Many Trump stalwarts have a peculiar, paid position as lobbyists for the People’s Jihadi Organization (Mojahedin-e Khalq), the Iranian expatriate group aiming to overthrow the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Hence we find Rudy Giuliani addressing their annual convention and pledging regime change in Iran. Giuliani only has experience of two kinds of […]
No, Saudi Can’t Save Trump from High Gas Prices
Trump has tweeted that King Salman of Saudi Arabia has promised to increase Saudi oil production by 2 million barrels a day. Trump says he feels this is important because US gasoline prices are “too high.” Trump is aware that high gasoline prices have tracked since the 1970s with public disapproval of the party in […]
Report: Trump hopes for Deal with Putin over Iran in Syria, US Exit
CNN’s sources say that when Trump met with Jordanian king Abdullah II, he revealed his game plan for Syria. Trump is said to plan to discuss this issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin at their proposed summer summit. The plan is apparently for the US to allow the government of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to […]
Annapolis Massacre: A moment to Consider Trump’s Opposition to Gun Safety Laws, Hatred of Journalists
Many critics of Trump have been eager to tie his well-known hatred for journalists to the mass shooting of reporters at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis. Trump’s incitement of his followers against journalists is indeed troubling, and some reporters covering his rallies have spoken of being fearful when Trump turned the eyes of his mob […]
Turkey, Iraq and China defy Trump on new Iran Sanctions, Act to Hold Tehran Harmless
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Trump administration is unlikely to have the same success in getting other countries to boycott Iranian petroleum as did the Obama administration in 2012-2015, though its officials are making a full court press in that regard. Proof came in the form of statements from the Turkish, Iraqi and Chinese […]
Progressive Dems Are Celebrating Ocasio-Cortez v. Crowley Win; But where is the Legislation?
Progressives are rightly elated by the surprise win in a New York primary of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They saw her ten-term opponent as having failed to stand for workers. But it is possible for Ocasio-Cortez never to pass even a single law. My advice to her and to her backers is not just to perfect her […]
The Seventh Exclusion: Great Moments in American Racist Immigration History
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I had predicted after Trump’s announcement that he wanted to try to keep Muslims out of the United States that he might well have some success in that endeavor. Courts, as SCOTUS just showed once again, are reluctant to micro-manage the Executive on things like who can enter the country. […]
New Light on the Arabian Religious Background of Islam?
There is a key problem with our sources on early Islam. Aside from the Qur’an itself, all the sources we have were written down after the Abbasid Revolution of 750 against the Umayyads. The first author to compile a complete biography of Muhammad (d. 632), the chronicler Muhammad ibn Ishaq of Medina, was born around […]
No, Iran’s Grand Bazaar Protest doesn’t mean the Government or Economy is Collapsing
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Tuesday’s protests at the Grand Bazaar in Tehran were in many ways the opposite of the small-town clashes that broke out last January. These were rallies of the economically privileged, such as people who sell foreign smartphones to Iran’s middle classes, and members of those middle classes themselves. Neither protest […]
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