By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The US foreign aid budget is not mainly about helping the poor. It is an instrument for buying influence in countries important to the US. The poorest countries in the world do not get much help from the US. Israel, which is a wealthy country, gets […]
Trump picks fights with US Allies: Germany, NATO, EU, Britain etc.
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – After Trump falsely accused President Obama of having him wiretapped at Trump Tower during the campaign, Sean Spicer upped the ante by charging that Obama could have used the British GCHQ electronic surveillance agency to carry out the monitoring. GCHQ does in fact outrageously invade people’s […]
Why the UN branded Israel an Apartheid state
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| – – Note: Apparently the Trump administration at Israeli urging threatened to defund the UN if this report was not withdrawn.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. * […]
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