By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The archeological identification of stylized Arabic text for God (Allah) and Ali (the prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law) in burial garments of the Vikings in Sweden has thrown white supremacists into a tizzy. While the garments could just be the result of trade with the Middle […]
Oklahoma’s Ominous Earthquakes: the Price of Fracking (Video)
AJ+ | (Video News Report) | – – “The earth is shaking in Oklahoma, and it’s far from normal—a recent study by Cornell University and the U.S. Geological Survey has linked the state’s exponential spike in earthquakes with a surge in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Imran Garda talks to worried Oklahomans and gets a behind-the-scenes […]
Elbaradei: Trump Propaganda on Iran Nuclear Deal like Run-up to Iraq War
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Trump administration (actually UN Ambassador and far right Evangelical Nikki Haley) has decertified Iran from compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or Nuclear Deal of 2015. It would be interesting to know how many of Haley’s stupid and inaccurate talking points were provided […]
Painting of the Day: “The Lovers” (Iran, 1630)
Riza-yi `Abbasi (d. 1635) | ( Metropolitan Museum) | – – The Lovers Artist: Painting by Riza-yi `Abbasi (Persian, ca. 1565–1635) Date: dated A.H. 1039/ A.D. 1630 Geography: Attributed to Iran, Isfahan Medium: Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper Via Metropolitan Museum, New York.
Germany: Immediate Danger of Mideast War if Trump dumps Iran Deal
Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Foreign Minister warns that Europe will take the Russian and Chinese side on the Iran issue against the USA. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (Democratic Socialist Party: SPD) warned this week that if Trump pulls out of the Iran deal, it would provoke an immediate danger of […]
Trump wants 10-fold increase in Atom Bombs but is after Iran, which has none
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – As far as I can figure, the US presently has about 6,800 nuclear warheads, though it aims at going down to 4018 once it dismantles those scheduled to be decommissioned, by 2023. The Russian Federation has about 7,000 nuclear warheads, though it aims at going down […]
Corporations Shouldn’t Get to Have ‘Religious’ Objections to Your Health Care
By Martha Burk | (Otherwords.org) | – – Expanding “corporate citizen” rights into health care could ultimately affect everybody, not just women. When Obamacare — aka, the Affordable Care Act — became law in 2010, it mandated coverage of birth control without co-payments. Some employers didn’t like the rule, and Hobby Lobby hated it so […]
As Trump & Pruitt unleash Climate Demons, Scientists dream of Atlantic Wind Farm
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The debate over whether Donald Trump or Rex Tillerson has the higher IQ, provoked by a Trump tweet that he now says was a joke, actually raises a serious question. Why would someone deliberately sabotage our air, water and climate? The science needed for understanding that […]
Trump and the Faustian Bargain of Corker and the GOP
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Republican Establishment doesn’t want much in life, just for the wealthy to have ever lower taxes, for polluting industries to have ever less regulation, and for the health and welfare of the nation’s poor and workers to be someone else’s responsibility, preferably that of the […]
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