Europe

By Symon Hill ( Waging Nonviolence) – Thousands of people poured onto the streets of the United Kingdom . . . to challenge Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to suspend Parliament. Activists are used to calling on politicians to make decisions, not to take direct action. But that’s precisely what’s needed to stop Boris Johnson’s […]

European Union

Brexit: After PM Boris Johnson’s Coup, what’s left of the British constitution?

British Policy and Politics

The contemptuous ease with which the Johnson-Cummings regime has attempted to cripple parliamentary consideration of alternatives to a no-deal Brexit by proroguing Parliament raises further serious issues about the remaining value of the UK’s ‘unfixed constitution’. This controversy comes after a prolonged period in which the executive under May used every micro-institutional weapon to blackmail […]

Featured

France Upstages Trump at G7 by Inviting Iran to Salvage Nuclear Deal

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a surprise development, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif suddenly flew to Biarritz on Sunday for meetings on the sidelines of the G7 summit. He clearly was invited at the instance of French President Emannuel Macron, who is still attempting to salvage what he can of the 2015 Iran nuclear […]

Donald Trump

Iran: Germany and France Refuse to be Inducted into Trump’s Gulf Naval Operation against Tehran

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The government of Angela Merkel in Germany has rejected participation in the the Trump administration’s naval mission, “Operation Sentinel,” aimed at securing the Straits of Hormuz from Iranian interference in shipping. German foreign minister Heiko Maas of the Social Democratic Party said that Berlin opposes the Trump policy of “maximum […]

Islamophobia

Russian Twitter trolls stoke anti-Immigrant & anti-Muslim lies, and not Just in US

The Conversation

By Ahmed Al-Rawi and Yasmin Jiwani | – Russian troll activity on Twitter aimed at influencing public opinion has attracted a lot of attention in the United States and other western democracies. Canadians may feel it’s not an issue here. But a recent examination of Twitter data suggests there are reasons to be concerned as […]

Climate Change

Europe, are you Crazy? As a Continent Melts, New Coal Plants Planned and Permitting Blocks Wind Farms

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The heat wave that has swept Europe and given Paris the weather of Madras is certainly embroiled in human-caused climate change. The severity and frequency of such extreme weather is exacerbated by the 2.4 trillion metric tons of carbon dioxide human beings have spewed into the atmosphere since about 1750, […]

United Kingdom

Boris Johnson and the New Battle of Britain: Can Labour Keep UK in Europe?

John Feffer

(Foreign Policy in Focus ) – As hard Brexiteer Boris Johnson takes over, Labour is finally coming down on the side of Remain. Will it be too late? UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Photo: nottheviewsofmyemployer / Flickr / creative commons). All eyes are focused these days on Boris Johnson, the new prime minister of the […]

United Kingdom

Perfidious Albion? Is UK PM Boris Johnson an Islamophobic, anti-Immigrant, anti-Gay Bigot?

The Conversation

By Luke Reader | – After the election of Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and prime minister, does Britain have a populist, nativist politician as its head of government? It’s hard to say. Johnson has been a little of everything during his career. Over three decades in public life, Johnson has shifted between social […]

Iran

Crickets from European Union over Questionable UK Seizure of Iran tanker: With Brexit, London should Get Used to It

The Conversation

By Barry Ryan | – It’s rare to experience silence in this age of political anger and loudness, of bombastic tweets, insulting truths and incredible lies. It’s so unfashionable for a politician to not immediately respond to an event with lightening praise or withering cynicism, that when we hear nothing, it seems as though something […]