Susan Aboeid Associate, Arms Division @aboeidsusan ( Human Rights Watch) – In late May, I addressed a panel on the militarization of digital spaces – specifically on how Israeli authorities use surveillance technologies to deepen systemic discrimination against Palestinians. I warned that the use of autonomy in weapons systems was a dangerous part […]
Archives for June 2023
Palestinian Bil’in’s successful Resistance Campaign against the Israeli Wall
Michael Schulz ( Waging Nonviolence ) – Anyone taking a drive into the occupied West Bank towards the little village of Bil’in will soon realize the diverging worlds the Israelis and Palestinians live in. While Israeli illegal settlements are mushrooming on various West Bank hilltops, the Palestinian villages are struggling to survive the Israeli […]
How Saudi Arabia came to be at the Centre of a global Golf Merger
By David Rowe, Western Sydney University | – Professional golf – and increasingly world sport – is caught in a sand trap. Not the familiar hazard between fairway and green, but the Middle Eastern desert producing enormous quantities of fossil fuels. The resulting riches are being diverted into sport, disrupting its traditional Western dominance. The […]
Carbon Dioxide in our Atmosphere hits High not seen for Millions of Years, threatening Accelerated Global Heating
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Monday that parts per million of carbon dioxide in our planet’s atmosphere averaged 424 ppm in the month of May, reaching a level not seen for millions of years. In May 2022 it was only 421 ppm so this is a tremendous […]
Arctic Ocean could be Ice-Free in summer by 2030s, with Global, Damaging and Dangerous Consequences
By Jonathan Bamber, University of Bristol | – (The Conversation) – The Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by the 2030s, even if we do a good job of reducing emissions between now and then. That’s the worrying conclusion of a new study in Nature Communications. Predictions of an ice-free Arctic Ocean have a […]
Is China trying to supplant Washington as Peacemaker between Israel and Palestine?
Dr Ramzy Baroud RamzyBaroud ( Middle East Monitor ) – Remarks on 24 May by China’s Ambassador to the UN on the situation in Occupied Palestine were impeccable in terms of their consistency with international law. Compared with the position of the US, which perceives the UN and the Security Council in particular as a […]
An Iron Curtain Has Descended on America
( Tomdispatch.com ) – Decline. It’s a word that hasn’t been much in the American vocabulary, though, as retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, historian, and TomDispatch regular William Astore suggests today, it certainly should have been. In fact, you could argue that we’re talking about 30-plus years of all-American decline, during much of which, after […]
Thumbing Nose at US, Saudi Cuts Oil production, Helping Russian War Effort, as Maduro Visits Riyadh
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) of Saudi Arabia has taken several steps sure to annoy Washington in just the past week. Iran has reopened its embassy in Riyadh. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Moros has come for a visit to the kingdom just before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s […]
As Bernie Sanders warns against Tribalism in America, Who will Stand Up to do the Right Thing?
Vancouver (Special to Informed Comment) – It is, unfortunately, not an understatement to say that our world that is becoming increasingly divided, increasingly tribalized. Tribalism is also growing within the United States of course,: racism, homophobia, blue states versus red states, neo-nazis declaring, “Jews will not replace us!”, and simmering anger — dramatically illustrated by […]