By Bill Van Esveld | Associate Director, MENA, Children’s Rights Division | – Nearly ten years after Ali al-Nimr was arrested by Saudi authorities in February 2012, he was finally released from prison this week. His mother tweeted a video showing their emotional reunion. But amid the relief and celebration, al-Nimr’s ordeal highlights the cruelty […]
Archives for October 2021
Anti-Imperialism You Can Try at Home: Reparations May Be One Cure for What Ails Us
By Mattea Kramer | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Robin Rue Simmons had been very curious about the truth of American life as a young person. But it was only after she finished high school, left her native Evanston, Illinois, and returned as an adult — ready to buy a house in the historically Black […]
What Big Oil knew about climate change, in its own words
By Benjamin Franta | – Four years ago, I traveled around America, visiting historical archives. I was looking for documents that might reveal the hidden history of climate change – and in particular, when the major coal, oil and gas companies became aware of the problem, and what they knew about it. I pored over […]
Israeli Government defies President Biden, announces 3K new Squatter Dwellings on Palestinian Land
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab48 reports that Israeli authorities are authorizing 3,144 new housing units for squatters on Palestinian-owned land in the Palestinian West Bank. The move is spearheaded by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his expansionist Yamina Party, and was greeted with outrage by some elements of the unwieldy 8-party […]
Is the Pandemic finally Subsiding in the Middle East? New Infections at Lowest Level for More than a Year
( Al-Bab.com) – New Covid-19 cases recorded in the Middle East and North Africa averaged 19,075 a day last week. This is the first time since September last year that the daily average among the 20 countries monitored has dropped below 20,000. TRT World: “Schools in Iran reopen under COVID-19 restrictions” New infections peaked in […]
How to Truly ‘Build Back Better’ on Climate
This commentary was jointly produced by In These Times and Foreign Policy In Focus. ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – The infrastructure and budget reconciliation bills moving through Congress are a mixed bag when it comes to health care, income support programs, and the care economy. On climate and environmental issues, however, they are not […]
Cities and climate change: why low-rise buildings are the future – not skyscrapers
By Ruth Saint and Francesco Pomponi | – More than half of the world’s 7.8 billion people live in cities and urban areas. By 2050, an additional 2.5 billion will be living there. As that figure continues to climb and ever more people flock to metropolitan areas in the hope of a better life, the […]
Is Trump one of Top Mass Murderers? Dr. Birx says he Killed 130K- 160K with Bad COVID Policy
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In remarks this month to Congress, Dr. Deborah Birx, former member of Trump’s White House Coronavirus Task Force, estimated that Trump’s COVID policies cost between 130,000 and 160,000 lives that need not have been lost. World leaders often are responsible for large numbers of deaths of soldiers in war, but […]
U.S. Billionaire Wealth Surged by 70 Percent, or $2.1 Trillion, During Pandemic
By Chuck Collins | – (Institute for Policy Studies) – Sen. Wyden’s billionaires income tax tapping those huge returns could raise big revenue to fund President Biden’s Build Back Better investment plan. America’s billionaires have grown $2.1 trillion richer during the pandemic, their collective fortune skyrocketing by 70 percent—from just short of $3 trillion at […]