Featured

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The past 8 years are the hottest on record. So concludes The UN’s World Meteorological Organization. In 2022, the average surface temperature of the earth was 1.15 degrees C. [2.07 degrees F.] higher than the average surface temperature of the earth in 1850-1900. So this is the eighth year in […]

Climate Crisis

With Electric Vehicles, 90% of Americans would see Transportation Costs, CO2 Emissions Plummet

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new University of Michigan study has shown that today, 90% of Americans would see lower transportation costs and lower CO2 emissions if they switched from a car with an Internal Combustion Engine or ICE to an electric vehicle (EV). They were only looking at the cost of running a […]

Featured

Far Right Israeli Government bans Palestinian flag, just as Apartheid S. Africa Banned ANC Flag

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli parliament or Knesset on Tuesday approved the first reading of a law banning the raising of the Palestinian flag, pushed by the fascist wing of Israel’s new government. This measure includes a ban on Palestinians in Palestine waving their own flag while under Israeli military occupation. Despite the […]

Featured

Israelis mass to Protest “Thuggish” “Fascist” new Government, as it Proceeds to Ensconce Apartheid toward Palestinians

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The new, far right wing government in Israel, some elements of which are fairly characterized as fascist, has in a few short days already generated a lot of news. It has provoked large demonstrations against itself by anti-fascist Israelis; it has elicited a strong international condemnation when one of its […]

Brazil

Brazil’s Jan. 6: Right wing Mob invades Nat’l Congress, Tries to Stop Progressive Policies like Saving Amazon

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, denounced the invasion of the national Congress and some ministry buildings in Brasilia on Sunday by a far right wing mob as “reprehensible and anti-democratic coup attempt by conservatives in Brazil, incited by the leaders of oligarchic power, its spokespersons and […]

Climate Crisis

Great Salt Lake Could be gone in 5 Years: Huge Environmental Climate Catastrophe, Arsenic Dust Storms

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Excessive water use is draining the Great Salt Lake so quickly that at this rate, it could be gone in as little as five years. So argue Benjamin W. Abbott and Bonnie K. Baxter, et al. in a new scientific paper. The Great Salt Lake is already not what it […]

Featured

Netanyahu Shocked at UAE cancellation of his State Visit after Extremists Storm Aqsa Mosque Complex

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Far right wing extremist Itamar Ben-Gvir led a group of Israeli fanatics up to the al-Aqsa Mosque complex this week, in a clear sign that he will pressure the new Israeli government, in which he has an official post, to make the area a place of worship for Jews. The […]

Constitution

Hollow Men: The Blowhards of Jan. 6 were Yellow-Bellied Cowards

Juan Cole

Reprinted in commemoration of Brian Sicknick and other victims of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The damning Jan. 6 public hearings revealed a plethora of historical detail, but they also shed light on character. Some of these revelations were profiles in pusillanimity. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), one of the slimiest […]

Authoritarianism

Iran Leader Khamenei seems to Back-Pedal from Punishing Women for “Poor Veiling” after Months of Protest

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – According to the official Iranian press, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the “August Leader” of Iran, met Wednesday with hundreds of professional women and spoke about the controversies wracking the country regarding veiling. He stressed that the veiling of women is firmly part of Islamic law and there can be no retreat […]