International Politics and Economy

Wagging the Dog: As Trump and Iran square off on Venezuela Oil Shipments, will US Go full Pirate of the Gulf?

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trita Parsi writing at Responsible Statecraft wonders if the Trump administration is planning to widen its piracy against Iranian vessels on the high seas as part of an October surprise. Trump had four Iranian oil tankers seized in August, alleging that they were heading for Venezuela. The problem? There is […]

Democracy

For anyone wavering about Voting: The US presidential election might be closer than the polls suggest

The Conversation

By Simon Jackman | – With less than two months until the US presidential election, Democratic nominee Joe Biden leads incumbent Donald Trump in the bulk of opinion polls. But poll-based election forecasts have proved problematic before. The polls were widely maligned after the 2016 election because Trump won the election when the majority of […]

Drugs

Isolation and Opioids During the Pandemic

Tomdispatch

By Mattea Kramer | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – In our new era of nearly unparalleled upheaval, as a pandemic ravages the bodies of some and the minds of nearly everyone, as the associated economic damage disposes of the livelihoods of many, and as even the promise of democracy fades, the people whose lives were already […]

Donald Trump

Fourth World: Or American Carnage from a Pandemic President

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com) – The year was 1991 and the United States was suddenly the globe’s lone superpower, its ultimate hyperpower, the last and greatest of its kind, the soon-to-be-indispensable nation. The only one left — alone, utterly alone and triumphant atop the world. Who could have asked for more? Or better? It had been a […]

Democracy

Less than 8 Weeks to Save our Democracy from a Grotesque, Bigoted, illiterate Game Show Host and Real Estate Grifter

David Faris

Chicago (Special to Informed Comment) – In 2016, thanks largely to the antiquated, nonsensical design of its creaky electoral system, the U.S. presidency was awarded to a candidate who lost the election by nearly 3 million votes to his opponent. This elderly man, a functionally illiterate game show host and petty real estate grifter with […]

Donald Trump

As Washington retreats, Eastern Mediterranean conflict further marginalizes NATO

Ramzy Baroud

Middle East Monitor – The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an alliance in name alone. Recent events notwithstanding, the brewing conflict over territorial waters in the Eastern Mediterranean indicates that the military union between mostly Western countries is faltering. The current Turkish-Greek tension is only one facet of a much larger conflict involving, aside […]

Arab Americans

The Hate Lobby: Teachers slammed for Teaching objectively about Islam and the Arab World

Waging Nonviolence

Susan H. Smith | – ( Waging Nonviolence ) – As Muslim and Arab students join their classmates in heading back to school this fall, the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks weighs on their minds. It’s a time of perennial blame and shame, a time when classmates and teachers hold them unjustly […]

Authoritarianism

Trump’s Postmaster General Should Be Returned to Sender before Democracy Dies

OtherWords

By James E. Varner| – ( Otherwords.org) – President Trump’s postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, recently testified before Congress about major slowdowns in mail delivery under his watch. As a 20-year postal veteran, I had only one reaction: DeJoy needs to be Returned to Sender. DeJoy, a Trump fundraiser who owns millions worth of stock in […]

Authoritarianism

Who is Murdering Iraq’s anti-corruption Youth Protesters?

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (Beirut) – Unidentified gunmen have since August 14, 2020, assassinated two protesters and wounded another four, all linked to a youth protest group with political aspirations in Basra, in southern Iraq, Human Rights Watch said today. They are the most recent victims of killings of hundreds of protesters in Baghdad and southern […]