By Mathieu Blondeel, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick | – The burning of fossil fuels caused 86% of all CO₂ emissions during the past ten years. Despite being the primary culprits of global heating, coal, oil and gas were barely mentioned in the official texts of previous UN climate change summits. That all changed […]
Archives for November 2022
Backlash in Iran against President Biden’s vow to “Free” the Country
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – At a campaign event in California late on Thursday, President Joe Biden said, “Don’t worry, we’re going to free Iran, they’re going to free themselves pretty soon.” Biden’s pledge drew a sharp rebuke from Iranian president Ibrahim Raisi, who said the Iranians had already freed themselves with their 1979 Islamic […]
Iran: hijab Protests reflect Society-wide Anger at Regime which trashes Rule of Law and Human Rights
By Saeed Bagheri, University of Reading | – The death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality police in September for not wearing the hijab properly was a fracturing point, prompting Iranian women to come on to the streets en masse to protest the regime’s violence and injustice. But our understanding of these […]
After another Israeli Election, must the Palestinians Prepare for a new Mass Expulsion?
By Motasem A Dalloul | – With what looks like a resounding election victory, Benjamin Netanyahu seems certain to return as prime minister of Israel, a post he has already held for twelve years. This time, though, his cabinet will not include left or centrist parties; it will be filled with far right religious fanatics. […]
Germany Plans to drive 10 million km of Train Traffic in one Province Electrically with New Charging Technology
By Edgar Meza | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – German railway company Deutsche Bahn (DB) has begun to electrify rail lines in the north of the country with an innovative new electrical infrastructure that will charge battery-powered trains and replace diesel locomotives. DB is planning to build so-called “overhead contact line islands” in […]
Top 5 Worst things that Far-Right Netanyahu Could do as Prime Minister to Israeli Democracy and Palestinian Society
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Now that far, far right Israeli politician Binyamin Netanyahu has been elected, what are the major negative consequences Israel and the world might see, according to the Israeli press and other sources? I’m drawing in part on a roound-up by BBC Monitoring. 1. Netanyahu’s more fascist allies have demanded that […]
The MAGA Golden Calf: The Christian Right’s dangerous Flirtation with Political Violence and Far-Right Extremism
By Matthijs Kronemeijer | – Toronto (Special to Informed Comment) – The November edition of First Things, a magazine of the Christian Right, features a lengthy statement from a group of theologians called Evangelicals and Catholics Together. The church friend who spontaneously sent me a link indicated that the statement is about Christian citizenship and […]
What to Expect from COP27 in Egypt’s Police State: Medea Benjamin Interviews Sharif Abdel Kouddous
Medea Benjamin interviews Sharif Abdel Kouddous | – (Code Pink) – The global climate meeting called COP27 (the 27th Conference of Parties) will be held in the remote Egyptian desert resort of Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt from November 6-18. Given the extremely repressive nature of the Egyptian government, this gathering will likely be different from others, […]
The Courts have been the Last Bastion of Sanity in Polarized America, but what if they Go MAGA too?
By Andy Kroll | – ( Tomdispatch.cm ) – For about a week in the summer of 2018, I caught an early-morning train from Washington, D.C., to the Albert V. Bryan federal courthouse in the suburb of Alexandria. Located a short drive from George Washington’s estate at Mount Vernon, that courthouse serves the Eastern District […]