Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On the heels of Friday’s mainly student-led global climate strike, some activists believe that they must next resort to Gandhian nonviolent civil disobedience, becoming disruptive of the fossil fuel normal. The research of Erica Chenowith finds that if 3.5 percent of a population joins protests in a concerted manner, they […]
Juan Cole is on strike today because he began warning you about the Climate Emergency in the Bush Era and you completely blew him off.
You only get a golden oldie today. Here’s what I was writing 11 years ago; apparently I may as well have printed it out and buried it in my garden. Carbon dioxide emissions and methane emissions are both up substantially in 2019. McCain is arguing for offshore drilling to lower US petroleum prices in the […]
Trump again Tries to Get Ilhan Omar Killed à la Heather Heyer with Lies about Dancing on 9/11
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – One of the “very fine people” Trump praised at the Charlottesville riot by Nazis and Klansmen rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters (i.e. ordinary people) and killed Heather Heyer on August 12, 2017. Trump appears to be angling for one of his Volk to do the same thing […]
Palestinian-Israeli Joint List Gains Seats, as Netanyahu’s Demonization Backfires
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Binyamin Netanyahu appears to have fallen short in his quest for a majority of 61 in the 120-seat Israeli parliament or Knesset. As I write, his far-right Likud Party is tied 32 to 32 with its center-right rival, Blue and White. Netanyahu campaigned frenetically and acted a little unbalanced during […]
Glowing Review of Cole’s “Muhammad: Prophet of Peace” in “American Diplomacy”
Career foreign service officer, Benjamin Tua, who served in Brazil, Japan and Muslim-majority countries such as Kyrgyzstan, reviews my new book Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires for American Diplomacy. Tua writes, that it “is perfect for the reader who knows little about Mohammad’s life and origins as a member of a […]
Trump Has been Waging a Brutal War on Iran for over a Year, in Alliance with Saudi Arabia & Israel
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – You will note that in 2015-2018 we never heard anything about military tensions in the Gulf. During those years, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or Iran nuclear deal, was in effect and in January of 2016 all economic sanctions were lifted on Iran by the United Nations, the […]
Trump Awaits orders from Saudis; and Why the Houthis could have Done It
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump’s bizarre infatuation with strongmen and dictators was on full display in his response to Saturday’s drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities. As our foremost Gulf expert, Kristian Ulrichsen, noted, The way you phrase it sounds like you are waiting for the Saudis to tell you what to do. […]
Pompeo Manipulatively blames Iran as Saudi Arabia loses 58% of Oil Production to Houthi Attack
Yemen’s Zaydi Shiite Houthi rebels, who control the northwest of Yemen, including the capital of Sana’a, claimed on Saturday to have launched the 10 drones that struck the major Saudi petroleum production and refining installations at Abqaiq and Khurais. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denied that the drones came from Yemen, blaming the attack on […]
‘Emperor has no Clothes:’ Trump asked of Egypt’s al-Sisi, ‘Where’s my Favorite Dictator?’
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump has long been accused of having a soft spot for dictators, but now he has admitted it, even if only in the form of a jest. Nancy Youssef, Vivian Salama, and Michael Bender at the Wall Street Journal report that at the recent G7 meeting where Trump saw a […]
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