This is my latest column for Tomdispatch.com. Do check in over there for Tom Engelhardt’s essential introduction. ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Last September witnessed what used to be a truly rare weather phenomenon: a Mediterranean hurricane, or “medicane.” Once upon a time, the Mediterranean Sea simply didn’t get hot enough to produce hurricanes more than […]
Palestinian History: Understanding the Past, Engaging with the Present
My 20-minute presentation on Israel Palestine is the first segment in the below below. In recognition of Arab American Heritage Month and in light of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, UM-Flint, in partnership with the Arab American Heritage Council, invited historians Juan Cole, University of Michigan Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History, and […]
The NYT’s Palestinian-Israeli Lexicon: Special Edition of the Ghoul’s Glossary
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – American humorist and, oddly, horror author, Ambrose Bierce (d. 1913), produced a serial, staccato newspaper column consisting of humorous and sardonic definitions of words, which he later published as a book, The Devil’s Dictionary. (He initially had to entitle it “The Cynic’s Wordbook,” which doesn’t have the same ring, because […]
Israeli Massacres Continue in Gaza, as Returnees to North are Targeted and Refugee Camp is Bombed
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The brief interlude of the Iranian rocket attack on Israel, in which almost all the projectiles were shot down or intercepted, did nothing to slow the Israeli assault on Gaza. Unfortunately for the Palestinians, no helpful foreign power is intercepting Israeli rockets fired at dense urban neighborhoods with deadly effect. […]
Netanyahu, Empowered by Biden’s Grant of Impunity, baits Iran into his genocidal Gaza War
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Despite all the hype about Iran’s largely symbolic barrage of over 200 drones and cruise and ballistic missiles, unleashed on the thinly populated Negev Desert (where it was mainly Palestinian Bedouins who were put in danger), the military significance of this action was minimal. An Israeli base was hit at […]
Cracks in Biden’s Zionist Wall: Warren, Powers admit “Genocide, Famine” in Gaza as Israeli Atrocities Continue
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Cracks are showing in the Iron Wall of the Biden administration knee-jerk support for the far-right, extremist Israeli government’s total war on Gaza. US AID Administrator Samantha Power admitted that Israel’s campaign in Gaza has produced a famine. And Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) admitted that Israel is committing a genocide […]
Climate Victory: Texas Solar Power Growing so Rapidly, it is Reducing demand for Fossil Gas
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The far right Texas legislature, dominated by Republicans in the back pocket of the fossil fuel industry, has done what it could to promote fossil gas as a power source for electricity generation. Just last summer, it passed a bill that offered companies bonuses for connecting new gas plants to […]
Not Enough: Biden decries Netanyahu Strategy as a “Mistake,” Mourns WCK dead, Calls for 6-8 Week Pause
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Biden granted the Spanish-language cable television channel Univision an interview that aired on Tuesday evening. Biden ranged widely, condemning his rival Donald J. Trump as a would-be dictator and praising Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador as a straight shooter. The mention of AMLO led interviewer Enrique Acevedo to […]
Nicaragua Sues Germany at Int’l Court of Justice to Halt Weapons to a “Genocidal” Israel
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Nicaragua’s opposition online newspaper, La Prensa , reported Monday that proceedings began at the International Court of Justice in Managua’s complaint against Germany for abetting Israeli genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza with its weapons shipments. Nearly half of arms shipments to Israel during the past six months have come […]