Featured

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new opinion poll by Shibley Telhami and Stella Rouse at the University of Maryland finds that Republicans dislike President Joe Biden more than Vladimir Putin by a margin of more than 2 to 1. You heard that right. Respondents were asked to name two world leaders they most disliked, […]

African-Americans

Ketanji Brown Jackson joins a Court that once Ruled Black Women had no Rights at All

Juan Cole

Revised. Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – An unprecedented ceremony at the White House on Friday celebrated the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. She noted in her remarks, “It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme […]

Featured

Wind generation for First Time Outstrips both Coal and Nuclear in US

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ben Storrow of Climate Wire tweeted this week that “Last Tuesday, total U.S. wind generation exceeded 2,000 GWh, making wind the second largest producer of electricity in the United States after natural gas for that 24-hour period. Did a quick look at EIA’s numbers going back to 2018. Don’t think […]

Batteries

As US Squanders $728.5 billion/ yr on Pentagon, China Captures 65% of Global EV Sales, ups Production 115%

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – China is beating the pants off the United States in the burgeoning new energy vehicle market, out-producing and out-selling America with regard to plug-in vehicles by a massive margin. Whereas the Chinese government is supporting this new industry, the US government is still subsidizing fossil fuels and is spending $728.5 […]

Featured

Zelensky says Russia is the new ISIL: Top 3 Ways he may be Right

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In an address on Tuesday to the United Nations Security Council, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky compared Russia to the ISIL (ISIS, Daesh) terrorist group that took over eastern Syria and northwestern Iraq 2014-2018. His immediate comparison was of the brutality of Russian troops toward the civilian population in Bucha and […]

Bashar al-Assad

Yes, Bucha is a War Crime: Putin Told us who He was in East Aleppo

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Russian withdrawal from the small town of Bucha near the capital of Kyiv left behind a raft of murdered civilians in the streets and bombed buildings the way an ebbing tide leaves behind flotsam and driftwood after a violent tsunami. The Russian government is attempting to escape blame for […]

Climate Crisis

White House OMB: Climate Crisis to cost US $2 trillion Each and Every Year in 8 Decades

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Timothy Gardner at Reuters has gotten an advance look at a White House Office of Management and Budget document that concludes that by the end of this century, when Olivia Rodrigo would be 100 if she has the long life we wish for her, the annual cost of the climate […]

Batteries

Developing Morocco, which already gets twice as much of its Electricity from Renewables as US, plans new 800 MW Hybrid Solar Facility

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Morocco hosted a big energy conference with 19,000 attendees recently, at which it celebrated its partnership with Masdar, the green energy company based in the UAE, which is committed to a new solar farm that will generate 800 megawatts of electricity. Attendee Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, the UAE minister […]

Archaeology

Israeli Archeologists find Proof of Muslim-Christian Ecumenism among Crew of Shipwreck from Dawn of Islam

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ariel David writing at Haaretz reports on Haifa University marine archeologists who have been investigating a shipwreck that sank off the coast of early Muslim-ruled Palestine sometime between 648 and 740 A.D. The find provides some evidence for the economic robustness of this era, and for strong connections between the […]