US politics

Biden’s New Mideast: In Nadir of US-Saudi Relations, release planned of CIA report Accusing Crown prince of Murder

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Biden administration will release a Central Intelligence Agency report concluding that crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman, 35, of Saudi Arabia, masterminded the assassination on October 2, 2018, of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. I’m not sure even an old foreign policy hand like President Biden understands how explosive this […]

Donald Trump

The Claudius Presidency

John Feffer

(Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Caligula was by all accounts a nasty piece of work. During the nearly four years that he ruled over the Roman empire in the first century CE, Caligula was notorious for sexual predation and extravagant spending. Never one to sell himself short, he proclaimed early on that he was […]

African-Americans

Is Harvard denying Tenure to Cornel West over his views on Palestine?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Maximilien Alvarez writing at The Chronicle of Higher Education interviews eminent Black philosopher Cornel West on the latter being denied tenure at Harvard University. West is convinced that his views on the Palestine issue are the real reason for which Harvard will not give him a permanent job. Universities have […]

Epidemics

President Biden Honors 500K Dead. He didn’t say so, but they didn’t have to Die

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Biden on Monday honored the deaths of 500,000 Americans from COVID-19. It is a very large number, and commentator Sanjay Gupta at CNN had tears in his eyes because, he said, “they didn’t have to die.” President Biden clearly cares about these deaths. He commemorated their lives and their […]

Iran

Biden and the Iran nuclear deal: what to expect from the negotiations

The Conversation

By Ali Bilgic | – As Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, speculation was rife that one of the first things his administration would do would be to seek re-entry to the Iran nuclear deal that had been quit by his predecessor in the White House. The Joint […]

Civil Rights

90 Years of Secular Progress: As Fundamentalism Weakened, I saw America grow Strong and Diverse

James A. Haught

Charleston, WV (Special to Informed Comment) – I’ll be 90 on my next birthday. My long life is sinking, shrinking, slip-sliding away. My wife is worse: bedfast, under Hospice care. Soon, our world will end, not with a bang but a whimper. Looking back over nine decades, I’m proud and pleased because secular humanism – […]

Featured

We can do this: Americans put in massive 17 Gigawatts of Wind Power in 2020 despite Pandemic, Recession, and Neanderthal Conservatives

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – While conservatives like Texas governor Greg Abbott and Tucker Carlson have been busy putting down wind turbines as unreliable, America has been voting with its pocketbook. The verdict? We want more wind-powered electricity, precisely because it is inexpensive and reliable. So we may conclude from the Sustainable Energy in America […]

African-Americans

Harlem Ashram: The roots of revolutionary nonviolence in the United States are in the Black community

Waging Nonviolence

By Joanne Sheehan | – ( Waging Nonviolence) – Many are wondering how to respond to the current white supremacist threat. We only have to look to history — to those who organized against the brutal culture and laws of segregation in this country — for inspiration on the importance of relationship building, creative strategies […]

Authoritarianism

To Stop the Rot in American Democracy, Trump must be Indicted for Incitement

OtherWords

By By Mitchell Zimmerman | – ( Otherwords) – GOP senators said Trump was culpable, but he’s a “private citizen” now. Fine — indict him like one. By Mitchell Zimmerman | February 17, 2021 In the wake of his second impeachment acquittal, Donald Trump proclaimed victory in what he called “the greatest witch hunt in […]