Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The US financial and trade blockade of Iran, which has strangled its economy, has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s coronavirus response. Nick Paton Walsh, Jo Shelley, Ramin Mostaghim and Scott McWhinnie at CNN did a great story on this heartrending travesty. They write, ‘Retired teacher Khalif Farahani […]
Ritual Coup: Republicans hope that by Performing a One-Party State, they will one Day Achieve it
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Today’s Republican Party is one big denial of reality. If it were only that, however, it would merely be madness. Rather, the denial of reality is a form of ultimate power-seeking. In the bizarre mental world of Republicans, Joe Biden lost the presidential race. Some 75% of them tell pollsters […]
NZ’s Ardern: Mosque Massacre was Enabled by ignoring White Supremacist Terror Threat and by YouTube Radicalization
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Terrorist Attack on Christchurch Mosques on 15 March 2019 looked into the background of the white nationalist Australian young man who flew to Dunedin in 2017, stayed there in a sparsely furnished little apartment for eighteen months, and then went on a killing […]
Biden Nominates first African-American Secretary of Defense, 250 Years after Crispus Attucks
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President-Elect Joe Biden will appoint retired four-star general Lloyd J. Austin III as his secretary of defense, according to the scoop by Lara Seligman, Tyler Pager, Connor O’Brien and Natasha Bertrand at Politico. Austin will be the first Black secretary of defense in our nation’s history. Austin has, they note, […]
“The Empire Strikes Biden” with Brent Terhune and Juan Cole – Francesca Fiorentini Podcast
“It’s global hegemony not Adam and Steve! From very real US wars abroad to the imagined “war on Christmas”, Francesca digs deep with comedian Brent Terhune and historian Juan Cole. They discuss what foreign policy might look like under a Biden administration, from the Iran Deal to Israel/Palestine to Russia & China. Plus, the special […]
Iran sends Oil, Gas Flotilla to Venezuela; will Trump attack it to Sabotage Biden?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Bloomberg reports that a flotilla of ten Iranian vessels is heading for Venezuela. They have turned off their shipboard Automatic Identification System, or AIS, so that US signals intelligence cannot find them easily. The ships typically go around the Cape of Good Hope and then head northwest to Caracas. Will […]
Trump Presses Georgia to overturn Election, but he should Remember what happened when Algeria, Iran, Kyrgyzstan and the other Georgia did That
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Kristen Holmes and Victoria Stracqualursi at CNN report that Trump called up Georgia governor Brian Kemp and asked him to call a special session of the Republican-dominated state legislature and have them elect an alternative slate of electors for the Electoral College, so as to overturn the results of the […]
The EV Onslaught: 80% of Norway’s New Cars Plug-Ins, as they soar 190% in EU, 120% in China
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 […]
Communists were jailed for Less: Trumpies call for overthrow of US Constitution
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Caitlin Dickson at Yahoo News reports that Trump supporters and Tea Partiers have begun calling for a suspension of the US constitution to prevent Joe Biden from taking office. The only way to parse “suspension” of the constitution is its temporary overthrow. Moreover, they are calling for the use of […]