Europe

By Carl Max Kortepeter | (Informed Comment) | – – When Sally Yates testified that she had told the Trump Organization, before his appointment as National Security Adviser, that General Flynn was in the pay of Turkey, for $600,000, President Trump should not have made the appointment. Appointments have consequences. General Flynn was acting erratically […]

China

Is China Now the Adult in the Room? Xi and Macron Consult

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Donald Trump preferred the Neofascist Marine Le Pen as president of France, who wanted to pull out of NATO and the European Union. Trump’s own Environmental Protection Agency advisers are resigned because of his attack on the science of climate change. Trump is mulling pulling out […]

Donald Trump

Russians Troll Trump, release Photos of Meeting

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – CNN says White House officials were furious on Wednesday when the Russian press (the only journalists invited to the meeting of Trump with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak) abruptly released the pictures. Apparently White House staff thought there was […]

Featured

What will new French President Macron do about Syria & ISIL?

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Now that Emmanuel Macron is president of France, it is worthwhile asking what sort of foreign policy he would be likely to pursue. The French presidential system is more centralized than the American. I once did some consulting at the Quai D’Orsay, the French Foreign Ministry, […]

Featured

It was ISIL, not Hackers, who Hijacked French Election

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – That hackers, most likely Russia-linked, were trying to throw the French election to Marine Le Pen this weekend by releasing thousands of emails from her opponent Emmanuel Macron, probably struck too late to achieve their goal. They were counting on the rule that candidates may not […]

Far Right

As Russians Hack, France decides if it Hates Foreigners

contributors

Richard Fogarty | (The Conversation) | – – On April 24, the day after her second-place finish in the first round of the French presidential elections, Marine Le Pen thundered against her opponent, Emmanuel Macron, declaring, “Nothing in Monsieur Macron’s plan, nor anything in his behavior indicates the least evidence of love for France.” (Update […]

Iran

Syria: Rebels denounce De-escalation Zones ok’d by Russia, Iran, Turkey

contributors

TeleSur | – – Signatories to the agreement say that there should be a cessation of hostilities in safe zones designated by the three powers by Friday. Russia, Turkey and Iran on Thursday signed a memorandum on creating safe zones in Syria, while a delegation of the armed Syrian opposition walked out and shouted angrily […]

Far Right

Uh, oh: French Left can’t bring itself to Vote for Macron

contributors

TeleSur | – – TeleSUR spoke with two French voters to discuss Sunday’s second-round presidential election in France and lesser evil voting. French voters are confronted with a difficult choice on Sunday’s runoff presidential election: Emmanuel Macron, a neoliberal former investment banker who served as an economy minister in the current — and historically unpopular — government, and […]

Economy

Russia’s Neo-Feudal Capitalism

contributors

Anders Åslund. | (Project Syndicate) | – – WASHINGTON, DC – Vladimir Putin’s Russia is looking more and more like the sclerotic and stagnant Soviet Union of the Leonid Brezhnev era. But in one area, Putin’s regime remains an innovator: corruption. Indeed, in this, the 18th year of Putin’s rule, a new form of crony […]