By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, certainly knew what she was doing when she made her otherwise cautious statement. “The times,” she said, “in which we can entirely depend on others, are gone. This, I have experienced in the last few days. We Europeans must take […]
Allies Furious as Trump w/draws from G7 Climate Commitment, May leave Paris Accord
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump bombed at the G7 summit in Italy. Despite an “intense” discussion with Germany, France and the others, who made it clear as sunshine that they wanted the US to meet its Paris Climate obligations, Trump refused to join in the issuance of a joint statement […]
Top 5 Questions about Kushner’s back channel to Moscow
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In a meeting with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the US, WaPo reveals that Jared Kushner asked that a private, encrypted back channel be set up to the Kremlin. The report is based on a leak to a WaPo reporter from last December, which the […]
Only Putin is happy with Trump’s NATO Bull-in-China-Shop Catastrophe
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) Back in 2016 the talking heads on tv kept expecting candidate Trump, who made headlines almost daily saying racist and offensive things, to “transition.” Their theory was that he was acting out for his base in the GOP primaries but then would dial it back in the general election. […]
Pope to Trump: Climate Change is Real and we have to act in Solidarity
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Pope Francis gave Donald J. Trump a going away present after their meeting on Wednesday. It was a copy of his Encyclical on the challenge of climate change, Laudato Si’, mi Signor,”Praised may you be, my Lord.” This document begins with a paean to Saint Francis, […]
The Other Terrorism: Toxic CO2 Gas Promoted by Trump Budget, Shell
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Terrorism is properly defined as non-state actors using violence against civilians to achieve a political purpose. Some argue that this definition lets states off the hook too easily, and that there is state terrorism as well. International law, however, puts those actions under the rubric of […]
Supreme Court Strikes down N. Carolina’s Racial Gerrymander
TeleSur | – – Ultra-conservative Justice Clarence Thomas sided with four liberal justices in the 5-3 majority decision. Yesterday the Supreme Court struck down North Carolina’s congressional map. The court found the that the Republican legislature was unconstitutional when it used race to draw the district lines, which reduced the voting power of minorities in […]
Terror and Geopolitics: Manchester 2017 and 1996
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Manchester, UK, was hit with the deadliest bomb attack on Monday since a June Saturday morning in 1996, when a massive 3000 lb. Provisional Irish Republican Army blast leveled the city center shopping district to rubble and left 200 wounded. The toll at the Ariana Grande […]
Trump on Islam: Neo-Orientalism and anti-Shi’ism
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump’s speech on Islam, written by notorious Islamophobe Stephen Miller, who used to organize Orwellian Two Minutes Hate sessions against Muslims at Duke, is just as bizarre as everything else Trump does. Miller-Trump imply, as has become common in right wing American discourse, that Muslims have […]
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