International Politics and Economy

By Christian Klassert, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ and Samer Talozi, Jordan University for Science and Technology | – (The Conversation) – In Jordan’s cities, green tanker trucks supplying water are a common sight. The average Jordanian only receives one and a half days of access to piped water per week. When taps run dry, […]

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 […]

Elections

Amid Astonishing low Turnout, Iranians Mull Continuing Presidential Election Boycott in 2nd Round

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Kian Sharifi | – ( RFE/RL ) – More than 60 percent of Iran’s electorate did not vote in the June 28 presidential election, despite it being billed as an important poll given the role that the next president could play in the succession to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. With no candidate managing […]

censorship

Pro-Palestinian protesters slam U of Michigan for asking Michigan AG to press Charges against Students

Michigan Advance

By: Jon King – A coalition of student groups at the University of Michigan say Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is now looking into possible charges against students involved in pro-Palestinian protests on the Ann Arbor campus, which her office has confirmed for the Michigan Advance. The TAHRIR Coalition, made up of more than 80 […]

Drones

How Drones form part of Hezbollah’s deterrence Strategy against Israel

The Conversation

By Emilie El Khoury, Queen’s University, Ontario | – (The Conversation) – The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah recently released videos showing footage from one of its drones flying over the Israeli city of Haifa and the surrounding area. Hezbollah released the videos shortly after American special envoy Amos Hochstein went to Beirut in a bid […]

Europe

Europe: The Onslaught of the Far Right

Marc Martorell Junyent

Munich (Special to Informed Comment) – After the results of the elections to the European Union parliament were announced on the night of June 9, a common reflection in many political analyses was that the center had held. The far-right advanced but not as much as some polls had predicted. The resistance of the center […]

Arab Americans

Rupture and Repair: A report by the Stanford Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Communities Committee

contributors

May 2024 Rupture and Repair is published in pdf format here. Below I excerpt a couple of pages in html with the permission of the authors. This report details a substantial rupture of trust between students, staff, and faculty in the Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian (MAP) communities and Stanford in academic year 2023-24. These communities […]

Featured

Comedy as a Tool of Justice

Mohamed Jegham

Istanbul (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – To most people, comedy can be a source of entertainment, an enjoyment to remove us from our daily routine and everyday problems. For this reason, many comedians tend to avoid complicated topics and controversial issues so as not to offend any part of their audience and to broaden […]

Featured

Pegasus: The Zero-Click Threat to Democracy and Human Rights from Israel

Marc Martorell Junyent

Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) –– Pegasus, the main cyber-surveillance weapon developed by the Israeli company NSO Group, had been at the center of formidable reporting before July 2021. Still, the revelations presented by the Pegasus Project partners in a cascade of articles that began on July 18, 2021, represented a watershed moment. […]