Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The emergency summit of the Arab league just held in Mecca had as it purpose to shore up pan-Arab support for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in their war on Yemen, in their conflict with Iran, and in their willingness to negotiate with Jared Kushner over his “deal […]
A Wroth Mueller Comes for Nancy Pelosi: Rashida Tlaib is Right
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Bob Mueller measures his words, but he is as Merriam Webster’s thesaurus has it, angered, apoplectic, ballistic, choleric, enraged, foaming, fuming, furious, hopping, horn-mad, hot, incensed, indignant, inflamed (also enflamed), infuriate, infuriated, irate, ireful, livid, mad, outraged, rabid, rankled, riled, riley, roiled, sore, steamed up, steaming, teed off, ticked, wrathful, […]
Robert Mueller Statement Transcript: If we had Found Trump Innocent, We would Have Said So
Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered a 10-minute speech from the Justice Department on Wednesday: Transcript: Two years ago, the Acting Attorney General asked me to serve as Special Counsel, and he created the Special Counsel’s Office. The appointment order directed the office to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. This included investigating any […]
Why Israeli Gov’t May Fall: Like US, Secularists and Fundamentalists are Polarized
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – We’ll know later today whether prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu will succeed in forming a government. If not, Israel will have snap elections in September. In parliamentary systems, coalitions are often made after the election. In the US, the two big parties have already made their coalitions before the election. The […]
If Trump really only wants ‘No Iranian Nukes,’ then he should just rejoin the Nuclear Deal
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump said in Japan that he is not looking for regime change in Iran. Trump said at a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister ABE Shinzo, “We aren’t looking for regime change – I just want to make that clear. We are looking for no nuclear weapons. I really believe […]
Yemen: On Memorial Day, Remember the 233,000 Dead in US-Backed Saudi War
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Memorial Day should be rethought, as a day to mourn the death and destruction caused by war. Trump is using a legal loophole to declare an emergency in the Gulf and sell Saudi Arabia and its allies $8 billion in weaponry despite the opposition of Congress. Both houses of Congress […]
No, Ben Shapiro, Science isn’t White
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In this clip via Twitter, Ben Shapiro, who is somehow touted as a serious thinker on the Right, alleges that the scientific method is peculiar to something he calls “the West.” He appears to think it consists of Greek empiricism mixed with what he terms a “Judeo-Christian” conviction that to […]
No Fair! Iran Puts their Country Right next to US Military Bases in Gulf
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Trump administration made a grand and empty show Friday of announcing the dispatch to the Middle East of 1,500 US military personnel, allegedly to signal Iran not to attack US troops in the region. Update: Actually, it is 900 new troops and 600 having their deployment extended. I.e. nothing. […]
Jared Kushner is surprised he can’t get Palestinian Businessmen on Board with Promises of Prosperity
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Palestinian business groups accounting for 80% of Palestine’s gross domestic product say they are declining to attend a conference in Bahrain that is part of the roll-out of Jared Kushner’s “Deal of the Century.” The conference was intended to focus on “economic peace,” which is shorthand for investments in and […]