European Union

( Clean Energy Wire ) – The number of electric vehicles (EVs) exported from Germany rose sharply in 2023, meaning that EVs accounted for about one quarter of all car exports that year, the country’s statistical office Destatis has said. The country exported about 786,000 fully electric cars for a total value of roughly 36 […]

Climate Crisis

Germany produced Record 175 TWh Energy with Wind, Solar in Past Year, as Wind Farms Surge

Clean Energy Wire

By Julian Wettengel | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) The year 2023 was the windiest in Germany in more than 15 years, providing excellent conditions for wind electricity generation, said Germany’s National Meteorological Service (DWD). In 2023, the average wind speed across Germany at a height of 100 metres [yards] – a typical hub […]

Featured

“It is Criminal..Show some Humanity!” Ireland will Join ICJ case against Israel on Gaza Starvation, Genocide

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Irish government has decided to intervene in the court case at the International Court of Justice against Israel on grounds of the commission of genocide. The complaint had been brought by South Africa, and the court found the charge of genocide plausible on January 26. It issued a preliminary […]

Featured

A Tale of two Femicides: Remembering Victims in Iraq and Italy on Int’l Women’s Day

Ibrahim Al-Marashi

San Marco, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – In early February 2023 a 22-year-old Iraqi YouTube star, Tiba Al-Ali was strangled by her father in an “honor killing,” part of the quotidian violence the nation has endured over the last two decades. In November 2023 Giulia Cecchettin, a 22-year-old engineering student from the Venice region […]

Climate Crisis

Number of Solar Batteries doubles to over One Million in Germany in 2023

Clean Energy Wire

By Sören Amelang | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Germany’s boom in stationary batteries linked to solar PV systems accelerated last year, doubling the total number of units to more than one million, reports solar industry association BSW. The batteries have a combined capacity of 12 gigawatt-hours – enough to power 1.5 million […]

Displaced and Refugees

Netherlands Judges Halt Export to Israel of F-35 Parts: “Disproportionate Civilian Casualties including Thousands of Children”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dutch News reports that an appeals court in The Hague, Netherlands, has ruled that the Dutch government must cease sending spare parts for the F-35 fighter-jet to Israel. The spare parts are technically owned by the U.S., but are kept in storage at Woensdrecht Air Base. The news site quotes […]

Featured

From the Siege of Leningrad to the Siege of Gaza: Colonialist Mentality

Yakov M. Rabkin

Montréal (Special to Informed Comment) – Eighty years ago, on January 27, 1944, people in the street were hugging each other and weeping with joy. They were celebrating the end of a nearly 900 days brutal siege. Soviet forces lifted the siege of Leningrad after ferocious battles. Exactly a year later they liberated Auschwitz. Even […]

Donald Trump

Trump’s Far Right Allies Plot to Take over the European Union and Sink its Green Deal

John Feffer

( Tomdispatch.com) – It would be funny if it weren’t so potentially tragic — and consequential. No, I’m not thinking about Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign but a related development: the latest decisions from the European Union (EU) about Ukraine. As 2023 ended, European nations failed to agree on a $54-billion package of assistance for […]