Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Renewable energy continues to burgeon rapidly in the United States. Here are some of the signs of a major transformation that may not always be apparent on the surface: 1. The US tripled that amount of money invested in offshore wind in 2022 to $9.8 billion, according to Kassia Micek […]
Israeli Rampage leaves 11 Dead, over 100 Injured in Occupied Nablus, but Kamala Harris only Condemns Russian Occupation of Ukraine as War Crime
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A daytime Israeli military raid on Wednesday on an apartment in the Palestinian city of Nablus in the Palestinian West Bank spiraled out of control, with the Israeli troops killing 11 persons and wounding over one hundred civilians with gunshots. Some of the injured are in critical condition. The Israelis […]
Sen. Bernie Sanders, “Embarrassed” by “racist” Israeli Government, Threatens to Withhold Aid
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) came on Face the Nation Sunday. In the course of the interview, Sanders lashed out at the new, extremist government in Israel, which includes a minister once convicted of incitement to racial violence and more than one figure belonging to Kahanist organizations of a sort that […]
Jimmy Carter’s Greatest Triumph: Guinea Worm on Verge of Extinction, with only 13 Cases in 2022
Former President Jimmy Carter’s family has announced that he is undergoing hospice care at home, a sign of his imminent passing. In his honor, I am reprinting this column with some updates. The guinea worm may be the second major human disease after smallpox to be completely eradicated. It is a parasite that you get […]
Israeli Delegate Expelled from African Union Summit, in what may be First Global South Reaction to new Extremist Netanyahu Government
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Saturday at the opening of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Israeli delegate was asked to leave. Sharon Bar-Li, the deputy director of the African desk at the Israeli foreign ministry, was escorted out of the opening session by security guards, according to the Al Jazeera […]
Do we Have Until 2050 to become Carbon Neutral? What if 27 Climate Feedback Loops are Working together to Shorten our Deadline?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Feedback loops are central notions in science. There are two kinds, negative and positive. Negative feedback loops, despite their name, are actually good if you are looking for stability. So for instance say you are too hot, so you sweat. The sweat evaporates, cooling you off. In fact, it could […]
No, Mike Pompeo, God doesn’t Want the Palestinians to be Ethnically Cleansed and Shot down like Dogs
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a podcast interview in which he said that Israel has a “biblical right” to the Palestinian West Bank, to which he referred as “Judea and Samaria,” and is not “an occupying nation.” So reports Chris McGreal for The Guardian.. Pompeo defended the Trump […]
More Evidence that the Massive Thwaites Glacier is Melting Fast, Threatening the world’s Coasts
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is in the news again. We are fascinated with it because it is the Godzilla of glaciers, 80 miles across and as massive as Florida. If the ice sheet holding it back were to melt, and if Thwaites plopped into the ocean, it would all […]
Iran’s Raisi Visits Beijing, Signs 20 Agreements, as Iranian Lion and Chinese ‘Yellow Dragon’ seek to Outflank US Pressure
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited China on Tuesday in response to an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping. China is probably now Iran’s biggest trading partner, and the trade of the two countries increased by 30% in 2022. At the meeting, twenty economic commitments were signed by the two sides. […]