Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – CNN and The Independent reported this week on a massive ice melt in Greenland, with on the order of 6 billion tons of ice lost in three days. The melting was because of a heat wave at the top of the world, caused by our burning coal, gasoline and methane […]
Hollow Men: All the Cowards of Jan. 6
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The damning Jan. 6 public hearings revealed a plethora of historical detail, but they also shed light on character. Some of these revelations were profiles in pusillanimity. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), one of the slimiest creatures ever to crawl into the halls of America’s legislature, gloried in a raised fist […]
Biden, Speaking of “Climate Emergency” and National Security, Pledges Executive Orders to Combat Global Heating
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that he would use executive orders and appeal to emergency measures in addressing what he caled the “climate crisis,” deploying among other tools the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He announced, “And in the coming weeks, I’m going to use the power I have […]
Russia announces $40 Bn. Investment in Iran Oil & Gas, as Khamenei Supports Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey arrived on Tuesday in Tehran for a summit on guaranteeing the Syrian peace process in the framework of the Astana negotiations. But since this summit took place in the wake of President Joe Biden’s trip to the Middle East to create a united […]
The Climate Emergency grounds the Royal Air Force in UK, more Effectively than any Terrorist
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – We will probably overshoot the UN goal of limiting extra global heating from the climate emergency to 2.7 degrees F. (1.5C), but Mother Nature is telling us that even just our current 1.8 to 2.16 (1C – 1.2C) degrees F. increase since 1850 is already enough to do major damage […]
Climate: Scientists Stunned to Find Atlantic Plankton 90% Gone; Marine Life, our Oxygen Imperiled
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – (Note: After publication, Jonathan Gitlin at Ars Technica took issue with the below on the grounds that it is based on a preprint and not a peer-reviewed academic journal article. He implies that Dryden’s study did not have enough data points to support his conclusions. I’ll let readers judge how […]
Bin Salman: US Whitewashed Israeli Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, so why is Biden so upset about Khashoggi?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, pulled back the curtain for the Alarabiya news channel (Saudi-owned but based in Dubai) on what transpired at the meeting between President Joe Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman: Al-Jubeir confirmed that Biden, as he had pledged, quickly […]
In Saudi Arabia, Biden Plays Defense against Russia, China, Iran
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Although President Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia was ostensibly about petroleum and attempting to lower gasoline prices in the US, it doesn’t seem to me that that rationale entirely explains Biden’s about-face on Saudi Arabia. For one thing, Biden must have been told that Saudi Arabia does not have […]
Palestinians Protest, hang Black Flags of Mourning over Biden’s Bethlehem Visit, Accusing him of Sidelining their Political Rights
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that widespread protests broke out on Thursday in the Israeli-Occupied Palestinian West Bank against the planned visit on Friday by US President Joe Biden to Bethlehem, with residents staging demonstrations and raising black flags. They chanted against US one-sidedness in backing Israel’s actions, and […]