Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a publicity stunt Trumpian in its iniquity and emptiness, the government of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu put up a sign in the Occupied Syrian Golan Heights, saying “Trump Heights.” There isn’t really any settlement there yet, just a sign, just as there isn’t any reality to Trump more […]
Once Again Pompeo Displays Hopeless Ignorance of Sunni & Shiite, Iran and Taliban
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Washington Post reports that when US Secretary of State “Benghazi Mike” Pompeo gave his breathless news conference last Thursday to finger Iran for the oil tanker explosions in the Gulf of Oman, he indicted Iran for another act of violence at the same time. Mary Papenfus at HuffPo notes […]
No More War for Oil: Buy an Electric Car & Never hear about Tankers Again
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As the warmonger faction in the Trump administration milks the attack on two oil tankers near the Straits of Hormuz for all its potential as a new Gulf of Tonkin pretext for hostilities, everyone should keep in mind the cargo. The cargo is petroleum, to run your car or Japan’s […]
Whoever Hit the Gulf Tankers, Pompeo was Wrong to Finger Iran before Evidence Was In
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The mysterious mines that blew up two tankers, one of them Japanese-owned and operated, on Wednesday, sent a frisson of fear through the Gulf, since it was clear that Trump warmongers would blame Iran and then use the incident as a springboard to war. Despite the confident pronouncements of “Benghazi […]
Trump Broadcasts Free Ad via Disney to Thuggish Regimes, requesting Hacked Dirt on Dems
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump revealed again on Wednesday that he has no legal or ethical compass. In an interview with ABC news Chief Anchor George Stephanopolous, Trump was asked if he would go to the FBI if a foreign government contacted him with dirt on his Democratic opponent or if he would accept […]
Iran to Germany: For sake of Keeping Nuclear Deal, you Must do more to Defy Trump
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iranians are increasingly impatient with Europe’s lack of concrete steps to protect Iran from Trump’s severe sanctions, and the frustration made for a tense visit Tuesday by German foreign minister Heiko Maas to Tehran. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani told him to his face that Europe had reacted in the politically […]
Is Jared Kushner Literally in Bed with the Saudis?
The Guardian’s Jon Swain broke the story on Monday that Cadre, a real estate investment firm in which Jared Kushner has as much as a $50 million stake, has received a mysterious $90 million infusion of cash from unknown and possibly foreign sources. At least $1 million came in from Saudi Arabia, according to Swain. […]
Very Early Muslim Piety toward the Prophet Muhammad: Blessings and Intercession
The great scholar Annemarie Schimmel quoted Arthur Jeffrey, the Australian scholar of Islam, to this effect: “Many years ago . . . the late Shaikh Mustafa al-Maraghi remarked on a visit to his friend, the Anglican bishop in Egypt, that the commonest cause of offence, generally unwitting offence, given by Christians to Muslims, arose from […]
Bipartisan move in Congress to Cancel Trump’s Stealth $8 bn Arms sale to Saudis
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dan De Luce at NBC News reports on a bipartisan attempt in Congress to block Trump’s sidelining of the legislature in fast-tracking an $8 bn arms sale to Saudi Arabia that includes components useful in building ballistic missiles. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo justified the step on the grounds of […]