Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Biden owes an apology to fellow American Furkan Doğan, whom Israeli commandos murdered on May 31, 2010, as he videoed their illegal attack in international waters on the aid ship Mavi Marmara. At the time, Biden justified the massacre. Doğan and other volunteers were trying to bring food and […]
Dune Part Two: The Islamic Dimension
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Journalist and science fiction writer Frank Herbert’s Dune epic has many themes. One is, clearly, environmentalism and the need for humans to adapt to their environment. Another is the struggle between regimented bureaucratic civilization and individualism. Yet another is the temptation to use religion for liberatory purposes. The Denis Villeneuve […]
America’s Red Snow: Hottest Winter on Record, Largest Wildfires in Texas History
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency announced Friday that the winter of 2023-24 was the hottest on record in U.S. history. Global records have been kept since about 1850, with the widespread use of mercury thermometers. The average surface temperature of the US this past winter was 37.6°, which is […]
Trump, Like Biden, supports Israeli Campaign against Gaza: “You’ve got to finish the Problem”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump telephoned in to “Fox and Friends” on Tuesday, breaking his long silence on Israel’s campaign against Gaza. So reports Sanjana Karanth at HuffPost. One host, Brian Kilmeade, asked Trump, “Are you on board with the way the IDF is taking the fight to Gaza — in Gaza?” Trump replied, […]
As Palestinian Children Die of Hunger, US blows ineffectual Kisses with Air Drop
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The known deaths from starvation of Palestinian children in Gaza hospitals rose to 16 on Monday. This is a fraction of the actual such deaths, since Israel has put most of the Strip’s hospitals out of commission and many infants and children are dying of malnutrition at home. In February, […]
Is Tehran Winning the Middle East? How the Gaza Conflict Made Democracy’s Name Mud for Millions
Here is my latest column for Tomdispatch.com. Do check out Tom Engelhardt’s important introduction over there at the original site. ( Tomdispatch.com ) – In the midst of Israel’s ongoing devastation of Gaza, one major piece of Middle Eastern news has yet to hit the headlines. In a face-off that, in a sense, has lasted […]
Black Thursday: Israel’s Great Flour Massacre in Gaza kills over 100 Civilians, wounds Hundreds
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports on the Great Flour Massacre committed by the Israeli army on Black Thursday, February 29, 2024 in the south of Occupied Gaza City at Dawar al-Nabulsi, Rasheed Street. OCHA says that the Gaza Ministry of Health “reported that 104 Palestinians […]
Half a Million People in Gaza face Starvation, as 1 in 6 Children are Wasting Away
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that Israel only allowed half as many aid trucks into Gaza in February as had been in January. The Gaza Ministry of Health said that two infants died on Tuesday at the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza of dehydration […]
Michigan Rebukes Biden on Gaza Genocide with Arab and Muslim American “Uncommitted” Vote
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Michigan rebuked President Joe Biden on Tuesday for his unstinting support of the extremist Israeli government’s total war against Gaza. A movement for voting “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary in that state has been led by Arab American and Muslim American activists in Wayne County and the city of Dearborn. […]