Joe Biden

( Otherwords.org ) – New data confirms what’s been true all along: Trump built his brand selling fear-mongering lies about immigrants and crime. By Jill Richardson | December 16, 2020 As Donald Trump leaves office, it’s worth remembering how he first launched his campaign: by calling immigrants “murderers” and “rapists.” This was outrageous then. And […]

Democratic Party

How will Biden’s Middle East — and Iran — be different from Trump’s?

Juan Cole

By Tony Walker | – Canberra policymakers will be conducting a root-and-branch reassessment of Australia’s foreign policy following Donald Trump’s defeat in the US presidential election and ahead of an incoming Democrat administration. Top of the list of items for review will be a leaden-footed China policy. Chinese trade reprisals for perceived Australian slights are […]

Colonialism

Biden Pick, Native American Deb Haaland to head Dept. that once Vowed to “Civilize or Exterminate” her People

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) will be president-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Department of the Interior. She is the first Native American to head the department, and her appointment is full of ironies. The Department, formed in 1849, includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs and has a long history […]

Democratic Party

Iran’s Pres. Rouhani to Biden: We will Fulfill our Nuclear Obligations on Day One if you Return to 2015 Deal

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iranian president Hassan Rouhani was asked Tuesday in an interview with a state-owned news outlet under what conditions Iran would return to the 2015 nuclear deal with the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council (P5), including the U.S., plus Germany (+1) He replied, “A thing we are saying […]

Bashar al-Assad

Will Biden Wind down the Syria War or keep it Bubbling?

Global Voices

Incoming US administration won’t take leaps in Syria

Democratic Party

The Left must Seize the Initiative: Biden’s Centrist Instincts could be Disastrous

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Walden Bello | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Donald Trump embarked on an unorthodox course in economic policy that combined tax cuts for the rich with a protectionist trade policy that was ostensibly aimed at saving the U.S. industrial base and preventing the export of American jobs. The question is not whether […]

African-Americans

Biden Nominates first African-American Secretary of Defense, 250 Years after Crispus Attucks

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President-Elect Joe Biden will appoint retired four-star general Lloyd J. Austin III as his secretary of defense, according to the scoop by Lara Seligman, Tyler Pager, Connor O’Brien and Natasha Bertrand at Politico. Austin will be the first Black secretary of defense in our nation’s history. Austin has, they note, […]

Democratic Party

“The Empire Strikes Biden” with Brent Terhune and Juan Cole – Francesca Fiorentini Podcast

Juan Cole

“It’s global hegemony not Adam and Steve! From very real US wars abroad to the imagined “war on Christmas”, Francesca digs deep with comedian Brent Terhune and historian Juan Cole. They discuss what foreign policy might look like under a Biden administration, from the Iran Deal to Israel/Palestine to Russia & China. Plus, the special […]

Donald Trump

Iran assassination is way for Netanyahu and Trump to hurt Biden

Reese Erlich

( 48hills.org) – Israel and Trump are deliberately trying to provoke a crisis for the next President to inherit, Iran sources say Imagine for a moment what would happen if unknown assassins murdered a high-ranking US scientist involved with chemical weapons. Let’s say officials in Iran quietly took responsibility, arguing that the US had violated […]