Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Republicans at the House impeachment hearings decided to try to smear Lt. Col. Alex Vindman as a foreigner and perhaps even double agent with dual loyalty on Tuesday. Zack Beauchamp at Vox analyzes this disgraceful performance and quotes a key exchange. Steve Castor, the Republican counsel, badgered Vindman about a […]
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Republican Party
Iran: Economic Blockade and Crowd Protests were also How the US made the 1953 Coup
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The crowd protests that grew to affect 100 cities over the weekend in Iran were sparked by the government increasing the price of gasoline by as much as 3 times overnight. But the underlying discontents with the government have been caused by a sinking economy, expected to shrink by 9% […]
Trump’s Anti-Climate Agenda Bolsters his Ambitions for “Freedom Gas”
By John Foster | – (Monitor) – When Washington dubbed American gas exports “Freedom Gas” this year, it signalled a new salvo in U.S. competition with Russia. The target behind the branding is Europe, the largest gas market outside North America. With a bonanza of gas from fracking, the U.S. aims to become the world’s […]
Top 4 Things Rep. Ilhan Omar was Right about, from Stephen Miller Racism to Trump Impeachment
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – This week The Southern Poverty Law Center reported from Hatewatch that Trump administration official Stephen Miller spent the period before 2016 sending white supremacist messages to the Breitbart Nazi-lite site. He was upset about the turn against Confederate symbols after the massacre in a church by Dylann Roof, and he […]
Iran’s Rouhani: Trump too Erratic to Deal with, but is Open about Ambitions to Steal ME Oil
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said this week that the United States used to justify its military presence in Syria on the grounds that it was fighting terrorism. He said that Donald Trump has let the cat out of the bag and admitted that the real reason is to steal Syrian […]
Top 4 Reasons Turkish Pres. Erdogan got a Tense Reception in DC, Despite Trump’s Warmth
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump warmly hosted Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, praising him to the skies, despite Congressional deep frustration with Turkey Four big issues have introduced a severe strain into the US-Turkey relationship, though Trump for some reason treats Erdogan as teflon, just as he does Vladimir Putin. 1. Turkey’s invasion […]
How the Trump Administration has Made Iranian Nuclear Enrichment only Rational
By Akan Malici (Informed Comment) – It would be rational for Iran to pursue a nuclear bomb. Ironically, the U.S. has long been compelling it in this direction. The U.S. also bears the blame for the newest escalation, as it does for the enemy relationship generally. U.S. leaders will be quick to discard these statements […]
No, Russia isn’t taking over the Middle East from the US
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – There has been a lot of talk of Russian reassertion in the Middle East and angst (except in Donald Trump) about a deterioration of the US position there. Neither of these propositions, of a Russian assertion or a US decline, is supported by much evidence. And a US disengagement from […]
Trump’s Debacle in the Desert: A Post Mortem on the Kurdish-American Military Alliance (1941-2019)
(Informed Comment) – An “After-Action” Report on the Kurds’ Vital Role in The Defeat of ISIS and Death of “God’s Shadow on Earth”: On October 26th US Delta Forces, acting on intelligence provided to them by their trusted Kurdish allies, launched a dangerous, long-distance heliborne raid from Iraq, across a region in northern Syria that […]