2022

US Supreme Court Deals Blow to Climate Action: Ruling Limits Administration’s Ability to Restrict Carbon Emissions from Power Plants

By Krista Shennum | – Fellow, Environment and Human Rights | – ( Human Rights Watch) – In a significant setback for climate action, the United States Supreme Court ruled yesterday to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to restrict greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The ruling prevents the EPA from using its […]

Bangladesh

Climate change and rapid Urbanization blamed for the worst Flood in over a Century in northeastern Bangladesh

Global Voices

By পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha); Translated by Rezwan | – ( Globalvoices.org ) – Bangladesh is one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change in the world, as two-thirds of the country is less than 15 feet above sea level. Floods continue to be the biggest threat as each year about […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Crisis: even temporarily overshooting an Extra 3.6°F (2°C) would cause permanent Damage to Earth’s Species

The Conversation

By Joanne Bentley, University of Cape Town; Alex Pigot, UCL; Andreas L. S. Meyer, University of Cape Town, and Christopher Trisos, University of Cape Town | – The history of climate change is one of people slowly coming to terms with the truth. None but a small minority still question whether it’s real and caused […]

Featured

Türkiye gets its Way on Kurdish Groups, agrees to Swedish, Finnish NATO Bids, as Biden weighs F-16 Sales to Ankara

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Türkiye (formerly Turkey) spent this spring vowing that Sweden and Finland would not be admitted to NATO because of their stance on the Syrian Kurdish organization, the YPG. He seemed adamant, but the stance was clearly a bargaining position, whereby he sought to wring as […]

Climate Crisis

The Supreme Court has curtailed EPA’s power to regulate Carbon Pollution – and sent a Warning to other Regulators

The Conversation

By Patrick Parenteau, Vermont Law School | – In a highly anticipated but not unexpected 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled on June 30, 2022, that the Obama adminstration’s Clean Power Plan exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s authority under the Clean Air Act. The ruling doesn’t take away the EPA’s power to regulate carbon […]

Far Right

The Right-Wing’s Attempt to Militarize American Politics

Tomdispatch

( Tomdispatch.com) – Increasingly, it seems, Americans have an anger problem. All too many of us now have the urge to use name-calling, violent social-media posts, threats, baseball bats, and guns to do what we once did with persuasion and voting. For example, during the year after Donald Trump entered the Oval Office, threats of […]

Iran

In Major Security Shake-Up, Iran Replaces Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Chief

Golnaz Esfandiari

( RFL/RE ) – Hossein Taeb, a hard-line cleric, was the intelligence chief of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of the armed forces, for over a decade. But in a surprise move, the IRGC announced on June 23 that it had removed Taeb from his prominent post. The major shake-up […]

Climate Crisis

In 13 Years, Gasoline will be as Illegal in Europe as Heroin for New Car Buyers

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Les Echos reports that after a marathon 16-hour negotiating session, the 27 European Union countries agreed to issue five new laws aimed reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 55% compared to 1990 levels by 2030 and at reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. Frans Timmermans, the chief EU Climate official, noted that […]

Dissent

Sudan: Voices of Protesters Should Be Heard, Not Sidelined

Human Rights Watch

By Mohamed Darish, resistance committee member | – ( Human Rights Watch ) – Sudan’s tenacious street protesters and other supporters of the social movement have continued to take to the streets and find ways to express their resistance to the country’s October 2021 military coup. They’ve faced the military’s organized repression, including the use […]

Archives for 2022