2025

The Making of the Modern Middle East: Juan Cole on History, Politics, and Today’s Turmoil – Tamooda Interview

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Juan Cole interviewed by Martin Asser at Tamooda : “The Making of the Modern Middle East: Juan Cole on History, Politics, and Today’s Turmoil” According to LinkedIn, “ TAMOODA is a new digital, independent, liberal, and secular platform in the Arab world for opinion. It is is a non-profit initiative […]

Israel/ Palestine

The Rhetorical Tricks for Normalizing Genocide

Ramona Wadi

( Middle East Monitor ) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced yesterday that, “From now on, negotiations will be conducted under fire.” His words were total nonsense, of course, because the previous negotiations for the ceasefire agreement were definitely conducted under fire. Netanyahu’s statement condemns to oblivion the previous long months of Israel’s genocide […]

Dissent

Social Movements constrained Trump in his first Term – Much more than People Realize

The Conversation

By Kevin A. Young, UMass Amherst (The Conversation) – Donald Trump’s first term as president saw some of the largest mass protests seen in the U.S. in over 50 years, from the 2017 Women’s March to the 2020 protests after George Floyd’s murder. Things feel different this time around. Critics seem quieter. Some point to […]

Featured

America, the Unhappy: Lonely, Suspicious, Gun-ridden, and Stingy, the US Ranks Low for Well-Being

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The 2025 “World Happiness Report,” produced by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, powered by Gallup analytics and in partnership with the UN, is out. The bad news is that Americans, despite all their wealth and power, only rank 25th in the world for self-reported happiness and […]

Israel/ Palestine

Unenforced ICC Arrest Warrants are just Part of the wider Israel impunity Framework

Ramona Wadi

Unenforced ICC arrest warrants are just part of the wider Zionist impunity framework ( Middle East Monitor ) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be following up on his Hungarian counterpart Victor Orban’s invitation to visit his country, Israeli media have reported. This, despite the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu, which signatories […]

plastic

Microplastics Hinder Plants’ Photosynthesis, threatening Massive Crop and Seafood Losses

The Conversation

By Jack Marley, The Conversation (The Conversation) – A graph I saw in high school appeared to show the Earth breathing. It was a graph that plotted carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the course of the 20th century and into the 21st. CO₂ had risen steadily, and then more rapidly, but it hadn’t gone […]

CO2

CO2 in Atmosphere Higher than in 2 Million Years, with 2024 the Hottest Year Ever Recorded

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The annual report of the World Meteorological Organization concludes that in 2023, the latest year for which a complete analysis has been carried out, the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere reached its highest level ever recorded —- about 420 parts per million (ppm). That’s 151% higher than […]

Saudi Arabia

Middle Eastern Monarchies in Sudan’s War: what’s driving their Interests

The Conversation

By Federico Donelli, University of Trieste (The Conversation) – The civil war in Sudan that began in April 2023 involves several external actors. The conflict pits the Sudanese Armed Forces against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in a quest for political and economic power. The situation has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. […]

Donald Trump

Trump’s Shock and Awe: Move Fast and Break Things

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Yes, “shock and awe” is back in the second age of Donald Trump. His border czar, Tom Homan, used that very phrase to describe border policy from day one of the new administration and, whether the president has actually said it or not, it’s now regularly in headlines, op-eds, and so […]

Archives for 2025