US politics

Middlebury, Vt. (Special to Informed Comment) – Four years ago, before the 2016 election, I wrote in these pages about my search for the appropriate literary or folkloric character with we could understand Donald Trump and his supporters. As a scholar of religion and mythology I felt in dire need of archetype with whom i […]

Bashar al-Assad

Will Biden Wind down the Syria War or keep it Bubbling?

Global Voices

Incoming US administration won’t take leaps in Syria

Donald Trump

Pandemic Failure, Vaccine Success Indict American Monopoly Capitalism

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The contrast between the unprecedented failure of the United States to deal successfully with the coronavirus pandemic, and the success of pharmaceutical companies in coming up with effective vaccines in record time is bittersweet. The reason for the difference is that no one could make any money on mitigating the […]

Donald Trump

America already had Fascism in Jim Crow; is the Trumpie Dream a Totalitarian Amerika?

Leif E. Vaage

Toronto (Special to Informed Comment) – It is widely recognized that the Nazis learned from the example of the United States of America about politics in a racist key. It is important to recall that before the Nazis came to power, there was already the long-standing example of Jim Crow in the Deep South. The […]

Democratic Party

The Left must Seize the Initiative: Biden’s Centrist Instincts could be Disastrous

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Walden Bello | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Donald Trump embarked on an unorthodox course in economic policy that combined tax cuts for the rich with a protectionist trade policy that was ostensibly aimed at saving the U.S. industrial base and preventing the export of American jobs. The question is not whether […]

Cartoon

‘I am that character’: New Marvel heroes battle underrepresentation of Native Americans in comics

Cronkite News Arizona PBS

By Johnny Messiha and McKenzie Allen-Charmley | ( Cronkite News) | – FLAGSTAFF – Asgard, Wakanda, Xandar and other intergalactic empires are well-known to comic book fans, but a new comic is hoping to bring readers back to Earth to learn about Indigenous heroes. Penned by Native American artists and writers, “Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices […]

Conspiracy Theories

How and Why the American Judicial System Saved the U.S.A. from Trumpism

Ted Becker

By Ted Becker No president has so many close associates from his election campaign and his administration tried in the federal criminal courts—and convicted or pleaded guilty—than Donald J. Trump did in his lone term. Score big points for the U.S. federal courts’ judicial independence for that alone. However, despite the 10 “obstruction of justice” […]

Donald Trump

How US Sanctions have Contributed to the 50K Dead of Coronavirus In Iran

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The US financial and trade blockade of Iran, which has strangled its economy, has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s coronavirus response. Nick Paton Walsh, Jo Shelley, Ramin Mostaghim and Scott McWhinnie at CNN did a great story on this heartrending travesty. They write, ‘Retired teacher Khalif Farahani […]

Authoritarianism

A Well-Timed Atrocity: How Trump could yet try to Make a Coup and how to stop it

Scott Corey

Quincy, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment) – During the Presidential campaign, some very respectable voices expressed concern that the current administration might be planning a coup against the Constitution. Now hope of peace prevails even though intransigence at the top and a closing window of opportunity should, logically, intensify concerns. Is the threat of a […]