Featured

Eyeing Iran as Weapons Market, Russia shoots down as “Ridiculous” Trump’s demand for Arms Embargo on Tehran

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Neoconservative wing of the Trump administration, which is dying to drag the United States into a war with Iran, suffered an embarrassing setback on Monday when its latest flimsy scheme crashed and burned. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov called Washington’s scheme “ridiculous and irresponsible,” according to AP While the […]

Featured

What we can Learn from the Qur’an about valuing People of all Races and Colors

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Qur’an (sometimes spelled Koran), is one of great books in world history. Only a handful of works have been nearly so influential and widely read. The Bible, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the Analects of Confucius, and the Buddha’s Sutras are among the few books that rival it in that […]

Featured

Palestinian Lives Matter: Huge Jewish-Arab Rally in Tel Aviv Decries Netanyahu’s plan to Annex 1/3 of West Bank

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Arab48 reports that some 6,000 Israelis gathered in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest the Netanyahu government’s plan to annex one third of the Palestinian West Bank. The gathering was addressed via video by US Senator Bernie Sanders, who said, “It has never been more important to […]

Democracy

George Floyd and Mohamed Bouazizi: What Americans can Learn from Tunisia’s Arab Spring

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In mid-December, 2010 in the small Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, a small drama unfolded that would change the world, and certainly would change Tunisia. Tareq Mohammed Bouazizi, a street peddler who had just bought $200 worth of produce to sell off a cart, was harassed by police for not […]

African-Americans

Remembering Big Floyd the Artist and Dreams of Transcendence, Dreams of Breathing Free

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – George “Perry” Floyd had the misfortune to become a symbol when he was killed by a Minnesota policeman after having been arrested for allegedly trying to pass a counterfeit twenty dollar bill (not usually a capital crime, and it is not clear that Mr. Floyd was aware). No one can […]

Authoritarianism

Esper and Mattis try to put the Genie of Trump Militarism back in the Bottle, Years too Late

Juan Cole

Former SecDef Mattis calls Trump a Danger to the Constitution

Bill of Rights

How American cities were Reduced to Esper’s “Battlespace”: From Fallujah to Minneapolis

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Bush administration’s war of aggression on and military occupation of Iraq that began in 2003 shifted the United States to a militaristic society. Some 2.7 million Americans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, an astonishing number. The Bush administration began the practice of sending to civilian police departments military […]

Constitution

The Second Time as Farce: Donald Trump and James Madison and the Defense of the White House

Juan Cole

In 1848 a series of popular uprisings broke out in Europe, including in France. They largely failed, and authoritarian, right wing governments reasserted themselves until 1870. In 1851, France had the misfortune to fall victim to a coup by the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, who styled himself Napoleon III. Karl Marx had […]

Featured

Jerusalem Demonstrations against Police Brutality after Autistic Palestinian Youth Shot to Death

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Nir Hasson at Haaretz reports that Israeli police on Sunday evening forcibly dispersed dozens of Palestinian demonstrators who had gathered at Damascus Gate to protest the killing on Saturday of Iyad Hallak, an autistic Palestinian young man* by two Israeli border police. On Saturday evening, 100 Palestinian-Israelis in Jaffa and […]