By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Note: Apparently the Trump administration at Israeli urging threatened to defund the UN if this report was not withdrawn. The UN Secretary-General caved, and the executive director of ESCWA (who was also an under-secretary general of the UN), Rima Khalaf, has resigned. The legal case built […]
I Am an Enemy of the People (Feffer)
By John Feffer | ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) | – – If Trump cracks down on journalists, there might be less uproar than you’d think. Even before the election of Donald Trump — and his extraordinary declaration that the media are the “enemies of the people” — U.S. journalism was in trouble. According […]
Hawaii Judge: Trump’s Muslim Ban 2.0 still Violates the Constitution
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Derrick Watson, US District Court judge in Honolulu, has issued a nationwide Temporary Restraining Order against Trump’s second attempt at an Executive Order excluding people from Muslim-majority countries from the United States. Watson found that the state of Hawaii, which brought the suit, was likely to […]
Trump & Saudi Arabia: Oil Boycott or Bromance?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump is meeting this week with Muhammad bin Salman, the deputy heir apparent of the Saudi Arabian throne and the minister of defense. He had lunch with him at the White House on Tuesday, and will have more extended talks on Thursday, according to white House […]
Is Russia trying to take back over Libya from NATO, Radicals?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Reuters is reporting that some 22 Russian special operations forces have set up a base in Western Egypt near the Libyan border in preparation for an intervention in Libya. Other recent reports have suggested that Russian mercenaries have been active in eastern Libya. The Russian government […]
Dear Rep. King: Our Civilization isn’t White and American Babies aren’t Other
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Rep Steve King of Iowa (whose constituents should be ashamed to show their faces in public went full-on racist again, supporting hate-speech master Geert Wilders in his quixotic quest to reverse globalization and ban Muslims from Europe. King lauded Wilders’ supposed wisdom and added “we can’t […]
How Much of Globe’s Humanitarian Crisis is Fault of US?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned Saturday that the globe is facing the worst humanitarian crisis since the end of World War II. 2016 set post-war records in misery. * More than 76 mn persons from 31 countries needed assistance. * […]
Close the Coal Plants: How to Reply to Pruitt’s Lie about CO2 & Climate
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Having Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency is sort of like the plot of that Showtime thriller Dexter, where the police forensic technician trying to catch criminals is in his spare time a vigilante serial killer. Pruitt is Koch and ALEC. Pruitt actually […]
Syria: As 400 more Troops go in, What’s Trump’s Mission?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The US had about 500 troops embedded with the People’s Protection Units (Kurdish acronym YPG) until this week, when another 400 were deployed, along with heavy artillery. It is rumored in the Arabic press that yet more troops, perhaps as many as 2000, will soon be […]
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