By Merve Sancak, Loughborough University | – President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has ruled Turkey for the last 21 years. In the first few terms of his rule, Turkey experienced significant economic growth and a reduction in inequality. This was widely believed to be a reason for Erdoğan’s long-term popularity. However, inflation hit a 24-year high […]
Archives for May 2023
United Nations calls for Protection of Climate Activists’ Civil Disobedience after German Crackdown on ‘Last Generation’ as ‘Criminal’
By Sören Amelang | – dpa / Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The UN has highlighted the importance of climate activists and their right to hold demonstrations following a crackdown on a street-blocking group in Germany. “Climate activists – led by the moral voice of young people – have continued to pursue their goals even in the […]
“Politicizing the Weather:” Florida’s DeSantis doesn’t Understand that Carbon Emissions make Hurricanes more Intense, not More Frequent
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – After his historic meltdown of a presidential campaign announcement with notorious internet troll Elon Musk on a glitchy “Twitter Spaces,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis went on to have a conversation with former congressman Trey Gowdy, a kooky climate change denialist, on Fox “News” Wednesday night. In response to Gowdy’s question […]
“Don’t Let them Kill Us:” How the Ayatollahs’ Iran became the Execution Capital of the World
Newark, Delaware (Special to Informed Comment) – Under the previous Iranian Penal Code or IPC, which was in force until 2013, the charge of mohareb, “Waging War (on Islam,” was frequently used against political dissidents and people with connections to opposition groups abroad, even if they were non-violent. The new Penal Code has provided for their punishment […]
Sudan Conflict: Why a Humanitarian Truce is Proving so hard to Secure – and What that means for People on the Ground
By Nonhlanhla Dube, Lancaster University | – Reports out of Sudan of continuing violence suggest that the seven-day ceasefire organised during talks in Jeddah – the seventh attempt to end the violence in Sudan – is crumbling. A fighter plane was shot down over Khartoum on May 24 and residents report intense fighting breaking out […]
Torture, American Style; and the Cover-UP
( Tomdispatch.com ) – In the Blindman’s Buff variation of tag, a child designated as “It” is tasked with tapping another child while wearing a blindfold. The sightless child knows the other children, all able to see, are there but is left to stumble around, using sounds and knowledge of the space they’re in as guides. […]
Global Heating could make it too Hot for a Third of Humanity by 2080 – 2100
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A lot of studies have focused on the economic cost of global heating, caused by humans burning fossil fuels. A new study in Nature Sustainability “Quantifying the human cost of global warming,” by Timothy M. Lenton et al. instead concentrates on what heating will mean for the lives of human […]
Confronting Energy Poverty among Palestinians in Israeli-Besieged Gaza
by Asmaa Abu Mezied ( Al-Shabaka ) – Palestinians in Gaza are suffering from a worsening energy crisis due to the Israeli regime’s ongoing siege. As a result, they have adopted different coping strategies, including solar energy technology to offset electricity shortages. Al-Shabaka policy analyst and 2022 Visiting Gaza Fellow Asmaa Abu Mezied examines this reality, […]
The 3.6 mn. Syrian Refugees in Turkiye now a Political Football between the Two Leading Candidates
Gilbert Achkar ( Middle East Monitor ) – The Turkish election scene is truly disgusting, a scene in which the Syrian refugees have become a scapegoat and the subject of fierce bidding by various parties. Recent days have witnessed a peak in this regard, reflecting the outcome of the first round of the presidential elections […]