Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The scenes of the horrible destruction that Russia is inflicting on Ukraine’s civilian cities, from Kharkiv to Mariupol, and the killing of nearly 1,000 civilians, including nearly 100 children, have tugged at the world’s heart strings — and rightly so. Nineteen years ago, when the George W. Bush regime unleashed […]
Archives for March 2022
Will war in Ukraine hasten the end of fossil fuels in the West?
By Jack Marley | – Four weeks have passed since Russian troops invaded Ukraine. To impede the onslaught of Vladimir Putin’s war machine, countries in the EU and elsewhere have announced measures to cut imports of fuel and energy from Russia, draining the coffers of the world’s largest exporter of gas and its third-largest supplier […]
Ending the War in Ukraine: No diplomatic solution is possible without serious pressure on Putin
( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Vladimir Putin has a very clear strategy for ending his war in Ukraine. He intends to wipe the country off the map. Initially, he’d hoped to do so by seizing Kyiv, replacing the government, and absorbing as much of Ukrainian territory into Russia as he thought feasible. Now, […]
International Law and the Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Movement
By Rania Muhareb | – ( Al-Shabaka) – The Unity Intifada of May 2021 emphasized the centrality of Palestinian popular mobilization in the struggle against Israel’s settler-colonial apartheid regime. It is imperative that discussions of an anti-apartheid movement in Palestine remain true to the Unity Intifada’s decolonial praxis: to confront Zionism’s “racist settler colonialism in […]
Ukraine: how boycotting everything Russian – and blaming Russian society rather than Putin – is xenophobic
By Rachel Pistol, King’s College London | – The Russian invasion of Ukraine has sparked global outrage and a desire to show support for Ukrainian citizens. Many people who are not in Ukraine have felt desperate to do something positive, something that will help. Some have donated clothing and blankets. Others have registered to host […]
Industrialized Nations must stop Producing Fossil Fuels by 2034 to keep Climate from Going Tropical and Chaotic
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Scientists Dan Calverley and Kevin Anderson at Manchester University have brought out a new report looking hard at what would have to be done for us to have a 50/50 chance of keeping the increase in the average temperature of the earth’s surface to 2.7 degrees F. (1.5C) over preindustrial […]
The billion dollar deal that made Google and Amazon partners in the Israeli occupation of Palestine
( Middle East Monitor ) – “We are anonymous because we fear retaliation.” This text was part of a letter signed by 500 Google employees last October, in which they decried their company’s direct support for the Israeli government and military. In their letter, the signatories protested a $1.2 billion contract between Google, Amazon Web […]
SEC proposes far-reaching climate disclosure rules for companies – here’s where the rules may be vulnerable to legal challenges
By Daniel E. Walters, Penn State; and William M. Manson, Penn State | – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission released its long-awaited proposal to require companies to disclose their climate risks to investors, and it’s arguably the most significant action on climate change yet under the Biden administration. SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee called […]
Washington Should Think Twice Before Launching a New Cold War: A History Lesson for Our Desperate Moment
By >William D. Hartung, Nick Cleveland-Stout, and Taylor Giorno | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – A growing chorus of pundits and policymakers has suggested that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marks the beginning of a new Cold War. If so, that means trillions of additional dollars for the Pentagon in the years to come coupled with a […]