Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – General David Petraeus, as he prepared to help lead an invasion of Iraq, famously asked journalist Rick Atkinson, “Tell me how this ends.” No one doubted that the US could invade and occupy Iraq. It just wasn’t clear even to insiders what the US could possibly do to get back […]
The Plague as Life: 327,000 Stricken with Infectious Diseases in Gaza
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In Albert Camus’ novel The Plague, a character at one point asks, “But what does it mean, the plague? It’s life, that’s all.” The plague has come to Gaza. What happens when you force 1.8 million people into a postage-stamp-sized territory and destroy or damage half of their dwelling places, […]
Why did Biden suddenly accuse Israel of War Crimes in Gaza?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Tuesday, President Joe Biden de facto accused Israel of war crimes in Gaza. He said at a donor event, “Israel’s security can rest on the United States, but right now it has more than the United States. It has the European Union, it has Europe, it has most of […]
Elise Stefanik, proponent of Great Replacement Theory, is no Foe of Racial Bigotry against Jews or Anyone Else
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) does not care about antisemitism. In the notorious congressional hearing in which she participated last week, she weaponized anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hatred in order to embarrass three university presidents with dishonest “have you stopped beating your spouse?” questions — pretending to do so in order […]
Half of Palestinians in Gaza are now Starving; Depriving Civilians of Food is a War Crime
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The United Nations warned on Saturday that half the population of Gaza is now starving. The World Food Programme (WFP) had reported at the end of November that in the north of Gaza, about half of the people were suffering “severe levels of hunger.” Meanwhile, nearly everyone had inadequate levels […]
On How Israeli/US War Crimes in Gaza are orders of Magnitude Worse than those of Russia in Ukraine
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Biden administration has spent most of its diplomatic energy since the February 24, 2022, Russian invasion of Ukraine marshaling the world to punish the Russian Federation, to boycott its petroleum and gas, to seize assets even of private citizens in Europe and North America, and to make Russia a […]
The Other Israel-Gaza Conflict: On Campus (Juan at Dawn)
Excerpted from Dawn (Democracy for the Arab World Now) Israel’s total war on Gaza, following Hamas’s horrific terrorist attack on Oct. 7, has roiled higher education in the United States. The atrocities committed by Hamas in southern Israel two months ago have reverberated on many U.S. campuses, deeply traumatizing many Jewish students. But so too […]
Russian Roulette: Doctors w/out Borders Demand Immediate Ceasefire as Hospitals turned into “Morgues”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Doctors without Borders (the French volunteer organization Médecins Sans Frontières [MSF]) has written a poignant letter to the United Nations Security Council imploring for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. They took this step after Israeli troops deliberately attacked MSF rescue vehicles and destroyed them with tank fire. Making the shotMaking […]
This is a War on Children, and “Safe Zones” are Death Traps: UNICEF
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Gaza was a free-fire zone on Saturday and Sunday, with UN officials saying that no place in the Strip is safe. Hundreds were killed, almost all of them innocent noncombatants, and including a worrisome number of children. Although Israel tried to pull the stunt of issuing a map with supposedly […]