International Politics and Economy

As Biden sends more Troops to Eastern Europe, how do US Commitments now Compare to those of the Cold War?

By Christoph Bluth, University of Bradford | – (The Conversation) – US president Joe Biden is beefing up the US military presence in eastern Europe as a reaction to the Ukraine war. Biden plans to redeploy troops from Germany to Poland and Romania and send more destroyers to strengthen Nato’s naval presence on its southern […]

Culture

Why MCU’s Ms. Marvel matters so much to Muslim, South Asian Fans

The Conversation

By Safiyya Hosein, Toronto Metropolitan University | – (The Conversation) – The Disney+ TV show featuring Ms. Marvel, also known as Kamala Khan — the first Muslim superheroine of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), launched June 8 — and the internet has been alight with discussions about the lovable titular character. The comic book series, […]

Arms Sales

Unlike SCOTUS, Iraqi Kurds are Rethinking Lax Gun Laws after Shootings; Will even Iraq be Safer than the US?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Other countries can just adopt rational policies to deal with severe social problems. The United States is locked into various weird metaphysical dogmas that make reasoning about such issues difficult. The second amendment, for instance, has nothing to do with universal gun ownership, whatever ideologues on the Right assert. The […]

Featured

Türkiye gets its Way on Kurdish Groups, agrees to Swedish, Finnish NATO Bids, as Biden weighs F-16 Sales to Ankara

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Türkiye (formerly Turkey) spent this spring vowing that Sweden and Finland would not be admitted to NATO because of their stance on the Syrian Kurdish organization, the YPG. He seemed adamant, but the stance was clearly a bargaining position, whereby he sought to wring as […]

Dissent

Sudan: Voices of Protesters Should Be Heard, Not Sidelined

Human Rights Watch

By Mohamed Darish, resistance committee member | – ( Human Rights Watch ) – Sudan’s tenacious street protesters and other supporters of the social movement have continued to take to the streets and find ways to express their resistance to the country’s October 2021 military coup. They’ve faced the military’s organized repression, including the use […]

military

Ending the War in Ukraine: Three Possible Futures

Rajan Menon

( Tomdispatch.com) – When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, I was easing my way into a new job and in the throes of the teaching year. But that war quickly hijacked my life. I spend most of my day poring over multiple newspapers, magazines, blogs, and the Twitter feeds of various military mavens, a […]

Buddhism

America’s religious Communities are divided over the issue of Abortion

The Conversation

Interview by Kalpana Jain, The Conversation | – Interviewed: Luis Josué Salés, Scripps College; Rachel Mikva, Chicago Theological Seminary; Samira Meht University of Colorado Boulder; Steven K. Green, Willamette University; Susan M. Shaw; Oregon State University. Since the first indications that the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, following a […]

NATO

Diplomacy, not total Victory, will in the End Settle the Ukraine War

Richard Penaskovic

Russia’s attack on the Ukraine certainly violated international law and Vladimir Putin should be charged as a war criminal for Russia’s indiscriminate bombing of hospitals, schools, apartment buildings and the like, in which innocent civilians were killed or injured for life, both physically, emotionally, and mentally. The decision of the Biden administration to wage total […]

Climate Crisis

Greens return to French Parliament in Left Coalition, as Neoliberal Macron loses Majority

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – France’s parliamentary elections witnessed an upset, with centrist President Emmanuel Macron’s party, La République En Marche and its Ensemble coalition losing its absolute parliamentary majority. A majority requires 289 seats, and Macron’s party gained 245 seats. Among the beneficiaries are the Left and the Greens, who joined together in the […]