merkel Bundeskanzleramt Willi-Brandt-Straße 1 10557 Berlin July 25, 2021 Dear Chancellor Dr. Merkel, We are again in deep concern. We were very grateful that our first letter of March 2011, after the terrible Fukushima catastrophe (see attachment), may have helped to reach your quick […]
From Arsenal of Democracy to Arsenal of Empire: Let’s Abandon Ruinous Foreign Wars for Actual Self-Defense
( Tomdispatch.com) – As a ROTC cadet and an Air Force officer, I was a tiny part of America’s vast Department of Defense (DoD) for 24 years until I retired and returned to civilian life as a history professor. My time in the military ran from the election of Ronald Reagan to the reign of […]
Disruption — David Potter discusses Radical Change in History (Constantine, Muhammad, Trump) with Juan Cole on “Literati at Home”
At Home with Literati: David Potter & Juan Cole The book is David Potter, Disruption: Why things Change — order from Literati Bookstore. “How do things change? The question is critical to the historical study of any era but it is also a profoundly important issue today as western democracies find the fundamental tenets of […]