Featured

DOJ finally orders FBI to Investigate Israeli Killing of US Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh; Israel Sniffs: Will not Cooperate

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – AP reports that the Department of Justice gave the Federal Bureau of Investigation the charge of investigating the Israeli killing of the enormously influential Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh six months ago, on May 11. Minister of Defense Benny Gantz tweeted that Israel would not cooperate with the FBI and […]

Campaign Finance

Emirates has Spent $154 mn on Lobbying US since 2016, and has Illegally Influenced US Politics: Intel Report

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The UAE has spent more than $154 million on lobbyists since 2016, according to Justice Department records. It has spent hundreds of millions of dollars more on donations to American universities and think tanks, many that produce policy papers with findings favorable to UAE interests. The intrepid John Hudson at […]

Climate Crisis

If a Warnock win gives the Dems 51 in the Senate, Sen. Manchin will no Longer be a drag on Green Energy Progress

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ladies and gentlemen, the results are in, and the winner of the 2022 midterms is . . . the earth’s climate. The Democrats have retained control of the Senate, according to projections of NBC News., which predicts that Nevada’s Senator Catherine Cortez Masto will defeat her Republican challenger, Adam Laxalt. […]

Climate Crisis

As Biden Touts Progress at COP27, National Assessment warns that the Things Americans Love are Endangered by Climate Emergency

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden addressed the COP27 Climate in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on Friday. He noted the ravages of the human-caused climate emergency on the African continent, including deadly drought in the Horn of Africa, floods that displaced over a million people in Nigeria, and the increasing potential for conflict […]

Climate Crisis

Gen Z came out in Large Numbers for Democratic Party Priorities like Combatting Climate Change, Helping Blunt any Red Wave

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – One of the issues that drove America’s youth to vote in unusual numbers in the midterm elections, and to tilt heavily Democratic, is the climate emergency. It was up there with reproductive rights and gun safety as a key issue. A recent Harvard youth poll found that among these young […]

Donald Trump

The GOP Clown Car Crashes and Burns, but Nikki Haley didn’t get the Message, calls for Warnock to be “Deported”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Trump era brought to the fore in the Republican Party an assortment of Nazi militiamen, internet trolls masquerading as public servants, and celebrity grifters looking for a big payout from politics. Most of the Clown Car Trumpies went down to ignominious defeat in Tuesday’s elections. Former South Carolina governor […]

Democratic Party

Biden Holds Red Wave to a Ripple, as Trump Loses Big Time in Midterms

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Over the past 40 years, midterm elections have typically been quiet affairs in which only 38% to 40% of voters show up at the polls, and those who vote skew toward the older, wealthier and whiter spectrum of the electorate. In contrast, in presidential election years, the turnout tends to […]

Climate Crisis

One Billionaire emits a Million times more CO2 than an Average Person, as Protesters block Private Planes at Amsterdam

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Oxfam has a new study, Carbon Billionaires: The investment emissions of the world’s richest people. The Executive Summary says that they concluded that quite apart from the 3,300 or so billionaires, the wealthiest one percent in the world emit twice as much carbon dioxide as the bottom 50%. The top […]

Climate Crisis

UN: Past 8 Years have been 8 hottest on Record, in Harbinger of Heating World

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The past eight years have been the eight hottest on record, in further evidence that human-caused global heating is accelerating rapidly and dangerously. So reports the World Meteorological Organization in tandem with the COP27 Climate Summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. The report argues that we can see rapid heating […]