Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A 7.8 earthquake that struck south-central Turkey and northwest Syria early on Monday morning. Although over two thousand are being reported dead in Turkey at midnight on Monday and more than a thousand in Syria, the death toll will grow a great deal as the rubble is combed by rescue […]
Iran’s Khamenei admits to holding “Tens of Thousands” of Prisoners of Conscience, Offers Amnesty if they Apologize for anti-Regime Protests
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The official website of Iran’s “August Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced Sunday that “tens of thousands” (دهها هزار) of political prisoners arrested for participating in the nationwide protests since the middle of September last fall will be granted amnesty or have their sentences much reduced. He said this move came […]
Why is the Biden Administration So Worried about Israel’s New Government? (Juan Cole Video Interview)
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I am interviewed by prominent journalist Steve Clemons, editor at large of the global news site Semafor, for his Al Jazeera English show, The Bottom Line, on “Why is the US worried about Israel’s new government?” It is a rollicking 24-minute conversation. Here is the YouTube description of the show: […]
Edwards Air Force Base Near LA to host Largest Solar-plus-storage Project in the World
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County, California, near Los Angeles and San Bernardino, is now home to the largest solar power array on any Air Force base in the country, as of this past week. Indeed, with a goal of “1,118 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) and 2,165 megawatts […]
No, Militant Israeli Squatters haven’t Exceeded 500K in Occupied Palestine: It is more Like 733,000
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – AP is reporting that what it calls the Israeli “settler” population in the Palestinian West Bank has now exceeded 500,000, quoting an Israeli squatter organization. Later in the article AP admits that about 200,000 Israelis also live in East Jerusalem, but does not specify that their presence there is illegal, […]
In 4th Quarter, for first time Hybrid and Electric Vehicles outsold Diesel and Gasoline Cars in the European Union
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In the European Union in the fourth quarter of 2022, for the first time in history diesel- and gasoline-powered automobiles with internal combustion engines (ICE) were a minority of vehicles purchased. Hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery-electric (BEV) cars together outsold the ICE models, according to DW. The European average was […]
US Sec. of State Blinken Offers some Anesthesia while Palestinians are Operated on by Far-Right Israeli Gov’t
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Tuesday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, and offered condolences on the “innocent Palestinians” killed by Israeli security forces or squatters on Palestinian land in the last year –though he did not specify a number and did not name a […]
Sec. of State Blinken’s Happy Talk Middle East Tour meets Meat Grinder of Rising Israeli Fascism
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The actually existing Middle East is not cooperating with the Washington representation of it. To hear Secretary of State Antony Blinken speak, you would think that a two-state solution to the Israeli Occupation of the Palestinians is still possible. It is not. You would think there was a “peace process.” […]
Israeli Squatters go wild in Israeli-Occupied Palestinian West Bank, attacking Palestinians, Cars, Shops and Olive Orchards
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Saturday evening and Sunday, the Israeli-Occupied Palestinian West Bank descended into an orgy of violence on the part of militant Israeli squatters on private Palestinian land, with the Palestine Authority recording 144 squatter attacks, according to Kamil Ibrahim, reporting from Jerusalem for al-Ra’i. Each act of vandalism or violence […]