Democratic Party

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – At its meeting in Vienna yesterday, the enlarged “+” version of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting States (OPEC+) decided to increase output by only 100,000 barrels per day, a vanishingly small amount that will have no impact on lowering gasoline prices and which does US President Joe Biden virtually no […]

Bill of Rights

A ’22 Pink Wave for the Dems? What does Surprise Kansas Rejection of anti-Abortion Amendment Mean for the Country?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a startling development, Kansas voters rejected a ballot initiative on August 2 that would have specified in the state constitution that it does not protect the right to abortion. That would have allowed the heavily Republican-dominated state legislature to pass an abortion ban. It can’t do that now because […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

The End of the “Global War on Terror”: Biden takes out Ayman al-Zawahiri (1951-2022)

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden announced on Monday evening that a CIA-operated drone had killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the second leader of al-Qaeda after Usama Bin Laden, on Saturday while he stood on the balcony of a Taliban safe house in Kabul. He was allegedly hosted by the Haqqani clan, one of whose […]

Israel/ Palestine

Faced with Killing of American Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, US Priority has been to Preserve Israel’s Impunity

Ramona Wadi

( Middle East Monitor) – The developments in the “investigation” into the targeted killing of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh point rather too obviously to the preservation of Israel’s ability to act with impunity. Matters went downhill in the aftermath of Abu Akleh’s killing when Israeli military spokesman Ran Kochav put forward an […]

Climate Crisis

Surprise Dem Senate Bill makes US Global Climate Leader, Sees 40% Carbon Reduction by 2030

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a huge surprise on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and the Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Joe Manchin, announced an agreement on a package of legislation that includes an unprecedented $369 billion to encourage green energy and cut carbon dioxide emissions, on a […]

censorship

The Human Rights Price of Biden’s Visit to Jeddah

Human Rights Watch

Biden Should Keep Promise on Rights, Call for Release of Activists and Rights Defenders

Democratic Party

Will the Jan. 6 Hearings finally Dent the Cult of Trump in the Republican Party or is it Too Far Gone?

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment) – January 6 was Donald Trump’s ultimate, cathartic, lifetime adrenalin high. He enjoyed it so much from the White House dining room that it took more than three hours for his staff and family to talk him down and out of it. He had calculated and stage-managed that day […]

Joe Biden

President Biden Must Commit to Ending the War in Yemen

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Farrah Hassen | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Biden once said the U.S. should never “check its principles at the door just to buy oil or sell weapons.” He should take his own advice. By Farrah Hassen | July 13, 2022 The United Nations has called the Saudi Arabia-led war in […]

Climate Crisis

Biden, Speaking of “Climate Emergency” and National Security, Pledges Executive Orders to Combat Global Heating

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that he would use executive orders and appeal to emergency measures in addressing what he caled the “climate crisis,” deploying among other tools the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He announced, “And in the coming weeks, I’m going to use the power I have […]