Featured

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Turkish news service TRT reports from wire services that an Israeli air strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Khan Younis, where people had gathered to watch a soccer match, killed at least 29 persons on Wednesday evening. The weapon was an American-provided 250-pound bomb of the sort used […]

Authoritarianism

The French showed us how to Fight SCOTUS’s Immunization of Trump for 2nd-Term Despotism

Dan Dinello

Chicago (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The MAGA Supreme Court created a lawless presidency with their opinion on Trump immunity last week. In doing so, it obliterated a basic principle of American constitutional government: “No one is above the law.” Enabling abuses of power, the 6-3 decision on Trump v. United States gives Trump such vast immunity […]

Featured

Can Iran’s New Reformist President Deliver?

Fariba Amini

Newark, Delaware (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Elections in Iran have predictable outcomes. The men picked by the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, engage in a quasi-debate on TV, but usually the hand-picked guy is bound to win. This year saw a minor upset. The 2024 presidential election took place after the former President and […]

Featured

Israeli Campaign against Gaza may Kill 186,000 or More — 8% of Population: The Lancet

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Rasha Khatib, Martin McKee and Salim Yusuf, The Lancet calculate that 186,000 or more people may be killed* by the Israeli total war on Gaza, about 8% of the population. If you do not see this study reported on your cable “news” channel, you may conclude that the corporation that […]

Bashar al-Assad

Turkey-Syria Normalization Bid stirs Violent unrest in both Countries

Volkan Isbasaran

Istanbul (Special to Informed Comment; Featured) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently said “there is no reason” not to pursue normalization of diplomatic ties with Syria, and he said that he does not rule out a possible meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Erdoğan added that Turkey had no intention of interfering in Syria’s […]

Democracy

Britain’s Labour beat the Right, but Must hasten to Win Public Trust and heal Rift with own Left

Farhang Jahanpour

Oxford (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Britain’s latest General Election held on 4th July was nothing short of a major political earthquake that put an end to 14 years of often tumultuous and chaotic Conservative rule. The Labor Party, led by Sir Keir Starmer, overturned a big Conservative majority of 80 seats in the […]

Egypt

Centuries of Co-Existence: Jewish Cultural Heritage in Egypt and Morocco

Yoram Meital

Beersheba (Special to Informed Comment; feature) – Amid the prevailing focus on the war and the geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East, it is easy to forget that it has not always been this way. Until the 1950s, Jewish communities had thrived in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. For centuries, Muslims, Jews, […]

Featured

When will Americans let the Palestinian People have their Fourth of July?

Juan Cole

Revised. Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Americans are commemorating the Fourth of July today, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Implicit in this holiday is the recognition of the right of a people to self-determination. The grievances that the four million inhabitants of British North America had in 1776 were not felt by them […]

Featured

Turning the Red Sea Redder: Will America’s backing for Israel’s War in Gaza Torch the Red Sea Region Too?

Juan Cole

( Tomdispatch.com ) – In mid-June, the Associated Press announced that the U.S. Navy had been engaged in the most intense naval combat since the end of World War II, which surely would come as a surprise to most Americans. This time, the fighting isn’t taking place in the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans but in […]