Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Saturday at the opening of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Israeli delegate was asked to leave. Sharon Bar-Li, the deputy director of the African desk at the Israeli foreign ministry, was escorted out of the opening session by security guards, according to the Al Jazeera […]
Archives for February 2023
Turkish President Erdoğan’s grip on Power threatened by devastating Earthquake
By Ahmet T. Kuru, San Diego State University | – The earthquake that struck Turkey on Feb. 6, 2023, is first and foremost a human tragedy, one that has taken the lives of at least 45,000 people to date. The disaster also has major implications for the country’s economy – the financial loss from the […]
‘Radical Change Will Come’: Iranians Propose New Political System After Months Of Anti-Regime Protests
( RFE/ RL) – For months, antiestablishment protesters have called for the overthrow of Iran’s clerical regime and demanded greater social and political freedoms. Now, opposition figures and civil society groups inside Iran have shared proposals that would transform or even replace the current theocratic system with a democracy. The proposals for a post-Islamic-republic system […]
Northwest Climate Activists, including Native Americans, Target new Oil Pipeline to stop Fossil Fuels
Climate groups and Indigenous nations are working to add the GTN Xpress pipeline expansion to a long list of defeated fossil fuel transportation projects in the Northwest. By Nick Engelfried | – Climate protesters gathered at the State Capitol in Portland, Oregon in 2019 to protest the later canceled Jordan Cove LNG export terminal. (Facebook/Rogue […]
Do we Have Until 2050 to become Carbon Neutral? What if 27 Climate Feedback Loops are Working together to Shorten our Deadline?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Feedback loops are central notions in science. There are two kinds, negative and positive. Negative feedback loops, despite their name, are actually good if you are looking for stability. So for instance say you are too hot, so you sweat. The sweat evaporates, cooling you off. In fact, it could […]
German States ‘unprecedentedly United’ for Wind Power, Seeking 80% Green Electricity by 2030
( Clean Energy Wire ) – The German states have signalled their readiness to expand onshore wind power in the country “in almost unknown unity”, economy and climate minister Robert Habeck said. His comments came after he met with representatives of the 16 ‘Länder’ to discuss further buildout of renewables. The Green Party minister said […]
Turkey’s historic city of Antakya, the Roman Antioch, has come back from powerful earthquakes in the past – and rebuilt itself
By Christine Shepardson, University of Tennessee | – Tens of thousands have died and millions have become homeless in southern Turkey and northern Syria after the massive 7.8 earthquake that struck on Feb. 6, 2023. But the ancient Turkish city of Antakya, known in Roman and medieval times as Antioch, has been here before. In […]
Keeping Resistance Alive during McCarthyism: Chandler Davis and Academic Freedom at the University of Michigan
Alan Wald, Steve Batterson and Peggie Hollingsworth | University of Michigan | – Making Michigan lecture series – Keeping Resistance Alive “In 1954, Chandler Davis was called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. His fellows on the stand were his colleagues Mark Nickerson and Clement L. Markert, and his student friends Edward […]
No, Mike Pompeo, God doesn’t Want the Palestinians to be Ethnically Cleansed and Shot down like Dogs
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a podcast interview in which he said that Israel has a “biblical right” to the Palestinian West Bank, to which he referred as “Judea and Samaria,” and is not “an occupying nation.” So reports Chris McGreal for The Guardian.. Pompeo defended the Trump […]