By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – With the Iraqi campaign against ISIL having wrested from it Mosul and Talafar, and with Hawija and Qaim really the last two areas where it actually controls a town, you have to wonder if ISIL was ever all that formidable. Three years after it announced its […]
Green Energy Jobs: Top 7 Pieces of Rare Good News for US Workers on Labor Day
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – 1. The Christian Science Monitor says that in 2016, US solar businesses employed 260,077 workers – up 25 percent from 2015. 2. That is, the solar energy sector alone employs more people than Apple, Google, and Facebook combined! 3. Solar also employs more people in US […]
Are Muslims allowed to be Sympathetic Victims in US Media, or only Perpetrators?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Libyan activist Hend Amry makes an important point about the relative lack of interest of television news in stories such as the persecution of the Burmese (Myanmar) Muslims by the Buddhist establishment: When Muslims are the victims of terrorism, there isn't the fraction of western attention […]
Texas Wind turbines went right on Turning under Harvey’s impact, as Refineries Shut Down
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Extreme weather is in our future. Caribbean hurricanes of the future will be more and more violent and destructive because of manmade global heating. Sea level rise will open the coast to bigger storm surges. The number of coastal floods has already doubled since the 1980s […]
As Trump probes move against Iran, IAEA certifies its Compliance with Nuclear Deal
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The warmongers in the Trump administration (you didn’t fall for that isolationism scam did you?) have been exploring ways to blow up the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump has repeatedly castigated as “a very bad deal.” One ploy they’ve fixed on is to demand inspections of […]
Turkey-Backed fundamentalist Militias attack US Troops in Syria
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – US troops in Syria operating north of Manbij have been fired on twice in the last couple of weeks. The attackers are fundamentalist remnants of the Free Syrian Army, backed by Turkey. The US has tried to persuade rebel groups to concentrate their firepower on ISIL […]
China smashes 2020 solar power target, leaves US & Europe in Dust
By Sam Morgan | ( EURACTIV.com) | – – China eclipses Europe as 2020 solar power target is smashed. China has reached its 2020 solar power target three years ahead of schedule, after installed capacity topped well over its 105GW target. Europe has been urged to show similar ambition. New figures published by solar industry […]
The Criminals who amplified Harvey: Trump & Cabinet must Resign
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The whole Trump administration should resign in shame, since they have lied to the American people about the disaster of burning fossil fuels. The policies of climate change denial made Hurricane Harvey far worse than it would ordinarily have been, some scientists say by as much […]
20,000 Civilians Trapped in besieged ISIL capital: “The Worst Place on Earth”
By Roshni Majumdar | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS, Aug 28 2017 (IPS) – The battle to reclaim Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL/Da’esh), has raised concerns among top UN officials as at least 20,000 civilians remain trapped under heavy fire in the city. […]