By Mark Weisbrot | – (Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Originally published in Inside Sources. Economic sanctions have, in recent years, become one of the most important tools of U.S. foreign policy. There are currently more than 20 countries subjected to various sanctions from the U.S. government. But if more Americans knew how many […]
Archives for February 2022
Texas’ Abortion Restrictions most Harm Low-Income Patients, Advocates Say
By Natasha Yee | – ( Cronkite News ) – PHOENIX – Esmarie stared down at two solid pink lines on the test strip in the small bathroom of her central Texas apartment. The 20-year-old had been uncharacteristically tired and unable to wake up for her fast-food job. She remembered the feeling from her last […]
Iran nuclear deal: to reset relations with Tehran, Biden must overcome a long legacy of mistrust at home
By Andrew Payne and Louise Fawcett | – As officials from Washington and Tehran return to Vienna for talks that aim to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran hawks in the US Congress are determined to prevent that happening. In a letter sent to the US president Joe Biden on February 7, Republican US senator […]
“Niagara Falls becoming Horizontal:” NOAA warns of nearly 1 foot Sea Level Rise in 30 years, “Common” High Tide Floods
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The sea level along the US coastline in the lower 48 will rise as much in just the next 30 years as it had the century before our own moment (1920-2020), which is to say, nearly a foot or a third of a meter. That is the takeaway from the […]
Jared Kushner’s Sham “Abraham Accords” unleashed more ME Conflict, and don’t Deserve a Nobel
Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment) – Jared Kushner’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, for authoring the Abraham Accords (along with his deputy Avi Berkowitz), is a sham. The Abraham Accords are not a comprehensive peace plan, but a self-serving scheme that sows the seeds of war for future generations. It is a series […]
How poisonous mercury gets from coal-fired power plants into the fish you eat
By Gabriel Filippelli | – People fishing along the banks of the White River as it winds through Indianapolis sometimes pass by ominous signs warning about eating the fish they catch. One of the risks they have faced is mercury poisoning. Mercury is a neurotoxic metal that can cause irreparable harm to human health – […]
America’s Disastrous 60-Year War: Three Generations of Conspicuous Destruction by the Military-Industrial Complex
( Tomdispatch.com ) – In my lifetime of nearly 60 years, America has waged five major wars, winning one decisively, then throwing that victory away, while losing the other four disastrously. Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, as well as the Global War on Terror, were the losses, of course; the Cold War being the solitary win […]
Not Since Charlemagne: Megadrought in US Southwest, boosted by Human CO2 emissions, is worst since 800 AD
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The megadrought in the US West has produced drier conditions as of the past year than any seen in over 1,200 years, according to a just-published article in Nature Climate Change by scientists A. Park Williams, Benjamin I. Cook and Jason E. Smerdon of UCLA. The length and intensity of […]
How a Fringe in Canada caught the Far Right Trump Disease, fueled by US Money and Fox
Chicago (Special to Informed Comment) – Using behemoth-sized vehicles as weapons, truckers shut down Canada’s capitol city Ottawa and blocked several bridges to the United States, including the Ambassador Bridge responsible for a quarter of the trade — 360 million dollars per day — between the United States and Canada. Car manufacturers including Toyota and […]