Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Labour Party in Britain announced that it would not submit a brief to the International Criminal Court arguing that the court has no jurisdiction over Israeli actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The previous Conservative government of Rishi Sunak had pledged to make such a submission, but the new […]
Kamala Harris denounces “Catastrophic levels of Food Insecurity” in Gaza, Calls for Permanent Ceasefire, in Pivot From Biden
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Vice President Kamala Harris met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, having had a convenient campaign event out of town that allowed her to be absent from his disgraceful address to Congress, which more than half of congressional Democrats also boycotted. In 1955, sociologist Will Herberg published Protestant, […]
Butcher of Gaza Netanyahu Repeatedly Lied to Congress about Iraqi “Nukes,” and now Wants US War on Iran
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a master of misdirection, the technique master illusionists use to divert the viewer’s attention from the trick and to pull the wool over their eyes. He uses his slick American accent, his bulging eyes, his rhetorical flourishes, his maniacal certainty, to fool people whenever […]
Israeli Parliament Rejects any Palestinian State, Exposing US Gaslighting
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Biden administration, and all its predecessors, have attempted to deflect questions about the concerted Israeli land theft from Palestinians in the Occupied Territories since 1967 by underlining Washington’s commitment to a “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The last time, however, that a US president put himself on the […]
Like LBJ, Biden let a Catastrophic Foreign Conflict Stain his Domestic Legacy: He must end the Gaza War Now
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Presidents have two major legacies, on domestic policy and on foreign policy. Big foreign policy mistakes can throw even gargantuan domestic wins into the shade. President Lyndon Baines Johnson reshaped the United States with his Great Society programs, and at least acquiesced in finally ending Jim Crow racial discrimination. Johnson’s […]
Over half of Turkey’s Electricity now comes from Renewables as it seeks to Escape Energy Dependence on Russia
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Turkiye is finally making strides toward a renewable grid. In the first half of 2024, according to the energy think tank Ember, over half (53%) of Turkiye’s electricity was generated by renewables. In the first two quarters of the previous year, 2023, that figure was only 44%. Moreover, the percentage […]
China and the Slowing Petroleum Market: EVs displaced 1.5 mn. Barrels per Day in 2024
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The International Energy Agency signaled last week that the rate of increase in world petroleum demand fell in the second quarter of 2024 to an 18-month low. The increased demand was only 710,000 barrels a day. The world used 102.04 million barrels per day of petroleum as of May. That […]
New Labour Government in UK Unleashes Onshore Wind, with 61% of British Electricity now Low-Carbon
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The new Labour government in Britain last week took steps to remove the ban on onshore wind farms instituted by the Conservative government, which made it possible for such projects to be forestalled even by a single objection. Gavin McGuire at Reuters reported that for the first time this winter, […]
From “Hang Mike Pence,” to “Paul Pelosi Hammered” to “Shooting Trump” — Political Violence is Deadly to Democracy
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – American politics has entered the most dangerous phase of its nearly 250-year existence, with the assassination attempt on Donald J. Trump on July 13 in Pennsylvania. As of this writing, the gunman and one audience member are being reported dead, and two other audience members are in critical condition. One […]