Featured

90K Palestinians force Israeli Security to back down, allow them to Pray in Jerusalem, as nearly 100 are injured Protesting Ethnic Cleansing

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera reports that despite the Israeli security forces’ attack on worshipers at al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday evening, some 90,000 came back for special evening prayers on Saturday. Initially, the Israeli forces had intended to prevent the worshipers from arriving there from the West Bank, but given the violence they […]

Featured

Not “Clashes”: Israeli Security Wounds Nearly 200 Palestinians in Ongoing Ethnic Cleansing Campaign at 3rd Holiest Islamic Site

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Diya’ Hajj Yahya of Arab 48 reports that at least 180 Palestinians were injured Friday night by Israeli security forces in their crackdown on worshipers at the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine for the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims. The US press and television news, where they report the events […]

Authoritarianism

Chickens coming home to Roost: Liz Cheney’s Father Pioneered the GOP Big Lie and Authoritarian Tactics in Iraq War

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Rep. Liz Cheney has emerged as a voice for truth-telling in Trump’s Republican Party, standing up to the Big Lie that Trump won the 2020 election and denouncing her fellow representatives who sought to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory and who thus helped provoke the Capitol Insurgency. Cheney […]

Featured

44% of People in World Fear US will interfere with their Democracy, fearing China or Russia Less

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new Alliance of Democracies Poll conducted around the world with 50,000 people in 53 countries earlier this year finds that “Nearly half (44%) of respondents in the 53 countries surveyed are concerned that the US threatens democracy in their country; fear of Chinese influence is 38%, and fear of […]

Featured

For 1st time, Ultra High Resolution Photo released of Black Stone in Mecca, sacred relic of Islam

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Saudi commission for the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina revealed in a tweet on Tuesday that it was making new high resolution pictures of the Black Stone of the Kaaba shrine in Mecca available. The stone has for over 1,400 years had an important place in Muslim […]

Donald Trump

The Republican Party is the new American Communist Party: Pogo’s Revenge

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Republican Party has positioned itself to run against the Communist Party ever since the Russian Revolution in October, 1917. Never mind that there were never any American Communists to speak of– party membership peaked at 75,000 in the late 1940s. Republicans managed to find “Reds” everywhere, maybe even hiding […]

Democratic Party

The Real Morning in America: ~2/3s are Optimistic under Biden: majorities want Gov’t to fix the Economy and blame GOP for Obstruction

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new ABC News/ Ipsos poll finds that 64% of Americans are optimistic about the next twelve months. It is the first time we have felt that way about ourselves since before George W. Bush crashed the economy by deregulating everything. “Morning in America” was the slogan of the minor […]

Climate Crisis

Biden Plans for US to Jump into Electric Vehicles with Both Feet, in a Hurry

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The White House issued a fact sheet Thursday on how President Biden intends to move the US vehicle fleet to electric in short order, using money already appropriated for his jobs plan. Biden is ahead of world trends in his ambitions. The UN’s International Energy Agency predicts that the current […]

Archaeology

Were Humanity’s Oldest Monumental Religious Sites Erected in NW Saudi Arabia? 1,000 ‘Rectangles’ Older than Stonehenge

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Hugh Thomas and a team of Australian researchers have just published a groundbreaking article in the journal Antiquity describing their research into the mysterious “Rectangles” (mustatīl) dotting Northwest Arabia. This region lies due south of Israel-Palestine and Jordan. Rectangles. h/t ‘Antiquity.’ The Rectangles date from roughly 7,500 years before present, […]