Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Despite the desire of all recent presidents to pivot away from the Middle East, Israel, fundamentalism and Iran have made it difficult to do so. In 2023, I believe that the Biden administration will have to spend far more time on Iran and Israel-Palestine than it had imagined, despite the […]
Israelis react to Extremist new Government: “They have come to Destroy,” A Gov’t “Based on Hatred,” and “the End of Liberal Israeli Democracy”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The new government in Israel has formally been voted in, with a 63-vote majority in the 120-seat Knesset or parliament. While the far right in Israel is ecstatic, even those a little closer to the center than the new extremists are full of trepidation. A former prime minister, Ehud Olmert, […]
What would the United States be Like if it was like Israel?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – What would the United States be like if it was like Israel? After the most recent election is held, the president comes out and says that settling North America is the exclusive privilege of white Christians. He is determined to make some parts of the U.S. whiter and more Christian […]
“Execution of the Palestinian People”: Netanyahu vows Massive Israeli Squatting on Palestinian Land, and ultimate Annexation
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As part of his bargain with the fascist blocs of Religious Zionism and Jewish Power, according to the Israeli newspaper Arab 48, incoming Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke of an “exclusive Jewish right” to expand settlements inside Israel praper, in Galilee and the Negev, as well as to plant squatters in […]
2022: Biden Policies Announce the End of the Beginning in Fight against CO2 Emissions
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In the midst of World War II, on November 10, 1942, Winston Churchill said of the war: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” The year 2022 was disappointing for the stated American […]
The Unbearable Whiteness of Being French: Murderer of Kurds ‘William M.’ Treated with kid Gloves
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Last Thursday, one “William M.,” a retired French train conductor, went to the Kurdish Cultural center in the 10th Arondissement of Paris with a gun and shot six people, killing three and wounding three others, all Kurds. Some were in a hairdresser’s shop. So write Nathalie Birchem et Denis Peiron […]
Top 8 Political and Geopolitical Shifts in the Middle East in 2022
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – We saw a lot of pivotal developments in the Middle East this year, including the impact of climate change in the form of increasing aridity and massive dust storms. But there were also realignments of interests that affect the U.S. Here are some of them: 1. President Biden in July […]
A Merry Palestinian Christmas in Bethlehem: Tourism and National Resistance
Palestinian Christians Israeli Occupation
The Great Muslim Sufi Mystic Farid al-Din Attar on Jesus’ Innocence, Love, Forgiveness
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Christians are often surprised to discover how important Jesus is to the Muslim spiritual tradition. The Muslim scripture, the Qur’an, praises him as a Word from God and affirms the Virgin Birth. In Muslim civilizations with painting traditions, such as the Mughals in India, Jesus, Mary and the nativity became […]