US politics

At Last, the End of Austerity: Joe Biden’s Really, Really Big Covid Stimulus aims to Jumpstart America

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Joe Biden has redeemed the sins of the Obama administration, which did not enact a big enough stimulus truly to dig the U.S. economy out of the hole created by the 2008-09 economic crash. Barack Obama, a gentleman and a community builder, had believed that he could get some Republicans […]

Climate Crisis

Biden wants the US Carbon Neutral by 2050, but Can he Paint the Whole World Green?

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Once upon a time, a rich hypochondriac was complaining about pains in his head and stomach. He consulted a wise man who pointed out that the root of the problem lay somewhere else: in the man’s eyes. To resolve the persistent headache and stomachache, the sage suggested focusing on […]

Climate Crisis

Biden overturns Trump Policy, Pushes Massive 84-Turbine Offshore Wind Farm to power all southern Massachusetts

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is finished its environmental impact review of a wind farm in federal waters off Massachusetts. According to AP, the company that wants to install the turbines, Vineyard Wind, had withdrawn its application last summer for fear Trump would reject it. President Biden, however, […]

Iran

Iran’s leaders signal interest in new nuclear deal, but U.S. must act soon

The Conversation

By James Devine | – On the campaign trail, Joe Biden pledged that if elected he would quickly return the United States to the Joint Collective Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal. But negotiations have been slow to materialize, and with Iran’s presidential elections scheduled to take place in June, […]

journalism

‘Rightly’ as a New Soft Power Tool: The Motivation behind Al Jazeera’s American Right-Wing Platform

Hamdullah Baycar

Exeter (Special to Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera announcement to launch a right-wing media platform, Rightly, in the US surprised many people, including its employees. Over 100 hundred employees from Al Jazeera penned an open letter to the Al Jazeera administration asking the halt of the platform based on not fitting their ‘values.’ Michael Weaver, […]

Far Right

We’re Stalked by the 4 Horsemen of Apocalyptic Media: Rush, Roger, Rupert, and The Donald May Ride Forever

Tomdispatch

By Robert Lipsyte | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – The Four Horsemen of our media apocalypse — Rush Limbaugh, Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdoch, and Donald Trump — have ridden roughshod over us this past half-century leaving their hoofprints on our politics, our culture, and our lives. Two of them are gone now, but their legacies, including […]

Far Right

The Byzantine Empire was Multicultural, So why are QAnon and White Supremacists Idolizing it?

The Conversation

By Roland Betancourt | – From Charlottesville to the Capitol, medieval imagery has been repeatedly on show at far-right rallies and riots in recent years. Displays of Crusader shields and tattoos derived from Norse and Celtic symbols are of little surprise to medieval historians like me who have long documented the appropriation of the Middle […]

Iraq

How Biden is already being drawn into unwinnable Tit for Tat with Iraqi Militias

Reese Erlich

( 48hills.org ) – For the first time, the Biden Administration ordered a cross-border military attack in the Middle East. On February 26, seven US missiles slammed into a facility used by Iranian-backed militias in Syria. Washington was retaliating for the February 15 attack on a US base in northern Iraq. Biden is siding with […]

Afghanistan

Women in Afghanistan worry peace accord with Taliban extremists could cost them hard-won rights

The Conversation

Mona Tajali and Homa Hoodfar | – Three Afghan women who worked at a media company were gunned down in Jalalabad in early March. In January, unidentified gunmen killed two female Supreme Court judges in Kabul. These are the latest victims on a long list of assassinations and attempted assassinations of female politicians and women’s […]