US politics

By Jim Hightower | ( Otherwords.org) – As Scottish literary giant Robert Burns wrote, “The best-laid schemes of mice and men / Go oft awry.” His 1785 poem, titled “To A Mouse,” could be directed today at the right-wing sloganeers who’ve been scheming so furiously to turn their hokey “woke” snobbery into a winning political […]

censorship

Daniel Ellsberg: The Most Dangerous Man in America

Peter G. Prontzos

Vancouver (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Former Defense Department analyst Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the media in 1971, died on June 16. When Ellsberg (with the help of Anthony J. Russo) released the Pentagon Papers to the media in 1971, he expected to spend the rest of his […]

Climate Crisis

To Avert Climate Catastrophe, US and Europe must stop Competing and Start Cooperating

Foreign Policy in Focus

Originally published in European Alternatives. ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – From a foreign policy perspective, transatlantic relations appear to have reached new heights. The United States and European Union both support Ukraine’s efforts to expel Russian troops from its territory. On the military front, NATO is enjoying boom times thanks to the reemergence […]

Donald Trump

Iran confirms it is Talking with the Biden Administration about Nuclear Enrichment, Prisoners and Regional Relations

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – It is coming out that the US and Iran have been talking privately in Oman about a range of bilateral issues, including prisoner exchanges and Iran’s civilian nuclear enrichment program. This news emerged, according to Barak Ravid at Axios in the form of a complaint from Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin […]

Donald Trump

The Trials of Donald Trump and Aaron Burr: 3 Similarities and 2 Differences

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Only three holders of the top executive offices in the country, the presidency and the vice presidency, have ever been tried in federal court. They are Aaron Burr (d. 1836), who had served as Thomas Jefferson’s vice president; Spiro T. Agnew (d. 1996), who served as Tricky Dick Nixon’s vice […]

Donald Trump

‘If you want to die in jail, keep talking’ – Two National Security Law Experts discuss the special Treatment for Trump and offer him some Advice

The Conversation

By Thomas A. Durkin, Loyola University Chicago and Joseph Ferguson, Loyola University Chicago | – (The Conversation) – Lawyer Thomas A. Durkin has spent much of his career working in national security law, representing clients in a variety of national security and domestic terrorism matters. Joseph Ferguson was a national security prosecutor in the U.S. […]

Democratic Party

With Two Damaging Trump Trials during the Campaign, did Joe Biden just become a Shoo-in in 2024?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump’s two indictments will likely throw the 2024 election to Joe Biden. Assuming Biden remains in good health and there isn’t a dramatic foreign policy reversal or a prolonged economic crisis, he is now a shoo-in. He may be a shoo-in no matter what, since the alternative will be so […]

Far Right

Hate Groups’ Political Influence Growing: Southern Poverty Law Center

Minnesota Reformer

By: Ashley Murray – J ( Minnesota Reformer) – WASHINGTON — More than 1,200 hate and anti-government extremist groups were active across the United States in 2022, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s latest report on the nationwide prevalence of extremists who target people of color, LGBTQ people, Jewish communities and other religious […]

African-Americans

Top 3 Crimes Trump should have been Indicted for besides Mishandling Documents

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Although the saga of Trump’s mishandling of classified documents, as revealed in the 38-count indictment, is shocking to anyone who has ever been involved in government work, it is also darkly comic and trivial. Trump seems to have held on to the top secret documents the way a collector hangs […]