Europe

(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 […]

Climate Change

In Just the Past Year, German CO2 Emissions fell by 33%, as Gas Replaced Coal

Clean Energy Wire

The end for German Coal could come Sooner than anyone Expects

European Union

180 Gigs of Offshore Wind: Europe May Build 10 Artificial North Sea “Energy Islands”

Clean Energy Wire

By Kennedy Nyavaya | – Several European grid operators have proposed to build at least ten artificial “energy islands” as wind power hubs in the North Sea to make use of large-scale offshore wind energy in meeting the continent’s climate targets. According to the North Sea Wind Power Hub (NSWPH) consortium – which includes TenneT, […]

Donald Trump

The ‘inept’ Mr Trump – and the Lost Art of the Diplomatic Cable

Brian Whitaker

(Al-Bab.com) – The point of diplomatic cables, and the cause of excitement when they are leaked, is that they are meant to be private – from which we might assume they contain information that is not generally known and is perhaps too interesting to be shared with the public. Sadly, that wasn’t the case with […]

Featured

Scotland’s Green Energy makes Enough Electricity 1st Quarter to power 88% of Households

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In the first three months of 2019, Scotland produced 17 percent more electricity from renewables than in the same quarter a year earlier. Driven mainly by onshore wind, Scotland’s burgeoning green energy sector keeps breaking records, making enough electricity the first quarter of this year to provide 88% of the […]

Iran

The Big Winner in Trump’s anti-Iran Sanctions? Russia

Middle East Monitor

By Stasa Salacanin | – Reinstated sanctions on Iran have brought a new complexity to Tehran’s relations with those countries which supported the deal, especially Russia. A new reality has forced both countries to face tough decisions, testing the strength of their bilateral partnership. Many assume that Tehran, facing maximum pressure and isolation, does not […]

Iran

Russia is Calling Trump’s Bluff on Iran and Syria, and Winning Big

Reese Erlich

By trying to isolate Russia and Iran, the US is only isolating itself. (Moscow) – President Donald Trump won’t go to war with Iran. That was the prediction of Russian experts I interviewed in Moscow during the height of the US-Iran crisis in May. They were right. To date, Trump has threatened military action against […]