Asia

By Danny Sjursen | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – More, more, more. I was guilty of it myself. Commanding a small cavalry troop of about 85 soldiers in southwest Kandahar Province back in 2011, I certainly wanted and requested more: more troopers, more Special Forces advisers, more Afghan police, more air support, more supplies, more […]

China

China’s covering a Football field with Solar Panels Every Hour in Quest to End Coal

contributors

By Janet Xuanli Liao | (The Conversation) | – – China’s remarkable growth over the past three decades has elevated it to global superpower status. But its economic miracle has also attracted attention for the wrong reasons: the country is now the world’s largest energy consumer, oil importer, and CO₂ emitter. It led to the […]

Featured

India’s Electric-Car Plans could Leave Trump & US in Dust

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – India’s announcement that it wants to have its automobile fleet go completely electric by 2030 is a bigger deal than it seems on the surface, if in fact the government follows through. Power Minister Piyush Goya said Tuesday at the Confederation of Indian Industry, “We are […]

Afghanistan

Taliban Attackers Kill at Least 140 Soldiers at Afghan Base: Officials

contributors

TeleSur | – – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani visited the base on Saturday, and in a statement condemned the attack as “cowardly” and the work of “infidels.” At least 140 Afghan soldiers were killed by Taliban attackers apparently disguised in military uniforms, officials said on Saturday, in what would be the deadliest attack ever on […]

China

Sorry, Trump: China is Leading World toward first “Ecological Civilization”

contributors

David Tyfield | (The Conversation) | – – The Trump administration’s hostility towards climate action and research leaves a void in global climate politics. Could China step up? The world’s largest absolute emitter could certainly use US inaction as an excuse to backslide on its promises of greenery. But China could instead see this as […]

Asia

Isolated Saudi Arabia pivots to Asia; but will it spread Extremism There?

contributors

By Babak Mohammadzadeh | (The Conversation) | – – Capital cities across Asia spent the last month rolling out the red carpet for a rarely seen visitor: Saudi Arabia’s ageing King Salman, accompanied by a hundreds-strong diplomatic entourage including senior princes, businessmen and ministers. Taking in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Japan, China and the Maldives, the […]

Africa

Does Trump’s slashed Foreign Aid Budget give China the Advantage?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The US foreign aid budget is not mainly about helping the poor. It is an instrument for buying influence in countries important to the US. The poorest countries in the world do not get much help from the US. Israel, which is a wealthy country, gets […]

Afghanistan

“Dear Nasemi: ‘I’m Sorry.'” (ICE doesn’t Keep out Afghan-American Coffins)

contributors

By Jonathan S. Addleton | (Informed Comment) | – – Dear Nasemi – I’m sorry. It is hard to believe that it was almost four years ago that we walked together along a dusty Zabul road in southern Afghanistan. I was a few yards ahead of you when we heard the first of two explosions, […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan: We Lost a long Time Ago, and are Still at War

Juan Cole

William J. Astore | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – America’s war in Afghanistan is now in its 16th year, the longest foreign war in our history. The phrase “no end in sight” barely covers the situation. Prospects of victory — if victory is defined as eliminating that country as a haven for Islamist terrorists […]