Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Afghanistan government has been miffed and apprehensive for some time that the Trump administration has been talking to the Taliban in Qatar without any representation from Kabul. Government officials were therefore happy about Trump’s abrupt cancellation of what he depicted as a summit with the Taliban at Camp David […]
Israeli PM Netanyahu’s Himalayan Miscalculation on Iran: Bringing China into the Mideast
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is one of the world players who pushed Trump to breach the 2015 treaty with Iran. Trump then slapped the severest economic sanctions on Iran ever imposed on any country in the absence of war. Trump went around the world menacing other countries into […]
China Defies Trump on Iran Big time with $400 bn Belt-and-Road Investment, 5000 Security Personnel*
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was in Beijing recently for what turns out to have been the biggest triumph of his career. China has decided it has nothing further to fear from the Trump administration, and has decided to incorporate Iran into its One Belt, One Road plan with […]
Jason Greenblatt, who Screwed the Palestinians Royally, Resigns from Steal of the Century
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Jason Greenblatt, the Trump organization lawyer (what does that tell you about him?) who was appointed to spearhead the Trump administration “deal” between Palestinians and Israelis, has stepped down after nearly three years of screwing over the Palestinians and Arabs, taking food out of Palestinian mouths, and annexing vast swathes […]
Trump Pilfers Billions from cyber-security, Puerto Rico in Pentagon Budget for Great White Wall
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Zachary Cohen and Ryan Browne at CNN report that Trump is stealing $3.6 billion from 127 projects in the Defense Department budget that was constitutionally purposed by Congress, and using them unconstitutionally for 140 miles of his Great White Wall at the Mexico border. And remember, he promised Mexico would […]
Failing Breitbart Comes for Juan Cole on Climate History and it Won’t Go Well
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I understand that the far, far rightwing reused toilet paper that is Breitbart ran a hit piece on me today for daring question the record of Florida’s Saint DeSantis on doing nothing about carbon dioxide emissions that are sinking his state. Breitbart’s offices are in Los Angeles, which is itself […]
Bernie Sanders after Saudi Prison Massacre in Yemen: “We are Complicit in this Nightmare”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Saudi fighter-jets bombed a makeshift prison on a college campus in Dhamar, Yemen, south of the capital of Sana’a eight times on Sunday, killing at least 100 prisoners according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.Dozens of wounded have been taken to Revolution Hospital and many are in critical […]
On Labor Day, US Workers are 1/3 poorer than in 2003 & Top 1% is 2x Richer
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Labor Day, American workers have little to celebrate. That’s alright. The September Labor Day, while initially proposed by some workers in the 1880s, was backed by conservative President Grover Cleveland over May 1, which he associated with radicalism (i.e. with workers who would demand their rights). So it really […]
Trump Gives away US Intel Sources, Methods with Photo of Iran Launch Failure
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump couldn’t contain his inner five-year-old when an Iranian satellite launch at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport went bad last Thursday. He had to taunt Tehran on twitter, as Passant Rabie at Space.com reports. (Iranians don’t have twitter, although some high officials use it for public diplomacy overseas.) He appears to […]