Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israel’s airstrikes Monday on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, which killed a senior general of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and six other Iranian military advisers, as well as Syrians, is a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Israel itself has squawked when its embassies and embassy personnel […]
Archives for April 2024
Epic Fail: The New Junta in Niger Tells the United States to Pack up its War and Go Home
( Tomdispatch.com ) – Dressed in green military fatigues and a blue garrison cap, Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane, a spokesperson for Niger’s ruling junta, took to local television last month to criticize the United States and sever the long-standing military partnership between the two countries. “The government of Niger, taking into account the aspirations and […]
Texas’ Gov. Abbott: Stop Weaponizing “Antisemitism” to Harass Campus Critics of Israeli Policy
Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | – Letter to Texas Governor Greg Abbott regarding Executive Order GA-44 2 April 2024 Governor Greg Abbott Office of the Texas Governor Office of the Governor P.O. Box 12428 Austin, Texas 78711-2428 Dear Governor Abbott: We write on behalf of the […]
Chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen Accuses Israel of “Targeted Attack” on 7 of its Aid Workers
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israeli fighter-jets routinely bomb dense urban areas, sometimes with massive bombs, in ways that President Joe Biden characterized as “indiscriminate.” Indiscriminate bombing of civilians is a war crime. On Monday, an Israeli airstrike hit an aid convoy mounted by Chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen, killing at least 7 persons […]
Secular Opposition Crushes pro-Islam AKP in Turkey’s Local Elections
( Globalvoices.org ) – Turkey’s local elections which took place on March 31, will go down in history as one of its most surprising. Turkey’s demoralized opposition, namely the [secular] Republican People’s Party (CHP), dominated in what many pundits described as the ruling [center-right] Justice and Development Party’s worst defeat of its 22-year existence. For […]
Protest of Columbia University’s Treatment of Dr. Kayum Ahmed over Teaching Palestine
Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | – Linda P. Fried Dean, Mailman School of Public Health Columbia University lpfried@columbia.edu et al. We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our concern about the decision to remove Dr. […]
Poll: Most Americans don’t agree with Biden Administration’s support for Israel’s Military Campaign
East Lansing, MI (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – For 176 days, the world has borne witness to Israel’s use of disproportionate, and arguably, genocidal force against the people of Gaza. The civilians, children, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, grandparents, and neighbors of Gaza. As of the time of this writing, Al-Jazeera reports that […]
Starvation in Gaza: The World Court’s Latest Intervention
( Middle East Monitor ) – Rarely has the International Court of Justice (ICJ) been so constantly exercised by one topic during such a short space of time. On 26 January, the World Court, considering a filing made the previous December by South Africa, accepted Pretoria’s argument that the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment […]
Germany produced Record 175 TWh Energy with Wind, Solar in Past Year, as Wind Farms Surge
By Julian Wettengel | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) The year 2023 was the windiest in Germany in more than 15 years, providing excellent conditions for wind electricity generation, said Germany’s National Meteorological Service (DWD). In 2023, the average wind speed across Germany at a height of 100 metres [yards] – a typical hub […]