Europe

Auburn, Alabama (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – There’s a history to the war between Russia and the West going back to the Cold War and the unification between East and West Germany. Thomas Friedman once asked George Kennan, (the architect of the US Cold War strategy on containment), what he thought about NATO expansion, […]

Climate Crisis

New Labour Government in UK Unleashes Onshore Wind, with 61% of British Electricity now Low-Carbon

Juan Cole

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, […]

Democracy

Britain’s Labour beat the Right, but Must hasten to Win Public Trust and heal Rift with own Left

Farhang Jahanpour

Oxford (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Britain’s latest General Election held on 4th July was nothing short of a major political earthquake that put an end to 14 years of often tumultuous and chaotic Conservative rule. The Labor Party, led by Sir Keir Starmer, overturned a big Conservative majority of 80 seats in the […]

Australasia

Blinded to all but the Anglo-Saxon “Five Eyes:” The Bias of US Policy toward Asia

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Wherever he travels globally, President Biden has sought to project the United States as the rejuvenated leader of a broad coalition of democratic nations seeking to defend the “rules-based international order” against encroachments by hostile autocratic powers, especially China, Russia, and North Korea. “We established NATO, the greatest military alliance in […]

Europe

Europe: The Onslaught of the Far Right

Marc Martorell Junyent

Munich (Special to Informed Comment) – After the results of the elections to the European Union parliament were announced on the night of June 9, a common reflection in many political analyses was that the center had held. The far-right advanced but not as much as some polls had predicted. The resistance of the center […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel, Russia and International Law

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Lawrence S. Wittner | ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – International law―the recognized rules of behavior among nations based on customary practices and treaties, among them the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights―has been agreed upon by large and small nations alike. To implement this law, the nations of […]

European Union

Beyond a Two State Solution – Why Recognising the State of Palestine is Important

Ramzy Baroud

( Middle East Monitor ) – In politics, context is crucial. To truly appreciate the recent decision by Ireland, Spain and Norway to recognise the State of Palestine, the subject has to be placed in proper context. On 15 November, 1988, Yasser Arafat, then Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, declared Palestine as an independent […]

Apartheid

Ireland Recognizes Palestine, Broaches sanctions on Israel for “Barbaric” Airstrikes, Settler Violence

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ireland joined Spain and Norway on Tuesday in formally recognizing Palestine as a “sovereign and independent state” in Gaza and the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital, inside 1967 borders. The prime minister or Taoiseach of Ireland, Simon Harris, proclaimed, “Ireland’s decision is about keeping hope alive. It […]

Israel/ Palestine

Gaza and Ukraine Wars Causing Massive Pollution, Environmental Damage

The Conversation

By Richard Marcantonio, University of Notre Dame and Josefina Echavarria Alvarez, University of Notre Dame | – (The Conversation) – As wars grind on in Ukraine and Gaza, another location ravaged by conflict is taking steps to implement a historic peace agreement. From the mid-1960s through 2016, Colombia was torn by conflict between the government, […]