European Union

By Meysam Tayebipour | (The Conversation) | – – Nine years ago, when sanctions were imposed on Iran by the international community, Total was the last Western energy company to suspend its activity there. Now, following the lifting of nuclear sanctions on Iran in January 2016, Total is the first Western company to return to […]

Environment

Record: Germany at 35% Renewables in Electricity Production

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – So far this year, over a third of German electricity has come from wind, solar, biomass and hydro, at 35%. That is 2 percentage points higher than in 2016. The percentage for the US is only 15%. Germany still has a long way to go to […]

France

Gunmen Shoot at Mosque-goers in France, Injure 8, including Child

contributors

TeleSur | – – Avignon police are now searching for the suspects who fled the scene. In the southeastern city of Avignon in France’s Provence region, two hooded men pulled up to the Arrahma mosque and opened fire on the crowd. The incident left eight people injured, including a 7-year-old girl, La Provence newspaper reported. […]

France

Another “Unbalanced” White Terrorist targets Muslims at Mosque Near Paris

contributors

TeleSur | – – Although the official investigation clearly said the attack was “deliberate,” the mainstream French media failed to report it. A man in a 4×4 car intentionally tried to run over worshippers coming out of a mosque in a southeastern suburb of Paris earlier this week according to police in the French capital, […]

Children

Demand-Side Slavery, Libyan Instability and European Crime Networks

Neil Thompson

Neil Thompson | (Informed Comment) | – – After several years in which refugees and migration have featured heavily in the Western media narrative, a disturbing correlation between human trafficking and conflict zones is well established. But new studies indicate that conflicts do not just cause human trafficking as refugees seek to flee warzones; wars […]

Donald Trump

Green France: Macron bans Fracking and welcomes US renewables Scientists fleeing Trump

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The French government wants to steal increasingly unemployed US green energy scientists, who are being systematically defunded by the Trump administration. After Trump pulled out of the Paris accords, Macron addressed US professionals: “To all scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, responsible citizens who were disappointed by the decision […]

Authoritarianism

Speaking Truth to Erdogan: His Authoritarian Turn and Europe

contributors

By Ludwig Schulz | German Orient Institute | (Via Euractiv.com ) | – – Ludwig Schulz looks at how scientific analysis can help counter President Erdoğan’s fake narrative of Turkey’s thriving democracy and why the European Union should reconsider its policy towards EU accession countries. In his official message for Europe Day on 9 May […]

European Union

Germany: We Europeans must Depend on Selves, not Trump’s USA

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, certainly knew what she was doing when she made her otherwise cautious statement. “The times,” she said, “in which we can entirely depend on others, are gone. This, I have experienced in the last few days. We Europeans must take […]

Climate Change

Only Putin is happy with Trump’s NATO Bull-in-China-Shop Catastrophe

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) Back in 2016 the talking heads on tv kept expecting candidate Trump, who made headlines almost daily saying racist and offensive things, to “transition.” Their theory was that he was acting out for his base in the GOP primaries but then would dial it back in the general election. […]