European Union

Chancellor Angela Merkel sid Germany would “continue our effort” to raise defense spending “but not at the expense of development aid.”

Featured

Spain’s Socialists aim for 75% Renewables in Ten Years (at 40% Today)

Juan Cole

Spain is already getting 40% of its electricity from renewables, but its Socialist government hopes to nearly double that proportion in a little over a decade. Spain’s Socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez and his cabinet have approved a draft proposal to get t 74% of the country’s electricity from renewables by 2030, a little over […]

European Union

Morocco Produced 35% of its Electricity from Renewables in 2018

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Morocco produced 35% of its electricity last year from wind, solar, and hydroelectric sources, putting it on track to its goal of getting 42% from green sources by 2020. It had a further goal of 52% renewables by 2030, but now hopes to go even faster. In contrast, the US […]

Antisemitism

French Neo-Nazis Desecrate Jewish Cemetery with Swastikas in Alsace

AFP

Strasbourg (AFP) – Around 80 graves have been daubed with swastikas at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France, local officials said, hours ahead of nationwide marches on Tuesday against a rise in anti-Semitic attacks. The damage was discovered on Tuesday morning at a cemetery in the village of Quatzenheim, close to the border with Germany […]

Donald Trump

Leader of Free World Angela Merkel Rips Bark off Trump for humiliating German Auto Industry

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a major speech on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed anxiety that the world’s ‘security architecture’ is unraveling. “What we see as an overall architecture underpinning our world as we know it is a bit of a puzzle now; if you like, it has […]

Greece

Greece’s Muslim Minority Complain of “Marginalization”

AFP

What characterises this population is a plural identity

European Union

Europe declares independence of Trump, Creates Channel for Iran Trade

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In what French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called “an important geo-political gesture,” France, Germany and the UK have swung into action with the backing of the European Union to set up a mechanism, called Instex, which will permit European firms and banks to continue to trade with Iran without […]

Coal

Germany to End its Coal Industry, Go Green, within 20 Years

Clean Energy Wire

( Clean Energy Wire) – Energy transition home country Germany eyes a phase-out of coal power by 2038 at the very latest, as the country tries to get back on track to create a climate-friendly economy. In its highly anticipated phase-out proposal, the country’s coal commission said the world’s fourth largest economy could also wean […]

Featured

Ireland Bans Israeli Settler goods from Occupied Palestinian West Bank

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ireland’s parliament has voted by 78 votes to 45 to ban the importation into Ireland of goods produced by Israeli squatter firms in the militarily Occupied Palestinian West Bank. According to the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention on occupied territories, the occupying authority is forbidden to settle its own population in […]