2025

By Farangis Najibullah ( RFE/RL ) – Afghanistan is seeking to significantly bolster trade with the oil-rich countries of Central Asia as it attempts to end its economic dependence on Pakistan, which has historically been Kabul’s biggest trading partner. But experts warn that geography, high costs, and political constraints will hinder efforts by Afghanistan’s cash-strapped […]

Donald Trump

How Trump is Savaging the Poor: the New Victory Gardens

Frida Berrigan

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Do you have a silver card? I do. I live in New London, Connecticut, and while I don’t get EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfers) anymore, I still carry the card as a talisman. It’s nestled in my wallet right behind my driver’s license. It reminds me that there was a time when […]

Democratic Party

Democrats in Congress Are Out of Touch With Constituents on Israeli Genocide

Norman Solomon

San Francisco (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Last month, some House members publicly acknowledged that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza. It’s a judgment that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch unequivocally proclaimed a year ago. Israeli human-rights organizations have reached the same conclusion. But such clarity is sparse in Congress. And no wonder. Genocide denial is needed for […]

Israel/ Palestine

Workers Rights and Palestine Solidarity: Clover in South Africa

Open Democracy

When dairy workers made common cause with Palestine solidarity activists, the result was radical love in the public square Maya Bhardwaj United against Clover Here’s what it looked like in practice. In late 2021, I joined a town hall meeting for the Clover campaign in Johannesburg. The hall was full with attendees. Some wore […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel’s War: Gaza’s Once-Growing Economy is Nearing Total Collapse

The Conversation

By Dalia Alazzeh, University of the West of Scotland and Shahzad Uddin, University of Essex (The Conversation) – Gaza is going through one of the most severe economic collapses the world has seen in modern times. According to a UN report published in late November, the average income per person there is now just US$161 […]

Featured

200 Luminaries from the Arts and Business World demand release of “Palestinian Mandela”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Patrick Wintour at The Guardian reports that some 200 prominent literary, cultural and political figures have signed an open letter demanding the release from Israeli prison of Palestinian activist Marwan Barghouti. Barghouti 66, is widely thought to be one of the few figures who could unite the Palestinians and lead […]

Iraq

Iraq’s 2025 Elections reveal a Democracy without Belief

The Conversation

By Bamo Nouri, City St George’s, University of London The Conversation – Iraqis went to the polls on November 11 to vote in parliamentary elections. Preliminary results put the coalition of Iraq’s prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, in the lead. But no bloc has won anything close to a governing majority in the 329-seat parliament. […]

Nuclear weapons

A Thermonuclear Hair Trigger

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com ) – It’s been 20 years since I retired from the Air Force and 40 years since I first entered Cheyenne Mountain, America’s nuclear redoubt at the southern end of the Front Range that includes Pikes Peak in Colorado. So it was with some nostalgia that I read a recent memo from General […]

Climate Crisis

Have we Reached Peak Fossil Fuels? Wind & Solar met all New Energy Demand in Q1-Q3 ’25