2022

US Sanctions on Afghanistan are Complicit in Mass Hunger, even as Biden withholds $3.5 bn in Afghan Money

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Kevin Liptak and Natasha Bertrand report at CNN that the Biden administration has decided to split the $7 billion in Afghanistan government money held in the US and confiscated last August when the Taliban took over the country. $3.5 billion will be released for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan itself, while […]

Coal

Bet on institution building, not Manchin

Waging Nonviolence

By Katey Lauer | – This story was first published by The Forge. (Waging Nonviolence ) – Last year, I wrote an article in The Forge making the case for leaving Joe Manchin be. The argument went like this: Joe Manchin got elected by amassing a war chest of corporate money and influence. Because of […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

What responsibility do Western troops fighting ISIL have for the Children that Terrorists use as Human Shields?

The Conversation

By Beth Morrison and Shannon Zimmerman | – Islamic State recently staged their most sophisticated attack since 2019 – a prison break to release former IS fighters in an effort to refill their ranks once again. According to Save the Children, hundreds of boys and teenagers were allegedly used as human shields during the fighting. […]

Climate Crisis

From War on Terror to War on Climate Change: US Army to seek Green Electricity by 2030

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The US military has been worried deeply for over a decade about the impact of the climate emergency on its bases and operational readiness. The Department of the Army has just released its first Climate Strategy for dealing with what Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin calls an “existential crisis.” The […]

Authoritarianism

The Terrifying World of 2025: The Coming MAGA Cultural Revolution?

John Feffer

( Tomdispatch.com ) – I’ve just wrapped up my shift at BurgerBoy and I don’t have much time before the weekly self-criticism session at town hall. This hour with my diary is precious, especially when I have to make a big decision. Writing used to be my job, but it’s so much more difficult after […]

Apartheid

US Gov’t depends on Amnesty Int’l for Human Rights Reports, but Rejects Finding of Israeli Apartheid

Phyllis Bennis

( Otherwords.org ) – One day last spring, Palestinians in Israel and the occupied West Bank declared a general strike to protest years of repression they faced under Israeli rule. The nonviolent strike came as Israel attempted to evict seven Palestinian families from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem, part of a longstanding effort to […]

Climate Crisis

The Rich produce the most Heat-Trapping CO2, but Heat Waves hit the Poorest Hardest

The Conversation

By Mojtaba Sadegh, John Abatzoglou, and Mohammad Reza Alizadeh | – Spend time in a developing country during a heat wave and it quickly becomes clear why poorer nations face some of the greatest risks from climate change. Most homes don’t have air conditioning, and even health clinics can get overheated. These countries tend to […]

Featured

Iraq Pays off $52.4 bn. in Reparations for Invading Kuwait in 1990, but the US will Never Pay a Dime for Invading Iraq

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Stephanie Nebehay at Reuters reports that Iraq has finally paid off the $52.4 billion in war reparations imposed on it by the United Nations as punishment for its invasion and attempted annexation of Kuwait in 1990, which led to the Gulf War of 1991. The headline we’ll never see is […]

Archives for 2022