By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The marches for science in the United States and around the world are an expression of alarm about the Trump administration’s budget proposals, which slash public funding for science, medical and technology research and seek to increase the Pentagon budget by $54 bn. Federal funding for […]
ISIL Terror-Trolls French Election, Supporting far Right; Will French Fall for It?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Thursday’s shooting at the Champs Elysee, left one policeman dead, another gravely injured, a third lightly wounded along with a German tourist shot in the heel. It was carried out by Karim Cheurfi, a French national aged 39, born at Livry-Gargan in Seine-Saint-Denis. He had opened […]
Top 5 Ways Bill O’Reilly gave us Trump and cheapened America
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Bill O’Reilly is off the airwaves, but it doesn’t really matter. The despicable strategy of presslord Rupert Murdoch of orienting his Fox Cable “news” toward the nativist far right in the United States will continue. They’ll just find another O’Reilly. Worse, there is more or less […]
The Coming Muslim Century: Bad news for President Bannon
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Demographically, the 21st century will be the Muslim Century, as the Pew Research Center on Religion in Public Life has shown. Muslims will go from 24% of the world’s population today to 31% by 2060. I.e. they will equal the Christian population of the world by […]
Don’t want to lose the Next Mideast War? Don’t Fight One
Danny Sjursen | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – Make no mistake: after 15 years of losing wars, spreading terror movements, and multiplying failed states across the Greater Middle East, America will fight the next versions of our ongoing wars. Not that we ever really stopped. Sure, Washington traded in George W. Bush’s expansive, almost […]
As Leftist Turks Protest, Trump congratulates Erdogan on Authoritarian Turn
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Several hundred Turks demonstrated in Istanbul on Monday in protest at the referendum result on Sunday transforming Turkey into a presidential system and handing vast powers to right wing politician Tayyip Erdogan. In contrast, US president Donald J. Trump called Erdogan to congratulate him on his […]
Turkish Democracy in Trouble, but not Because of Presidential System
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Turkey’s historic referendum on Sunday will move the country from a parliamentary to a presidential system. Many observers are sounding a death knell for Turkish democracy as a result, but the move to presidentialism in and of itself isn’t the problem. Interestingly, Erdogan won with a […]
Why Population Exchange Fails: Over 100 Dead as Buses Bombed
by Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Someone detonated a car bomb in the (rebel-held) Rashideen district of Aleppo Province Friday night, killing over 100 and wounding over 500. It targeted lead buses that had brought in evacuees from two Shiite villages being evacuated because their sectarian complexion makes them sitting ducks in […]
40% of California Grid Power from Solar, Sometimes Costs less than Nothing
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – For the first time, on the day of March 23, 40% of Californian grid power between 11 am and 2 pm was generated by utility-scale solar plants. This proportion was a seasonal effect but not a fluke, and it certainly points to what will be routine […]
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