Europe

(48Hills.org ) – On June 26, in a major front page story, The New York Times wrote that Russia paid a bounty to the Taliban to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan last year. The story quickly unraveled. While the military is investigating the allegations, Mark Miley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says there’s […]

Europe

Europe’s Tunisian Heritage: Common German, English Words Suggest Carthage was Present in the North

The Conversation

By Robert Mailhammer | – Remember when Australians paid in shillings and pence? New research suggests the words for these coins and other culturally important items and concepts are the result of close contact between the early Germanic people and the Carthaginian Empire more than 2,000 years ago. The city of Carthage, in modern-day Tunisia, […]

Germany

Over Half of Germany’s Power Use in 1st Half of 2020 was from Wind and Solar, as Coal Sank

Clean Energy Wire

By Julian Wettengel | – Renewables covered more than half of Germany’s power consumption in the first six months of 2020, according to a first estimate by think tank Agora Energiewende*. As coal use dropped and demand was low due to the coronavirus crisis and energy sector emissions fell significantly. Germany will most likely reach […]

Afghanistan

Trump Likely did Throw US Troops in Afghanistan under the Bus, but Why would the Russians have Targeted Them?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Charlie Savage; Eric Schmitt and Michael Schwirtz at the New York Times broke the blockbuster story on Friday that GRU 29155, a violent unit of Russian military intelligence accused of poisoning a double agent in Britain in 2018, had offered militants and criminals a bounty if they killed coalition forces […]

Donald Trump

Trump’s incompetence has Reduced Americans to Lepers whom Europe won’t Let in

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The French press is reporting that the European Union is opening its borders on July 1, but will keep them closed to countries that seem incompetent in dealing with the coronavirus. The worst offenders in this regard are the United States and Brazil, the citizens of both of which will […]

China

The Final Defeat of the John Bolton Hawks? How Russia and China could humiliate Trump on Eve of Election by Lifting Iran Arms Embargo

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump is about to go up against China and Russia at the United Nations Security Council over the looming end to the UNSC arms embargo on Iran, and is facing a humiliating defeat that will further harm the US standing in global affairs. The 2015 Joint Plan for Collective Action […]

Donald Trump

Will Trump Follow through? US Congress’ ‘Caesar Act’ Sanctions Russian, Syrian, Iranian Officials over Torture, War Crimes

Lauren Lewis

( Middle East Monitor) – On this day, 17 June 2020, America’s Caesar Syrian Civilian Protection Act of 2019 (also known as the Caesar Act) takes effect. The act, which was passed by the US Senate in December 2019, requires the US President to impose sanctions on members and allies of the Syrian regime, including […]

African-Americans

Seattle’s BLM Autonomous Protest Zone and the Paris Commune of 1871: Anti-Capitalist Spirit still Lives

The Conversation

Oli Mould | – A new autonomous zone set up in Seattle by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement bears some striking similarities with the Paris Commune of 1871. Despite its brutal ending, the seminal event in the French capital 150 years ago set the agenda for progressive urban politics and broader social justice movements […]

Constitution

Could America’s Covid and Race Crises Weaken the Union the way Chernobyl Broke up the USSR?

Matthew Lenoe

Rochester, NY (Special to Informed Comment) – An unforeseen health disaster with rapidly propagating domestic and international consequences strikes a superpower already wallowing in heavy seas. Overwhelmed by the surge, the ship of state floods, and begins to break up. The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl in April 1986, and the subsequent disintegration of the USSR […]