Nick Cunningham at Oilprice.com points to the dilemmas implicit in the rumored Saudi plan to engineer a return to $100 a barrel oil. That price level translates into an average gasoline price in the US of $3.57, though in California, with a population of about 40 million. that price would be over $4.00 per gallon […]
Calls for stripping Natalie Portman of Israel Citizenship for criticizing Shooting Palestinian Protesters
“Annihilation” star Natalie Portman replied to the controversy stirred by her declining to attend the Genesis Foundation awards ceremony in Jerusalem in June because of her distress at “recent events” (the shooting down of unarmed protesters in Gaza by Israeli snipers at the order of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu). She wrote at Instagram: “Let me […]
Top Six Reasons Pompeo Should Not Be Secretary of State
NBC is reporting that Mike Pompeo lacks the votes in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to have his nomination to be Secretary of State be favorably reported out of committee on Monday night. Democrats on the committee have expressed fears that Pompeo, a warmonger, will reinforce the worst tendencies of Trump. Pompeo has been director […]
Star Wars actor Natalie Portman cancels Award in Israel, hints Netanyahu has gone to the Dark Side
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Natalie Portman has declined the award of the annual Genesis Foundation Prize in Jerusalem on the grounds that she is distressed by recent events. The Academy Award-winning actress, who was born in Jerusalem and is an American and Israeli dual citizen, said that she “cannot in […]
Friedman: Does Iran’s Quds Force really Control four Countries and is Israel-Iran War Near?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Thomas Friedman’s column this week made several allegations about the danger of an explosive situation in Syria, about which he is certainly correct. He pointed out that the US-UK-France missile strikes on Syria in reprisal for the alleged use of chlorine gas at Douma by the […]
Syria After Trump’s Withdrawal: Top Reasons an “Arab Force” will Fail
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – President Trump’s determination to withdraw US troops from eastern Syria by October, so that GOP candidates for representative and senator can run on having defeated ISIL and having then brought the troops home, has created a policy dilemma for the Department of Defense and for the […]
The Hannity Case is so Serious it Requires a Consumer Boycott of his Advertisers
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The problems at Fox Cable “News” go way beyond Sean Hannity. But he is a major problem. For him to go on air and defend attorney Michael Cohen numerous times without so much as mentioning that Cohen is his legal adviser is the height of journalistic […]
Comey did it to himself & Us, by gutting Privacy, Encryption, & 4th Amendment
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In former FBI director James Comey’s interview with ABC News, he attempted to position himself as an upholder of the rule of law, of the constitution, and even of the truth. Human beings are very good at forgetting their own misdeeds and building narratives that justify […]
Iraq on Syria Strikes: We’ve seen this Movie and it doesn’t End Well
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iraq’s foreign ministry came out strongly against the US, British and French missile strikes on Syria. In a statement issued Saturday, the ministry called the attacks “an extremely dangerous step”that could result in a weakening of regional security. Spokesman Ahmad Mahjub said, “The ministry underlines the […]
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