Oakland (Special to Informed Comment) – The genius of Ken Burns’ documentaries is his ability to personify history. Watching the documentary by Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein on the U.S. and the Holocaust is a challenging experience for most people, and is especially difficult for those from Jewish families that include survivors. I learned […]
Archives for October 2022
Has Putin bought Ankara’s Neutrality in Ukraine War with a Pledge to Make Turkiye a Gas Hub for Europe?
By Elif Selin Calik | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – To produce energy takes ages, but setting up new diplomatic ties, changes day by day. Even 24 hours are too many to follow all these changes in the 21st Century’s energy wars. Literally, we have seen this in 2020 during the energy price […]
Could Tensions between Greece and Turkey spiral into yet another European war?
By Yasar Bukan, Toronto Metropolitan University | – Tensions are flaring between Turkey and Greece over the militarization of the eastern Aegean islands and a host of other issues. Considering Russia’s military expansion across the region, it would be strategically wise for the two NATO members to de-escalate and improve relations based on mutual trust […]
Turbocharging Green Energy would Allow Ukraine, Europe better to defy Putin’s War
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dan Sabbagh (in Kyiv) and Patrick Wintour report in The Guardian that recent Russian drone, rocket and missile attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure have knocked out nearly a third of Ukraine’s power stations. Facing severe battlefield losses and the potential isolation of Crimea with a bombing of the bridge connecting it […]
QKremlin? Russians say they Fear a NATO Invasion will Make their Children Gay
Montreal (Special to Informed Comment) – On October 17 the Russian Book Publishers Union sent a letter to the Russian Duma expressing concern thata proposed bill against “LGBT propaganda” could lead to the banning of numerous works of classic literature, including books by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Ostrovsky and many others. The proposed bill is merely the […]
Iranian drones used by Russia in Ukraine show that there’s already one Victor in that War: Iran
By Aaron Pilkington, University of Denver | – The war in Ukraine is helping one country achieve its foreign policy and national security objectives, but it’s neither Russia nor Ukraine. It’s Iran. That was starkly clear on the morning of Oct. 17, 2022, as Iranian-made drones attacked civilian targets in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. Russia used […]
Is it Time to Ban Nuclear Weapons? and Home Runs?
By Robert Lipsyte | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – The time has come to ban The Bomb. Of course, all those nuclear ones in the arsenals of the “great” powers, but — since I’m a sportswriter by trade — let’s start with the home run. Call it a four-bagger, a dinger, a moon shot, or […]
More Principled than Biden, Australia’s Labor Gov’t Revokes Recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli Capital
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, announced on Monday that the Labor Party government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would reverse the country’s recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. She said in a statement that Australia’s embassy would remain in Tel Aviv. She said, “This reverses the […]
Human Rights Groups Condemn Deadly Crackdown As Iranians Continue Protests
By RFE/RL’s Radio Farda | – ( RFE/RL’s Radio Farda ) – More than three dozen human rights groups have condemned Tehran’s deadly crackdown on protests over the death of a young women while in custody for “improperly” wearing a headscarf as Iranians showed no signs of backing down in unrest that has shaken the […]