Democratic Party

Published in: Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) By Iran Researcher Tara Sepehri Far | @sepehrifar @sepehrifar On the campaign trail and during his first three months in office, President Biden promised a US return to a multilateral foreign policy that supports human rights. That is an important vision for the Middle East, a […]

Featured

With Cyber-Attack on Iran’s Natanz Nuclear Enrichment Facility, is Israel’s Netanyahu trying to derail Biden talks and Escape Jail?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The BBC reports that a power outage and consequent explosion at the Natanz nuclear enrichment site in Iran on Sunday is being blamed by Iranian officials on sabotage. It reports that some Israeli outlets have speculated that the cause was an Israeli cyber-attack. The head of Iran’s nuclear energy program, […]

Climate Crisis

Greening Earth and creating Jobs, Biden to slash Fossil Fuel Subsidies and Extend Wind, Solar Credits

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Reuters reports that President Biden intends to slash tax subsidies for fossil fuels like coal and petroleum and to use taxes instead to encourage renewable energy. Since jobs in the coal industry are plummeting, and since job growth in renewable electricity is over 3 percent a year, Biden’s plans will […]

Featured

Iraq Announces end of US Combat Mission in Iraq, further reduction in 2,500 Troops now There

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Iraqi News Agency reports that Qasim al-Araji, Iraq’s National Security Adviser, said on Wednesday that his country had reached an agreement with Washington specifying that there would be no foreign military bases in Iraq. During a press conference alongside foreign minister Fuad Hussein, al-Araji added that the Biden administration […]

International Criminal Court

Lifting Trump’s sanctions on the Int’l Criminal Court doesn’t go Far Enough: The US must uphold International Law

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus) – When the loony right gathered at the Conservative Political Action Conference back in February, the theme of the Trump-heavy gathering was “America Uncanceled.” Speaker after speaker railed against “political correctness” in American culture, from “woke mobs” to “censorship” in the mainstream news media. Incredibly, they tried to transform so-called […]

Featured

How to understand Indirect US-Iran Nuclear Talks at Vienna: Iran wants US to get its Knee off Tehran’s Neck, Chauvin style, First

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The current signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (Joint Plan of Comprehensive Action or JCPOA) met in Vienna Tuesday with Iran. The United States delegation, led by Robert Malley, met on the sidelines with Deputy Secretary-General European Union Enrique Mora, who engaged in shuttle diplomacy between Iran and the […]

Joe Biden

Remaking America: Biden to put $100 bn. into High Capacity Grid to Move Electricity from Wind and Solar Farms to Cities

The Conversation

By James D. McCalley | – Many kinds of extreme events can disrupt electricity service, including hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, wildfires, extreme heat, extreme cold and extended droughts. Major disasters can leave thousands of people in the dark. The Texas deep freeze in February knocked out 40% of the state’s electric generating capacity. During such events, […]

Immigration

Advocates call on Biden to ‘tear down this wall,’ repair border damage

Cronkite News Arizona PBS

By Sarah Oven ( Cronkite News ) – WASHINGTON – Advocates called on President Joe Biden to “tear down this wall” Tuesday and fulfill his campaign promise of stopping the border wall construction that he put on hold in January. The meeting of border-state lawmakers, advocates and tribal members came 70 days after Biden, in […]

International Criminal Court

Biden lifts outrageous US Sanctions on Int’l Criminal Court; now it should Join Treaty of Rome on Human Rights

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Washington, DC) – US President Joe Biden’s cancellation of punitive sanctions targeting the International Criminal Court (ICC) removes a serious obstacle to the court’s providing justice to the victims of the world’s worst crimes, Human Rights Watch said today. On April 2, 2021, Biden revoked a June 2020 order by then-President […]