2021

By Ronald Sullivan | – In a two-week trial that reignited debate over self-defense laws across the nation, a Wisconsin jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse for shooting three people, two fatally, during a racial justice protest in Kenosha. The Wisconsin jury believed Rittenhouse’s claims that he feared for his life and acted in self-defense after he […]

Featured

To Avoid another War Biden must get US Troops, caught in Israel-Iran Crossfire, out of Syria

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Eric Schmitt and Ronen Bergman at the New York Times report that a drone strike on a US base in eastern Syria last month has been assessed by the Pentagon as retaliation for Israeli airstrikes on Iranian bases in Syria. US troops abandoned the base before the strike, based on […]

Authoritarianism

Fiddling at the Death of Democracy: The Media and Democrats need to confront our Dr. Strangelove Moment

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment) – We learned from Dr. Strangelove that all it takes to blow up the world is one sexually insecure Air Force general and one wacko wing commander . . . also that there is an upside to a nuclear holocaust if you’re well positioned. But who is? Destroying American […]

Arab World

Authoritarian Quadrangle: How the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Egypt and Israel undermine Democracy in the Middle East

Middle East Monitor

By Gilbert Achkar | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – From the middle of the 20th century until the first decade of the 21st, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was the main fortress of Arab reactionism. This was due to the size of the Kingdom, its location in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula, […]

China

Ours won’t be the new American Century or the Chinese Century but that of Catastrophic Climate Change

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com) – When the leaders of more than 100 nations gathered in Glasgow for the U.N. climate conference last week, there was much discussion about the disastrous effect of climate change on the global environment. There was, however, little awareness of its likely political impact on the current world order that made such an […]

Climate Crisis

Startling Transformation: California has 1 mn. EVs on road, as they become state’s No. 1 Export

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On, Monday, Juliet Eilperin, the environment editor at the Washington Post hosted a live event that included the Energy Commissioner of California, David Hochschild. Hochschild pointed out that electric cars are now California’s number one export. The state exports $156 billion of goods abroad annually, and is second only to […]

Entertainment

Justin Bieber and Others Should Speak Out on Human Rights at Saudi Arabia’s Grand Prix

Human Rights Watch

Jason Derulo, A$AP Rocky Also Among Celebrities Slated to Perform

Israel/ Palestine

Visiting Tabaneh, where Palestinians under Israeli Occupation travel 4 hours to get Healthcare

Middle East Monitor

( Middle East Monitor) – Before the Separation Wall was built around East Jerusalem it was easy for residents of Tabaneh village in the West Bank to get to Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem. Now they must go to Jericho and a simple check-up can take the whole day. Because of the effort involved, pregnant […]

Australasia

North America needs to invest in Green Energy in Indo-Pacific or Risk losing key Industry to China

The Conversation

By Jonas Goldman | – The Indo-Pacific region, which includes 24 nations and stretches from Australia to Japan and from India to the U.S. west coast, is home to both the largest concentration of humanity and the greatest source of global emissions. In 2020, the region produced 16.75 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the […]

Archives for 2021

Why the Rittenhouse verdict flies in the face of legal standards for self-defense