US politics

Much to the embarrassment of major corporations, their political donations were traced to the mayhem of January 6. ( Otherwords.org ) – You can’t poke into any issue in Congress without stumbling over sacks full of corporate campaign donations. The recent eruption of pro-Trump mob violence inside the U.S. Capitol exposed boodles of that special […]

Donald Trump

Did America really Duck the Dark Night of Fascism? The delusion of normalcy that haunts the United States

The Conversation

By Liam Kennedy | – The election of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States was received across much of the world with a mixture of relief and exuberance, though often laced with apprehension. A common theme in news headlines and Twitter feeds was that normal service was being resumed in the […]

Democratic Party

Biden’s own Moderates and Hardliners Battle it Out on reviving Iran Nuclear Deal

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Two and a half days into the Biden administration, it is already clear that the Problem of Iran is going to loom large over its foreign policy. There are already hard liners and moderates in the Biden team, just as there are in Iran. The first few Biden appointments, Antony […]

Democracy

Maybe now the U.S. should stop talking down to the World about “Democracy Promotion”

John Feffer

Because of the events of the last weeks, months and years, should “democracy promotion” be permanently removed from the U.S. foreign policy lexicon? ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – On Inauguration Day 2021, the nation’s capital looks like it has just experienced a coup, not successfully survived one. Streets are blocked off, barricades are up, […]

Donald Trump

Can Biden roll back Trump’s escalation and end catastrophic Yemen War?

Reese Erlich

The Biden Administration has a chance to undo a disastrous label and open the door for peace. ( 48hills.org) – One day before the Inauguration, the Trump Administration added Yemen’s Houthi movement to a list of foreign terrorist organizations. It was just the latest, desperate attempt to hamstring President Joe Biden’s promise to end the […]

Donald Trump

Despite Uneventful Inauguration, US could face a simmering, chronic domestic terror problem

The Conversation

By Luis De la Calle | – After President Joe Biden took office on Jan. 20, 2021 without any violent incidents, many in the United States and worldwide breathed a sigh of relief. The respite may be brief. The ingredients that led an incensed pro-Trump mob to break into the Capitol and plant pipe bombs […]

Climate Crisis

The first thing we do, let’s kill all the Coal Plants: How Joe Biden can save the Planet

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – My title is from William Shakespeare’s Henry the VI. In the original, Dick “the Butcher” is speaking of ways to overthrow the king and improve the country, and he suggests killing all the lawyers first. Nowadays, carbon dioxide is the thing preventing us from improving the country. President Biden has […]

Joe Biden

Do Biden’s Foreign Policy Appointees signal new Cold Wars with Russia, China?

Danny Sjursen

( Tomdispatch.com) – Hard as it is to believe in this time of record pandemic deaths, insurrection, and an unprecedented encore impeachment, Joe Biden is now officially at the helm of the U.S. war machine. He is, in other words, the fourth president to oversee America’s unending and unsuccessful post-9/11 military campaigns. In terms of […]

Donald Trump

Trump targeted innocent Muslims with Visa Ban on phony pretext of ‘Terrorism,’ then unleashed real White Terrorism on Capitol

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Muslim visa ban that Trump got through on his third try, and in which the Supreme Court to its everlasting shame acquiesced, is no more. President Biden abolished it with a stroke of his pen on his first day in office. That isn’t enough. Congress needs to legislate explicitly […]