Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports on the press conference in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He vowed to continue the war on Gaza and vowed to attack Iran. “Who says we won’t attack Iran? We will attack it.” At one point Netanyahu insisted that […]
Archives for January 2024
Ukraine as a Global Economic War, and the Role of the Middle East
Review of Maximilian Hess, “Economic War: Ukraine and the Global Conflict between Russia and the West” (London: Hurst & Co., 2023). Barcelona (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The war in Ukraine is being fought at two different levels. The first one is the military confrontation, where developments are measured in numbers of casualties, kill […]
Our World-Historical Turning Point – Kairos – is Now, and Everything Depends on the Youths
( Tomdispatch.com) – “All Americans owe them a debt for — if nothing else — releasing the idealism locked so long inside a nation that has not recently tasted the drama of a social upheaval. And for making us look on the young people of the country with a new respect.” That’s how Howard Zinn […]
America’s Theater of the Absurd Election: Trump, Fascism, Reality and . . . the Rhinoceros
Chicago (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – In 1968, the Youth International Party nominated a pig named Pigasus for president; in 2024, the Republican Party will likely nominate a Traitor named Trump for president, a dumber and more corrupt candidate than Pigasus. The Youth International Party — the anarchic, counter-culture Yippies — nominated the pig […]
US Officials Care More about Protecting Oil Tankers than Palestinians
By Edward Hunt | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – While Israel continues its military offensive in Gaza, the United States is directing a major military operation in the Red Sea, where U.S. warships are maintaining a persistent presence to protect shipping lanes. With its recently launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, the United States […]
Gaza’s Oldest Mosque, Destroyed in Israeli Airstrike, was once a Pagan Temple, a Church and had Jewish Engravings
Stephennie Mulder, The University of Texas at Austin The Omari Mosque in Gaza was largely destroyed by Israeli bombardment on Dec. 8, 2023. It was one of the most ancient mosques in the region and a beloved Gazan landmark. The mosque was first built in the early seventh century and named after Islam’s second caliph, […]
Afterlife of Occupation : Iraqi Academia and the Peripheries of Resurgence 20 Years After Bush’s Invasion
University of Michigan | Hatcher Graduate Library Discussion | – A panel discussion exploring the landscape of anti-war advocacy within U.S. universities at the outset of the occupation, “Afterlife of Occupation : Iraqi Academia and the Peripheries of Resurgence” 14 November 2023, Hatcher Graduate Library A panel discussion exploring the landscape of anti-war advocacy within […]
Zionism, Anti-Palestinianism, and the Fall of Harvard’s Claudine Gay
Berkeley, CA (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Much of the media conversation about the recent resignation of Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, has (rightfully) framed her abrupt removal in the context of the current right-wing assault on liberal education and, particularly, its targeting of the policies and practices designed to promote racial equality on US […]
The Military-Industrial Complex Is the Winner (Not You) – Overspending on the Pentagon Is Stealing Our Future
( Tomdispatch.com ) – 2023 was a year marked by devastating conflicts from Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine to Hamas’s horrific terror attacks on Israel, from that country’s indiscriminate mass slaughter in Gaza to a devastating civil war in Sudan. And there’s a distinct risk of even worse to come this year. Still, there was one […]