Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Wednesday, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield castigated Russia for having deported large numbers of Ukrainians from the parts of Ukraine that the Russian military had occupied, referring to these as “filtration operations.” She said, “Of course, I need not remind this Council that the forcible transfer […]
What’s worse than a Slow-Moving Doomsday Glacier like Thwaites? A Raptor Glacier Sprinting for the Ocean!
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As regular readers know, I’m fascinated by glaciers. Growing up in France, I had the opportunity at one point to learn to ski in the Swiss Alps. The US army does not consistently supply a jet set lifestyle to dependents of non-commissioned officers, to say the least, but sometimes you […]
Despite Israeli Whitewash, Its Killing of US Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was a War Crime
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli military issued a brazen whitewash of its killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and its shooting of her colleague Al Jazeera producer Ali al-Samoudi, on May 11 of this year. Using weasel words, the report admitted that it was “likely” that an Israeli sniper shot her dead. […]
Of Course there were Africans in Middle Earth, Just as there Were in Medieval England
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – American white nationalism has attempted to appropriate certain cultures, times and places as quintessentially “white,” and so it is no surprise that, as John Blake at CNN writes, there is controversy on the American Right about the multicultural casting visible in the Amazon Prime series Rings of Power, based on […]
Now Israel is Occupying the Hearts of Lovers in the Palestinian West Bank
Update: Once the proposed policy got some publicity, Israeli authorities canceled the requirement that anyone who falls in love with a Palestinian in the West Bank has to report it within 30 days to the Israeli Occupation military. They kept all the other Draconian measures, though Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a creepy policy […]
Empty Classified Document Folders at Trump’s Office at Mar-a-Lago: Where did the Docs Go?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – District Court Judge Aileen Cannon on Friday ordered the release of the inventory of US government documents seized by the FBI in its execution of a Department of Justice warrant authorizing the search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Sam Cabral at the BBC explains that the FBI searched not only […]
Biden comes out Swinging against Trumpian, MAGA GOP as Authoritarian, Violent
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden came out swinging in Philadelphia in a rare Thursday evening prime time address, denouncing the “MAGA Republican Party” of Donald Trump while praising what he termed “mainstream” conservative Republicans. MAGA is the acronym for “Make America Great Again,” the fascist slogan that disgraced former president Donald Trump […]
CO2 highest in a Million Years, Seas Rising, and a new “Ocean” arises in Flood-Hit Pakistan
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – CNN reports that satellite photos show that the overflowing Indus has created a new body of water in southern Pakistan some 62 miles (100km) wide. It will take days or weeks for the water to recede, and in the meantime millions are left homeless and over all, 33 million people […]
That Time Gorbachev Announced Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan and US went on Building up Muslim Fundamentalists there Anyway, leading to 9/11
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mikhail Gorbachev’s passing yesterday at age 91 is a good occasion to review some of the profound mistakes of the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush presidencies regarding Afghanistan. Reagan-era officials refused to believe that Premier Gorbachev actually intended to pull Soviet troops out of Afghanistan, though Gorbachev came into […]