By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – As Techdirt reported, Elon Musk has already put up a solar power generating facility at the Hospital del Nino in San Juan, with a Powerwall storage capacity so that the electricity will still be there at night. Musk believes that this model could replace Puerto Rico’s […]
Top 7 ways Saudi could learn from Qatar about Moderate Islam
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Saudi Crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman has announced that he wants to take his kingdom toward a more moderate Islam. The state religion of Saudi Arabia is what outsiders call Wahhabism, a puritanical and strident interpretation of the religion. Only about 40% of Saudis are thought […]
Will Trump’s Iran moves Backfire, Enabling Hard Liners?
By Reese Erlich | ( 48hills.org )- – In Washington DC, Trump’s moves against the Iran nuclear agreement are seen as getting tough on a dangerous enemy. In Iran, they are seen as the first steps towards another war in the Mideast. Last week, Trump refused to certify the nuclear agreement. Under that accord Iran […]
The Break-Up of America: Donald Trump and the Fourth Great Shattering
By John Feffer | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – When the historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., published his bestseller The Disuniting of America in 1991, he didn’t seriously entertain the worst-case scenario suggested by the title. At the time, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia were imploding, while separatist movements in Quebec, East Timor, Spain’s Basque […]
Fading ISIL in Syria lashes out, kills 128 in reprisals as Gov’t takes back Town
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The so-called Islamic State group of Syria and Iraq, which locals call Daesh (in US, it is ISIS or ISIL), needs a new name. It hardly exists in either of those countries, much less as a state. Maybe “Losers anywhere” would work for them. The extremists, […]
Sen. Lindsey Graham surprised at US Troops in Niger? He could have read Nick Turse
By Jon Queally, staff writer. | ( Commondreams.org) ” – – Graham Should Read More Nick Turse, TomDispatch, and Common Dreams. What U.S. Senators Don’t Know (and Neither Do You) About What the Pentagon Is Doing in Africa Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the Senate’s most outspoken military hawks and member of the powerful […]
The economic case for solarizing Puerto Rico’s power grid (Video)
Jon LaPook | (CBS This Morning Video Interview) | – –
Tillerson tells Iraqi Shiite Militias to “go home.” Sad.
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump-style ignorance and faux pas are spreading, with Tillerson making missteps on Iraq. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for consultations, called on Iranian militias in Iraq to “go home.” There is one problem. There are no Iranian militias in Iraq. The Popular […]
No, Trump, British Crime isn’t going up because of Muslims
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Hate crimes are up 30% in the UK over the previous year, rising from 62,518 reported offenses in 2015-16 (the year ends in March). The following year, 2016-17, that number rose to 80,393. Brexit and Islamophobic reactions against extremist terrorism are thought to explain the increase. […]