Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Business Council for Sustainable Energy Factbook is out, and it has good news for the environment despite the dark shadow being cast by a climate denialist White House. The good news is that the incredible advance of solar power generation has boosted renewable sources of power to 24% of […]
Archives for February 2025
A Palestinian-Israeli Film is an Oscars Favorite – So why is it so Hard to See?
Drew Paul, University of Tennessee (The Conversation) – For many low-budget, independent films, an Oscar nomination is a golden ticket. The publicity can translate into theatrical releases or rereleases, along with more on-demand rentals and sales. However, for “No Other Land,” a Palestinian-Israeli film nominated for best documentary at the 2025 Academy Awards, this exposure […]
Guantánamo Needs to Be Shut Down, Not Expanded
By Farrah Hassen ( Otherwords.org) – In a deeply disturbing and unprecedented move, the U.S. has begun transferring immigrant detainees to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. They’re being held without access to their lawyers and families. President Trump has ordered up to 30,000 “high-priority” migrants to be imprisoned there as part of his larger mass deportation and […]
With Troops and Tanks, Israel gives the Gaza Treatment to West Bank Camps, Expelling 40,000 Palestinians
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The BBC reports that Israeli forces have invaded three Palestinian refugee camps in the Palestinian West Bank — Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams — and expelled their inhabitants. The ghost towns will be occupied by the Israeli military for the next year, according to Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz. Prime […]
The West’s Ethnic Cleansing under Humanitarian Pretexts
by Ramona Wadi ( Middle East Monitor ) – Emboldened by the US and the international community’s acceptance of its genocide, Israel is not taking long to emerge from the shadows of its own rhetoric. After US President Donald Trump said that there is no right of return for Palestinians under the proposed take-over of […]
D is for Decline, Dystopia and . . . Donald
( Tomdispatch.com ) – Count on one thing: in some almost unimaginable future, no American president (if we even have them anymore) is going to rename a mountain for Donald Trump as he’s recently tried to do with North America’s tallest peak. He wants Alaska’s Mount Denali (to hell with Native American names!) to be […]
1/4 to 1/2 of Glaciers will Melt by 2100, raising Sea Level, As our burning of Fossil Fuels Heats Earth
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new multi-author study in Nature finds that the world’s 200,000 glaciers are melting at an increasingly alarming rate. If all of them melted, it would raise sea level by over a foot, a disaster for coastal communities around the world. And it isn’t just a matter of coasts — […]
From the Tigris and Euphrates to the Nile: The Middle East’s unresolved Water Disputes
Written byRaseef22 This post by Mohamed Yousry, was first published in Arabic by Raseef 22* on February 15, 2025. This edited version was translated into English and published on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement. ( Global Voices ) – The West Asia and North Africa region is facing a water scarcity crisis. […]
Why Is Saudi Arabia Seeking To Mediate A Deal Between U.S. And Iran?
By By Kian Sharifi ( RFE/RL ) – After facilitating the first high-level talks between U.S. and Russian officials since the Ukraine war began, Saudi Arabia is now reportedly positioning itself as a mediator in another high-stakes negotiation — this time between the United States and Iran. CNN, which first broke the story, reports that […]