Amelia Smith amyinthedesert ( Middle East Monitor ) – One student in Tunis fears most for his female colleagues; a story is circulating that Tunisian men pretending to be police are approaching sub-Saharan African women, luring them away and then raping them. Another student, Modeste from Benin, says he and his friends recently […]
Archives for March 2023
Syria’s Earthquake survivors struggle in a Disaster made far worse by Civil War, bombed-out Hospitals and currency Collapse
By Ora Szekely, Clark University | – After a pair of devastating earthquakes struck southern Turkey and northwestern Syria, the number of confirmed deaths continues to rise, surpassing 50,000 as of Feb. 24. The United Nations estimates that millions of people on both sides of the border have been affected, including 9 million in Syria […]
South Africa downgrades Israeli Embassy over Ongoing Apartheid (and they should know)
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Middle East Eye reports that the South African parliament has voted to downgrade the Israeli embassy in Pretoria to liaison status. The resolution was introduced by the tiny center-left National Freedom Party, which has only two seats in parliament. Its passage was assured, however, when the African National Congress […]
Jimmy Carter’s Man in Sudan
Strasbourg, France (Special to Informed Comment) – I am not quite able to remember the first time I met President Carter, but I do remember when I first went to see him at his home in Plains. It was the fall of 2016 and I was thirty-six. I had been a mid-level staffer at The […]
Climate Emergency: Intense Downpours, Flash Floods will Increasingly Strike Britain
By Elizabeth Kendon, University of Bristol | – (The Conversation) – In July 2021, Kew in London experienced a month’s rain in just three hours. Across the city, tube lines were suspended and stations closed as London experienced its wettest day in decades and flash floods broke out. Just under two weeks later, it happened […]
Two Mothers: Dying with Dignity and What Makes that Possible
By Priti Gulati Cox and Stan Cox | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – So many crises — from war to mass species die-offs to climate meltdown — afflict our world that we often don’t take time to draw insights from what generally passes for the small stuff, the things that happen all too close to home, […]
Iran discovered to have 10% of World’s Lithium Deposits, in Good News for China’s EV Industry
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Indian Express reports from Iran’s PressTV that the country has discovered a deposit of 8.5 million tons of lithium in the Qahavand Plain of western Hamedan province. There are only 89 million tons of lithium in the world in known deposits so far, with the bulk of them in […]
Before RR Co. Norfolk Southern Poisoned Palestine, Oh., It Poisoned the Ohio Statehouse
The company plied state lawmakers with cash and lobbied against common sense rail safety measures. By Jim Hightower | ( Otherwords.org – “The Wreck of the Old 97” is a classic bluegrass song recounting a spectacular train crash in 1903, caused by the company’s demand that the engineer speed down a dangerous track to […]
Women’s Sports Going Downhill In Afghanistan As Taliban Denies The Right To Ski
By Mansoor Khosrow | – ( RFE/ RL ) – The majestic mountains in the central province of Bamiyan are known as Afghanistan’s skiing capital. But due to a new Taliban ban, women are no longer welcome on the slopes. Hundreds of amateur and professional skiers took to the mountains to hone their skills far […]