US politics

Nashville (Special to Informed Comment) – It looks like Donald Trump gets off the hook for his defiant mishandling of classified documents. If former vice presidents kept documents, how can you single out Trump for prosecution? True, Trump committed far more and more serious breaches, but now others share his sins. How many classified materials […]

African-Americans

Pain of Police Killings ripples outward to traumatize Black People and Communities across US

The Conversation

By Denise A. Herd, University of California, Berkeley | – (The Conversation) – As the video goes public of Black police officers in Memphis beating Tyre Nichols to death, it is a stark reminder of George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. That set up the largest protests in U.S. history and […]

Climate Crisis

How California’s ambitious new Climate Plan could help speed Energy Transformation around the World

The Conversation

By Daniel Sperling, University of California, Davis | – California is embarking on an audacious new climate plan that aims to eliminate the state’s greenhouse gas footprint by 2045, and in the process, slash emissions far beyond its borders. The blueprint calls for massive transformations in industry, energy and transportation, as well as changes in […]

African-Americans

McCarthy’s Vendetta against Rep. Ilhan Omar Recalls Congress’s Refusal to seat first African-American Elected to House in 1869

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is making an attempt to keep Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from taking her seat on the Foreign Affairs Committee. Omar is the only African Muslim woman in the House, and it is hard not to conclude that she is being targeted on racial and […]

Featured

Can Puerto Rico solve its perennial Energy Problems with Distributed and Community Solar?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have put out a one-year progress report on Puerto Rico’s green energy transition and grid resilience. As a Caribbean island, Puerto Rico has suffered massive damage in this century from hurricanes, which are becoming more intense and […]

Featured

Turkey’s President Erdogan Says Swedish NATO Application out of Question after Qur’an burning in Stockholm

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Sweden can forget about membership in the 30-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Erdogan is demanding that Sweden cooperate with Turkey in repressing Kurdish activist expatriates in Sweden, all of whom he views as terrorists. He also says he is furious about the […]

Climate Crisis

As US-EU Trade Tensions Rise, Conflicting Carbon Tariffs could undermine Climate Efforts

The Conversation

By Noah Kaufman, Columbia University;Chris Bataille, Columbia University; Gautam Jain, Columbia University; and Sagatom Saha, Columbia University | – Rising trade tensions between the U.S. and the European Union, two of the most important global leaders when it comes to climate policy, could undermine key climate initiatives of both governments and make it harder for […]

China

Climate Change will Supersede Everything: The Pentagon’s Massive Intelligence Failure on China

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com) – Given the secrecy typically accorded to the military and the inclination of government officials to skew data to satisfy the preferences of those in power, intelligence failures are anything but unusual in this country’s security affairs. In 2003, for instance, President George W. Bush invaded Iraq based on claims — later found […]

Donald Trump

Is Israel’s Netanyahu even worse than Trump?

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment) – The parallel trajectories of far-far right politicians accruing more power in the US and Israel is striking. Elements include similar motivations, policy actors, agenda and attempts to subvert democracy. But the dynamics differ with the roles of the two nations’ judicial systems. Far-far right wingers in Israel feel […]