By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Yara Bayoumi at Reuters reports on the complicated minuet being danced by Russia, the Syrian Air Force, and the United States. The Syrian Air Force was bombing positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US euphemism for the leftist Kurds of the YPG. The US Air […]
Habitual Labor abuser Saudi Arabia elected to UN body Promoting Workers
By Brian Whitaker | ( Al-Bab.com ) | – – In a grotesque development earlier this week, Saudi Arabia – a world leader in the exploitation of migrant workers – won a seat on the governing body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The ILO is a United Nations agency “devoted to promoting social justice […]
London Mosque attack: Did Trump’s Tweets embolden Bigots?
by Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – A man driving a white van swerved just after midnight early Monday morning into a crowd of Muslims coming out of Finsbury Park Mosque in North London, severely injuring British Muslims. The Muslim Council of Britain called it a “violent manifestation of Islamophobia.” The organization asked […]
Putin’s End Game in Syria
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Syrian press is watching Oliver Stone’s interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin and likes what it sees. Syria’s al-Watan (The Nation) reports that Putin’s Syria policy is the complete restoration of central government authority over the entire country, in preparation for a pull-back of Russian […]
In March for 1st Time, 10% of US Electricity came from Wind and Solar
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – I’ve been a booster of renewable energy for years and years. I can remember when readers would taunt me that only one percent of US electricity came from non-hydro renewables. So here we are in 2017 and this March for the first time wind and solar […]
Trump to Send 4,000 More US Troops to Afghanistan as Mattis admits ‘Not Winning’
TeleSur | – – The Trump adminstration plans to deploy 4,000 more troops, extending the nearly The official says troops will train Afghan soldiers, and fight Taliban and Islamic State group forces. The Pentagon is planning to send almost 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, an official said anonymously Thursday. There are already around 8,400 U.S. […]
Putin offers Comey Asylum, likens him to Snowden
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – BBC Monitoring translates the remarks of Russian President Vladimir Putin broadcast on Rosiyya 1 TV on Thursday. He responded to the remarks last week of former FBI director James Comey in his testimony before the senate, deploring Comey’s assertion, without offering any proof, of Russian interference […]
From Syria to Somalia: Where have all the Children Gone?
By Karen J. Greenberg | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – “This is a war against normal life.” So said CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward, describing the situation at this moment in Syria, as well as in other parts of the Middle East. It was one of those remarks that should wake you up to the fact […]
Mattis overrules Trump on Qatari “terrorism,” sells it $12 bn in F-15s
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis defied his boss Donald Trump on Wednesday and inked a deal with the Qatar government to sell it $12 billion in F-15 fighter jets. Qatar hosts a US air base, al-Udeid, where some 11,000 US military personnel are based, and from […]
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