Asia

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Cleantechnica reports that if you consider pure electric automobiles alongside plug-in hybrids, plug-in vehicles accounted for 80% of new car registrations in Norway in November. This is a 20% increase year over year. And, gasoline cars fell to only about 10% of new car purchases. Volkswagen’s new ID.3 soared in […]

Afghanistan

US Troops are finally returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, but what to kind of American are they returning

Tomdispatch

By Andrea Mazzarino | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – By the end of this year, the White House will reportedly have finally brought home a third of the 7,500 troops still stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq (against the advice of President Trump’s own military leaders). While there have been stories galore about the global security implications […]

Afghanistan

Why will we Fight 20 Years in weak Afghanistan but won’t make war on Menacing Climate Crisis?

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – The United States is engaged in forever hot wars. The war in Afghanistan now nears the end of its second decade. Why US history is so saturated -— some would say polluted -— by war has recently become an object of both academic and activist interest. University […]

Australia

Australia’s Massive Solar Energy Hub in Outback to produce coal-killer Green Ammonia

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Asian Renewable Energy Hub is planning a $16 billion solar and wind project in the part of the Australian outback known as Pilbara, that is, in the north of the West Australian desert. The panels work by converting photons or ordinary light rays to electricity. The Australian Bureau of […]

Afghanistan

Time to bring the Troops home from Afghanistan, no Matter who Does it

Andrew J. Bacevich

Let’s open up and sing, and ring the bells out Ding-dong! the merry-oh sing it high, sing it low Let them know the wicked witch is dead! ( Tomdispatch.com) – Within establishment circles, Donald Trump’s failure to win re-election has prompted merry singing and bell-ringing galore. If you read the New York Times or watch […]

China

China beat the coronavirus with science and strong public health measures, not just with authoritarianism

The Conversation

By Elanah Uretsky | – I live in a democracy. But as Thanksgiving approaches, I find myself longing for the type of freedom I am seeing in China. People in China are able to move around freely right now. Many Americans may believe that the Chinese are able to enjoy this freedom because of China’s […]

Featured

In G-20, Only India is on track to meet goals for keeping Global Heating to 3.6° F.

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The 2020 Climate Transparency report finds that India is on track to meeting the carbon dioxide emissions levels that, if all countries on earth did the same, would keep global heating to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees centigrade). The bad news? Of all the top 20 economies in the world […]

Arms Sales

Merchants of Arms: Who wants a Conflict with China?

Tomdispatch

By Cassandra Stimpson and Holly Zhang | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – War: what is it good for? Apparently, in Washington’s world of think tanks, the answer is: the bottom line. In fact, as the Biden presidency approaches, an era of great-power competition between the United States and China is already taken for granted inside […]

Afghanistan

Is Trump leaving 2500 Troops in Iraq and in Afghanistan as a Poison Pill for Biden?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dustin Jones at NPR reports that Trump has instructed the Pentagon to bring most US troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan by January 15, 2021. Some 2,500 would remain in each country. The announcement was made, WaPo reports, by acting secretary of defense Christopher C. Miller. Miller was apparently brought […]