By Roslyn Prinsley, Australian National University | – Climate change is driving a worldwide increase in extreme events. The latest State of the Climate report confirms the risks of disasters are rising in Australia. Repeated floods have devastated our east coast. Other extreme events are getting worse too. Since 1987 bushfires have burnt increasing areas, […]
Archives for November 2022
Israel has Jailed 50,000 Palestinian Children since 1967, and the Number of Detentions is Growing Rapidly: Report
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Palestinian Commission on Detainees and Ex-Detainees released a report for World Children’s Day on the routine Israeli arrest and jailing of minors, saying that Palestinian children are not secure from being constantly targeted by Israeli security forces. The Commission report found a worrying and massive increase in the rate […]
Iran’s Athletes, Including Soccer Players at World Cup, are Boycotting National Anthem to Support Protests
I’m RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here’s what I’ve been following during the past week and what I’m watching for in the days ahead. ( RFE/ RL ) – A growing number of Iranian athletes are refusing to sing the national anthem or to celebrate their victories in solidarity with the months-long anti-establishment protests that have […]
After Failures of COP27, only a Radical Effort to Slash CO2 can keep Climate from Going Chaotic
By Peter Schlosser, Arizona State University | – The world could still, theoretically, meet its goal of keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius, a level many scientists consider a dangerous threshold. Realistically, that’s unlikely to happen. Part of the problem was evident at COP27, the United Nations climate conference in Egypt. While nations’ climate […]
How the Bush “War on Terror” Fed US White Nationalism and brought the Terror Home
( Tomdispatch.com ) – Recently, an agent of the Department of Homeland Security called me and started asking questions about a childhood acquaintance being investigated for extremism. I put him off. My feelings about this were, to say the least, complex. As a military spouse of 10 years and someone who has long written about […]
Iran: Sunni Kurdish Clerics Call for Nat’l Referendum under U.N., as Shiite Security Forces Kill 13 in Crackdown on Kurdish West
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Monday, a large group of Sunni Kurdish clerics called for an internationally supervised referendum in Iran. According to BBC Monitoring, they also demanded the release of all political prisoners and the prosecution of the officials who have been overseeing the crackdown on Iran’s protests, which has resulted in hundreds […]
COP27 Climate Summit sparks Action Against Investment Treaties Favoring Fossil Fuel Corporations Over People and Planet
By Manuel Pérez-Rocha | – ( Inequality.org ) – Regarding the global climate negotiations in Egypt, several countries announced important actions to curb the power of the fossil fuel industry. For decades now, a global web of international investment agreements has given corporations excessive powers to block government policies they don’t like. Through “investor-state dispute […]
Anti-War Russians find a new Home in Turkey
By Arzu Geybullayeva | – ( Globalvoices.org) – In a lively neighborhood of Istanbul’s Kadikoy district, Grao Cafeteria is nestled in between local shops and restaurants. Grao’s owner is 32-year-old Igor, native of St. Petersburg. He arrived in Istanbul in March 2022 after a year of traveling abroad, visiting India, Nepal and Thailand. After a […]
Urban Planning is now on the Front Line of the Climate Crisis. This is What it means for our Cities and Towns
By Barbara Norman, University of Canberra | International climate talks in Egypt known as COP27 are into their second week. Thursday is Solutions Day at the summit. Recognising that urban planning is now a front-line response to climate change, discussions will focus on sustainable cities and transport, green buildings and resilient infrastructure. The COP26 Glasgow […]