Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Gaza Ministry of Education, which is staffed by professionals rather than party cadres, said on Wednesday that “According to the Ministry of Education, between 7 October and 26 December, more than 4,037 students and 209 educational staff were killed, and more than 7,259 students and 619 teachers were injured […]
Will US get Drawn in? Houthis Support Gaza by Loosing 17 Drones on Red Sea Traffic, Hit Container Ship
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Houthi movement that rules northern Yemen announced Tuesday that it had again targeted a commercial vessel, the MSC United VIII, with a drone in the Red Sea. Sarea said that the vessel had refused to answer warnings by the Houthi navy three times. MSC Mediterranean said, according to Aljazeera, […]
Netanyahu Advocates Ethnically Cleansing Palestinians of Gaza: Believe him the First Time
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The extremist, fascist government of Binyamin Netanyahu continues to press its monstrous, illegal and most of all completely implausible plan to push the 2.2 million Palestinians of Gaza out of the Strip into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula or into other Arab countries. Netanyahu also pledged to continue the high-intensity campaign against […]
Pope and Pastor: “Prince of Peace rejected by the futile Logic of War;” “Christ in the Rubble”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – My mother was a Lutheran and the Coles were Catholics, though my grandfather fell away when he married a woman from the Brethren peace church. So it was striking to me that on this Christmas a Lutheran pastor in Bethlehem, Munther Isaac, and Pope Francis both made headlines with their […]
A Merry Muslim Christmas from India’s Hyderabad, c. 1630: Jesus, the Dutch, and Diamonds
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The nativity of the Christ child is not solely an occasion of Christian spirituality, but has been celebrated through the ages by Muslim writers and painters, as well. As I have pointed out, the story of the Annunciation and the birth of Jesus is told in the Qur’an: Verses 19:17-35: […]
Israelis have killed the same Percentage of Gazans in 11 Weeks as Allies did Italians in all of WW II
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The UN reports figures from the Gaza Ministry of Health as of Friday: “between 7 October and 7:00 on 22 December, at least 20,057 Palestinians were killed in Gaza. About 70 per cent of those killed are said to be women and children. As of then, 53,320 Palestinians have been […]
How Big Oil is Taking us for a Fossil-Fuelized Ride: With the World the Hottest in 125,000 Years, we’re being Gaslighted
Here is my latest column for The Nation Institute’s must-read Tomdispatch.com site. Make sure to check out the original for legendary journalist Tom Engelhardt’s fantastic introduction. And spread some of the joy by supporting his site, too. As for the dastardly greenwashing of Big Oil, by all means get mad but also get even, and […]
Bloodbath: Israel’s War on Gaza’s Hospitals and their Patients
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Back in mid-October, a controversy broke out about a blast on the grounds of the al-Ahli Arab (Baptist) Hospital in Gaza City. Some quarters blamed it on Israel, but the latter’s defenders took the stance that Israel wouldn’t hit a hospital. It appears that it probably didn’t on that occasion, […]
Gaza’s Second Front: Houthi Drones Drive Major Shipping Cos. out of Red Sea in Blow to World Trade
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Saturday, Muhammad al-Bakhiti, a member of the Politburo of the Helpers of God (Houthi ) government of northern Yemen, announced that it had completely closed off shipping to Israel via the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea. Actually, the Helpers of God have more or less closed Red Sea […]