Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mikhail Gorbachev’s passing yesterday at age 91 is a good occasion to review some of the profound mistakes of the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush presidencies regarding Afghanistan. Reagan-era officials refused to believe that Premier Gorbachev actually intended to pull Soviet troops out of Afghanistan, though Gorbachev came into […]
Archives for August 2022
6-year-old Palestinian dies after Israel denies him Access to Treatment outside Gaza
By Wafa Aludaini | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – A press release issued by Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights condemned the discriminatory restriction on movement and the arbitrary permit system imposed by the Israeli occupation on Palestinian patients obstructing their access to hospitals outside Gaza. We tried all possible ways to treat him, […]
Mar-a-Lago search Warrant Affidavit reveals how Trump may have compromised National Security
By Clark D. Cunningham, Georgia State University | – The Justice Department on Aug. 26, 2022, released an affidavit written by an FBI special agent that was used to obtain a court order for the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate for documents related to national defense and other government records. Large […]
Medicare Dis-Advantage: Shortchanging the Patients While Enriching the Insurer
By Leonard Rodberg | – ( Commondreams.org) – Advocates of universal health care are currently battling the effort by corporate forces, both outside and within the Medicare, to privatize the portion of the program that is now fully public. These corporate interests aim to insert between Medicare and the medical professionals who actually provide care […]
MAGA GOP Complains about Biden’s “Semi-Fascism” Jibe; Also MAGA GOP: There will be Blood in the Streets
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden told donors at a fundraising dinner a few days ago, “”The MAGA Republicans don’t just threaten our personal rights and economic security. They’re a threat to our very democracy. They refuse to accept the will of the people. They embrace … political violence. They don’t believe in […]
Expanding the Occupation of Palestinians in the Name of Jesus
Most people agree that imperialism has been a very bad thing for the world. American Indian leader Dennis Means addressed a capacity crowd at the Rackham Auditorium at the University of Michigan in 1981. When I asked him to compare the plight of American Indians with the Palestinians, Mr. Means said, “Palestinians are the Indians […]
End America’s Collective Punishment of Afghans
By Farrah Hassen | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – A year has now passed since the tumultuous U.S. withdrawal from decades of war and occupation in Afghanistan. With the Taliban functionally in charge, the country faces a deteriorating humanitarian crisis and economic collapse. But instead of taking action to promote stability and reinvigorate […]
What’s going on with the Greenland ice sheet? It’s losing ice faster than forecast and now irreversibly committed to at least 10 inches of sea level rise
By Alun Hubbard, University of Tromsø | – I’m standing at the edge of the Greenland ice sheet, mesmerized by a mind-blowing scene of natural destruction. A milewide section of glacier front has fractured and is collapsing into the ocean, calving an immense iceberg. Seracs, giant columns of ice the height of three-story houses, are […]
Netherlands innovates with Floating Solar Panels in Sea, Locally-owned Wind Farm Cooperative
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Netherlands was long a laggard regarding the green energy revolution and combating the climate emergency, perhaps in part because it is a fossil gas-producing country. Even so, the Netherlands is now making strides toward an energy switch with some innovative approaches. It is still a little behind the European […]