2022

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The House Committee on Oversight and Reform, chaired by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), sent a sharp letter to Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner last June, wanting to know whether he illicitly profited from his government service as Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East to receive $2 billion from the […]

Pentagon

US Smug about Russia’s Failures in Ukraine, Forgetting the Iraq and Afghanistan Quagmires

Andrew J. Bacevich

(Tomdispatch.com) – In Washington, wide agreement exists that the Russian army’s performance in the Kremlin’s ongoing Ukraine “special military operation” ranks somewhere between lousy and truly abysmal. The question is: Why? The answer in American policy circles, both civilian and military, appears all but self-evident. Vladimir Putin’s Russia has stubbornly insisted on ignoring the principles, […]

Eurasia

Those Iranian Planes Ferrying Drones to Moscow Flew over Georgia: But who gave Permission?

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Nadia Beard | – ( RFE/ RL) – TBILISI — Georgia’s position on the war in Ukraine has again come under domestic scrutiny after three Iran Air Cargo planes allegedly carrying drones to Russia passed through Georgian airspace. Over the last few days, Georgian opposition figures have called for answers from the government, accusing […]

Islam

African Odyssey: How Shiite Islam reached Tanzania, and Ashoura Processions became an Annual Tradition

The Conversation

By Mara Leichtman, Michigan State University | – (The Conversation) – Each year, the largest contemporary Muslim pilgrimage takes place in Iraq to remember Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. Before the pandemic, this event reportedly drew more than 30 million people, but in recent years participation declined to more than 14 million. This procession […]

Featured

World’s largest Offshore Wind Farm Operational in UK, offering Lower Energy Prices, as Tories Scoff

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Danish wind energy company Orsted reported recently that its massive 1.3 gigawatt offshore wind farm, Hornsea 2, off the Yorkshire coast, has gone fully operational. It joins its sister project, Hornsea 1, which generates 1.2 gigawatts. A further, even bigger such facility, Hornsea 3, will have a nameplate capacity […]

Climate Crisis

Working with Local Knowledge only way to save Pakistan from Flood Disasters

The Third Pole

By Daanish Mustafa | – ( The Third Pole) – How would a decolonised water perspective and practice mitigate the effects of the type of floods that Pakistan is witnessing in 2022? If decolonising water is about recentring the multiple layers of meaning and practice that are associated with water at the local and indigenous […]

Climate Crisis

Egypt, among Countries most Threatened by Climate Emergency, Cripples Environmental Groups

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – The Egyptian government has severely curtailed environmental groups’ ability to carry out independent policy, advocacy, and field work essential to protecting the country’s natural environment, Human Rights Watch said today. These restrictions violate the rights to freedom of assembly and association and threaten Egypt’s ability to uphold its environmental […]

Iran

Iran and the US appear unlikely to reach a new Nuclear Deal – leaving Everyone more Unsafe

The Conversation

By Nina Srinivasan Rathbun, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences | – (The Conversation) – Iran’s standoff with the United States over its potential nuclear weapons program is unlikely to ease anytime soon. The U.S. and Iran launched talks in 2021 to renew a now-defunct political deal that would curb Iran’s nuclear program. […]