Featured

AirBnB, Expedia, Tripadvisor Named by UN as Collaborators with Apartheid Israeli Squatter Settlements on Palestinian West Bank

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Wednesday released a long-awaited list of 112 companies that do business with Israeli squatters on the Palestinian West Bank. These squatters have most often been covertly sent in by the Israeli government itself to steal Palestinian land, build on […]

Featured

“Swiss Cheese” or “Frankenstein’s Monster?” Arab Leaders Struggle to Describe the Kushner Apartheid Plan

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Trump administration’s plan for Palestine is so nightmarish that Arab leaders (who rejected it out of hand at a recent Arab League meeting) are having to resort to purple prose to describe it. Senior Saudi prince Turki al-Faisal, who served for two decades as minister of intelligence and also […]

Congress

Rattled by Trump’s Erratic Violence, Senate to vote on Forbidding War on Iran without its Approval

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Senate will take up a measure to forbid Trump to go to war with Iran without Congressional approval, writes Daniel Flatley at Bloomberg. Republican senators Mike Lee, Susan Collins and Rand Paul are joining with Democratic senator Tim Kaine in sponsoring the bill. With the support of those Republicans, […]

Featured

Israeli Blocking of Palestinian Exports to Jordan Shows reality of Apartheid that the Kushner Plan would only Cement

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli government blockade on Palestinian agricultural exports through Jordan on Sunday illustrates the Apartheid character of Israeli rule over the Palestinians. Palestinian trucks loaded with produce were stopped by quickly-erected Israeli blast walls and forbidden to head into Jordan. The Palestine-Jordan trade in commodities such as vegetables, fruits, olives, […]

Climate Crisis

It is 65° F. in Antarctica and if the Thwaites Glacier Plops in, Expect 4 ft. of Sea Level Rise

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Argentinean Esperanza research station in Antarctica — the South Pole — recorded a temperature of nearly 65° F. (18° C.) this week, a historic record. A single temperature record like this one is weather, and by itself would not prove much. Unfortunately, it was not a fluke. It is […]

African-Americans

Top 3 Myths about Bernie Sanders and Electability

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – 1. There is a persistent meme that Sanders doesn’t do well with persons of color, which seems left over from 2016 when he was less well known. On the whole, persons of color in the United States are more likely to be part of the working class and to favor […]

Featured

Has Trump lost Iraq to Russia over his Drone Strike on Baghdad Airport?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Iraqi establishment is interested in strengthening its military cooperation with Russia, as Baghdad seeks an alternative to the United States military after Trump bombed Baghdad airport and killed a high ranking Iraqi military commander. Al-Bawwaba reports that that the Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Army, Lieutenant General Othman […]

Featured

Nothing could have been a better gift to Iran in the region than the Kushner Apartheid for Palestinians

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the “august leader” of the country, lambasted the Kushner Plan for the Palestinians, and took the opportunity also to blast the four Arab countries whose representatives attended its announcement. Since Saudi Arabia and the others often play the racist “non-Arab” card against Persian Iran, it must […]

Climate Crisis

Cramer: “We’re in the Death Knell Phase” of Big Oil, as 44% of Norway New Autos are Electric

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – CNBC stock picker Jim Cramer startled his conservative fan base this week by refusing to push ExxonMobil and other petroleum stocks. He solemnly informed his audience that he is “done” with fossil fuel securities. He pointed out that pension funds all over the world are divesting from them because of […]