Europe

By Moritz Pieper | (The Conversation) | – – Standing on the Russian military airbase at Khmeimim on his December visit to Syria, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia will withdraw the bulk of its forces from Syria following the “successful intervention” in Syria’s armed conflict. This is Putin’s second withdrawal announcement within two years. And […]

Donald Trump

Smoking Gun: Did the Russians admit to Interference in the US Election?

contributors

By Don Van Atta | (Informed Comment) | – – A little-noticed Russian diplomatic approach to the US on 17 July amounted to an official admission by the Russian Federation that it interfered in the 2016 US election through cyberwar techniques including hacking and spreading fake news. Those facts are now widely known, but some […]

European Union

A Bitter Pill for Far Right: Europe’s Muslim Immigrants create Jobs, boost Economy

contributors

Maha Akeel | (Euractiv.com) | – – Immigration has been shown to boost Europe’s economies and should be encouraged as indigenous populations get older. At a time of challenge, Europe still has what some might think is a surprising ace up its sleeve – immigration, writes Maha Akeel. Maha Akeel is the director of the […]

Eastern Europe

How Eastern Europe failed at Democracy & Invented Trumpism Instead

contributors

By John Feffer | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – He was a rich businessman, an outspoken outsider with a love of conspiracy theories. And he was a populist running for president. In 1990, when Donald Trump was still beyond the furthest outskirts of American politics, Stanislaw Tyminski was trying to become the new president of […]

Donald Trump

Trump ‘Working Visit’ to Britain has to be Cancelled after he outrages all 65 million Britons

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – You can’t take him anywhere. And, he is leaving a trail of US diplomatic catastrophes even with close allies. In the aftermath of massive and almost unanimous British outrage at Trump’s retweets of anti-Muslim hate videos (one phony and two irrelevant to Muslims in general) posted […]

Evolution

British Royal Family was already Multicultural, Descended from Muhammad

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The announcement that Prince Harry is set to marry American actress Meghan Markle provoked a flurry of articles about the British royal family becoming multicultural. The Washington Post actually has a headline about Britain’s “black queen.” (The peculiar American ‘one drop rule’ makes anyone with any […]

Africa

Could Africa skip Pipelines straight to Solar Panels?

Juan Cole

By Benjamin Fox | EURACTIV.com | – – Nearly €340 ($403) billion of investment will be needed to achieve universal access to electricity across Africa by 2030, the World Energy Network forecasts. That is a tall order. The combined grid capacity of the 48 sub-Saharan African countries is around 70 gigawatts, roughly equivalent to that […]

Corruption

Former CIA Dir.: Trump is afraid of Putin Kompromat

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Two former intelligence officials on Sunday more or less said openly that Trump is compromised by Russia. Jake Tapper asked former CIA head John Brennan about Trump’s statement on Friday that he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin when he said that Russia did not interfere in […]

Far Right

Le Pen Stripped of Immunity for Tweeting Gruesome IS Images

Juan Cole

TeleSur | – – Circulating “violent messages that incite terrorism or pornography or seriously harm human dignity” is a crime punishable in France by up to three years’ imprisonment. France’s National Assembly has lifted far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s immunity from prosecution after she posted pictures on Twitter of Islamic State (IS) atrocities. The decision […]