History

Israeli Authorities still haven’t taken sides on Ukraine Invasion, but Denounce Russia for saying Hitler was Jewish

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli and Ukrainian governments have lambasted the Russian Federation for remarks of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a video interview with an Italian TV station. Lavrov defended Moscow’s creepy allegation that the Ukrainian government is dominated by Nazis, even though the president, Volodomyr Zelensky, is Jewish. Lavrov said that […]

Archaeology

Palestinians: Bust of 4500-yr.-old Goddess Anat found in Gaza “attests the Depth of Ancient Palestinian Civilization”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A farmer plowing his land in Khan Younis, the Gaza Strip, recently found the head of a statuette of the ancient Levantine goddess Anat from 4,500 years ago, AFP reports. Everything in Israel/Palestine is political, including, and maybe especially, archeology. In 2500 BCE the ancient Levantine civilization, sometimes called “proto-Canaanite,” […]

Climate Crisis

Colonialism: why leading Climate Scientists have finally acknowledged its Link with Climate Change

The Conversation

By Harriet Mercer, University of Cambridge | – The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)‘s sixth and latest report on the impact of global warming on our planet, published earlier this month, reiterates many of its predecessors’ warnings: chiefly that climate change threatens global disaster if we do not act to avert it. Yet it […]

History

The Ukraine Invasion and the Weight of the Crimean War: “We hate most those we harm the most”

Hugh J. Curran

Orono, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – There are some fascinating similarities between the Crimean War of the 1850s and the Ukraine War of 2022. According to Norman Rich, author of “The Crimean War” its main purpose was the containment of an expanding Russia as European powers had become fearful of Russia’s extension of power […]

Algeria

Why the French Election is Haunted by the Ghost of Colonialism in Algeria: Roots of Far-Right Le Pen

Middle East Monitor

By Mustafa Fetouri | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Whether France is voting, commemorating D-day or debating French identity in terms of Republic Values, Algeria is always present in some way. It is almost impossible to discuss anything of substance in France in which Algeria does not feature and, sometimes, dominates the debate. […]

Afghanistan

Historian Adam Michnik: Putin’s Invasion Of Ukraine Will End Like Brezhnev’s Afghan War, And Spark A ‘New Wave’

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Vadim Dubnov | – ( RFE/RL ) – Vladimir Putin “has driven Russia into a trap” by invading Ukraine, the former Polish dissident Adam Michnik has said, predicting ultimate defeat for the Russian leader and a chance for much-needed liberal reforms afterward. “In Russia, changes took place after wars were lost — after the […]

Cold War

I may have failed as a Tax Resister, but Corporate America is Hugely Successful at it

Rebecca Gordon

( Tomdispatch.com) – Every April, as income-tax returns come due, I think about the day 30 years ago when I opened my rented mailbox and saw a business card resting inside. Its first line read, innocently enough, “United States Treasury.” It was the second line — “Internal Revenue Service” — that took my breath away. […]

Africa

Timbuktu Manuscripts Online promise to re-balance the African Continent’s place in World intellectual History

The Conversation

By Charles C. Stewart, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | – The ancient Timbuktu manuscripts of Mali were back in the headlines following internet giant Google’s initiative to host a collection of them at an online gallery. The images of the documents, text in Arabic, can be found at a page called Mali Magic. No […]

History

The Dangers of Assaulting Fortress Kyiv: The Peril Putin’s Troops Now Face was Shown by the Battles of Stalingrad, Grozny, and Mosul

Brian Glyn Williams

Brian Glyn Williams (University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth) and Aaron Rawley. Aaron Rawley is Volunteer Personnel Coordinator at the Gore Place Historical Museum, Waltham Mass. Dartmouth, MA (Special to Informed Comment) – At first glance Russia’s widely lambasted thrust from Belorussia down to the Ukrainian capital appears to have stalled due to logistic issues that have […]