Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Syrian Revolution of 2024 has succeeded in deposing the al-Assad dynasty, in power since 1970, throwing off the rule of the once mighty Syrian Socialist Baath Party, a feared and murderous one-party state. Rebel forces streamed into the capital, Damascus, Sunday morning, facing no significant resistance from government troops, […]
Why Iran can’t Stand up for the al-Assad Government: Russia isn’t Offering Air Support
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The strategic situation in Syria is dire for the Baathist government of Bashar al-Assad. Typically in military history, if an invader takes the capital of the other country, it secures its victory. Damascus is the prize. Damascus has an Achilles heel. It is landlocked, deep in the south of the […]
“It is like an Apocalypse:” Amnesty International finds Israel is deliberately undertaking Genocide against Palestinians of Gaza
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Amnesty International has just put out a detailed report based on its own fieldwork and masses of other evidence finding that Israel is committing a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The organization joins several other international bodies in coming to that conclusion, and it is one that I endorsed in […]
Shiite Iraqi PM to Türkiye: Baghdad will not be a Mere Spectator as Sunni Radicals take Syria
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia’ al-Sudani called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday and read him the riot act about the lightning conquests in northern Syria of Sunni rebels. Al-Sudani cautioned that “Iraq will not be a mere spectator to the grave repercussions of the events taking place in […]
Syria as Putin’s Afghanistan: How a Radical Fundamentalist take-over of Damascus could Change the Middle East
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The collapse of the Baathist government of Syria in the north of the country, as the al-Qaeda affiliate HTS (Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham or the Levant Liberation Council) advanced into Aleppo and Hama, could reconfigure the Middle East. The rapidity of the advance and the Muslim fundamentalist leadership of the fighters […]
Killing One innocent Soul is the Same as Killing all of Humanity: Jewish and Muslim Teachings against Cosmocide
The below is an excerpt from my essay, “The Sin of Cosmocide,” for Renovatio, the literary magazine of Zaytuna, the Muslim liberal arts college in Berkeley, Ca. It underlines how both Jewish and Muslim spiritual teachings forbid the killing of innocents who are guilty of no crime, and equate this deed to killing all humankind […]
In Sunny Spain, cheap Solar Power set to overtake Wind Generation, backed by Socialist Government and Co-ops
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Spain’s photovoltaic electricity production is set to surpass its wind power, according to China’s Xinhua news agency. Spain is Europe’s champion at producing solar power, because some of its regions are especially sunny — think Seville. The Global Energy Monitor puts it this way: “The country has more utility-scale solar […]
Consumer Solar Surge: Pakistan Shows you Don’t Need Government Programs to Green the Grid
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – While no one was looking, the Pakistani public took matters into their own hands, adding 17 gigawatts of solar power this year. These installations are mostly in the form of Chinese panels for rooftop or ground level solar in towns and villages. Pakistan has abruptly become the world’s sixth-largest consumer […]
Lebanon Ceasefire underlines that both Israel and Hezbollah Lost the War
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – When Iran and Iraq were fighting each other in the 1980s, with neither regime being much liked in Washington, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is said to have remarked, “The tragedy is that both sides can’t lose.” Actually, of course, in most wars both sides lose, and certainly the […]
© 2026 All Rights Reserved