US politics

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iraq Akhbar (Iraq News) reports on the first visit of Mustafa al-Kadhimi as Iraqi prime minister to Iran. He met with Iran’s clerical Leader, Ali Khamenei, on Tuesday. Khamenei said that Iran wants to see “a strong and independent Iraq that enjoys full sovereignty and internal cohesion.” He pledged never […]

Inequality

A Jubilee Moment? Time to Stop Bankrolling War and the Wealthy

Liz Theoharis

( Tomdispatch.com) – The word jubilee comes from the Hebrew “yovel,” meaning a “trumpet blast of liberty.” It was said that, on the day of liberation, the sound of a ram’s horn would ring through the land. These days, I hear the sound of that horn while walking with my kids through the streets of […]

Donald Trump

Trump’s ISIL Reelection Scheme: Send Federal Agents to Provoke Protesters in Dem Cities, Scare Suburbs

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Part of Trump’s reelection strategy is to scare the white suburbs, which polls show have soured on him, with “urban” (read: minority) violence. This is clear from his current campaign ads, which try to paint the gentlemanly Joe Biden as a bomb thrower. It now appears clear that part of […]

Donald Trump

Despite Saudi Atrocities in Yemen, Trump and Boris Johnson are Addicted to Arms Sales to Riyadh

Sandy Milne

Tokyo (Special to Informed Comment) – “There is not a clear risk that the export of arms and military equipment to Saudi Arabia might be used in the commission of a serious violation of IHL [International Human Rights Law].” So says the Honorable Elizabeth Truss MP – the UK’s top exports expert, and wolf in […]

Drones

Drones, Robots and Automaton Skiffs: In a World of Serial Pandemics, the US Military Dreams of War without Humans

Michael T. Klare

( Tomsdispatch.com ) – On March 26th, the coronavirus accomplished what no foreign adversary has been able to do since the end of World War II: it forced an American aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, to suspend patrol operations and shelter in port. By the time that ship reached dock in Guam, hundreds of […]

Afghanistan

Was there Really a Russian Bounty on US Troops in Afghanistan? A Story with Holes

Reese Erlich

(48Hills.org ) – On June 26, in a major front page story, The New York Times wrote that Russia paid a bounty to the Taliban to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan last year. The story quickly unraveled. While the military is investigating the allegations, Mark Miley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says there’s […]

African-Americans

John Lewis and C.T. Vivian belonged to a long tradition of religious leaders in the civil rights struggle

The Conversation

By Lawrence Burnley | – With the deaths of Rep. John Lewis and the Rev. Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian, the U.S. has lost two civil rights greats who drew upon their faith as they pushed for equality for Black Americans. Vivian, an early adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died July 17 at […]

Climate Crisis

Dems in Congress Craft Net Zero Carbon Climate Plan, aiming at Environmental Justice

Cronkite News Arizona PBS

By Misha Jones ( Cronkite News) | WASHINGTON – In the South Phoenix neighborhood of Lindo Park-Roesley Park, temperatures can be up to 13 degrees higher than locations just 2 miles away, according to the Nature Conservancy. Communities that are predominantly Hispanic and Black, like Lindo Park-Roesley Park, are part of the focus in a […]

Authoritarianism

Trump’s Secret Police whisk Portland Protesters into Unmarked Cars, but allowed Right wing armed militiamen to invade Michigan State House

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ryan Haas and Conrad Wilson at Oregon Public Broadcasting report that Federal agents with no name tags pulled at least two persons off the street in Portland without obvious probable cause and put them in unmarked vehicles. Responsibility for one of the kidnappings has been admitted by U.S. Customs and […]