US politics

Pence, who urged Impeachment of Bill Clinton for Lying, Would join Trump in Welcoming Confessed Liar Michael Flynn back to White House

Vice President Mike Pence says he would be happy to have disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn back in the White House. The statement came after Bill Barr’s Department of Justice said it did not want to prosecute Flynn for lying to the FBI. Note, Barr does not deny that Flynn committed this crime. […]

Donald Trump

Why Unemployment under Trump is way worse than even the Depression-Era Numbers Suggest

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Friday May 8 unemployment statistics were as dire as many had expected. The US Department of Labor released an unemployment rate for April of 14.7%, the worst since the Great Depression and far surpassing the worst days of the Great Recession. In light of these numbers it […]

Books

Washington Irving, “Legend of the Arabian Astrologer”

contributors

Washington Irving, Tales from the Alhambra (New York: Lea and Carey, 1832). Legend of the Arabian Astrologer. IN OLD times, many hundred years ago, there was a Moorish king named Aben Habuz, who reigned over the kingdom of Granada. He was a retired conqueror, that is to say, one who having in his more youthful […]

Afghanistan

If only we Had that $6.4 Trillion we wasted on Iraq and Afghanistan to Lift the Economy and Fight Coronavirus

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Wouldn’t it be nice if the richest country in the world had some resources stored up to deal with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and the worst health crisis since the 1918 Influenza Pandemic that killed 600,000 Americans? I mean, we had a $21 trillion a year […]

Donald Trump

Your Crazy Uncle Sam strikes again, Vetoing Global Peace to own the ChiComs

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Under Trump, America has officially become the world’s crazy uncle Sam. On Friday, the US used its veto power to block a United Nations resolution calling for a global ceasefire during the coronavirus pandemic. The resolution had been called for by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The move left all the […]

China

Trump keeps trying to Blame China for his Bungling on Coronavirus: Enough with the Conspiracy Theories

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Conspiracy theorists never let a crisis go to waste. When something truly terrible happens, the conspiracy theorist sets to work to determine the dark, hidden forces at work behind the scenes that have produced the crisis. Some people might see God or the Devil as the prime mover behind […]

Israel Lobbies

Is Sympathy for the Plight of Occupied Palestinians winning the American University?

Al-Shabaka

By Hatem Bazian | – ( Al Shabakah) – Palestine Legal recently published a report noting that the majority of suppression of Palestine advocacy in the US targets students and faculty. In particular, 89% of such incidents occurred on college campuses in 2014, and 74% in 2019. While these statistics illuminate the current struggle that […]

Donald Trump

Top 5 Reasons Trump’s West Wing May be Emerging as a Coronavirus Epicenter

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Jana Winter and Hunter Walker at Yahoo News broke the story that 11 Secret Service agents have tested positive for the coronavirus. Likely some of them served in the West Wing. This week it was revealed at that a US military valet who brought Trump food came down with the […]

Donald Trump

Trump and Biden on the Middle East

Reese Erlich

( 48hills.org) – We all know that President Donald Trump’s foreign policy has been a disaster. But is Joe Biden’s any better? Trump promised to stop America’s endless wars but has stationed some 80,000 troops in the Middle East. He pulled out of the Iran nuclear accord, and imposed harsh sanctions and even sent drones […]