Top 5 Reasons Solar Energy will Save the World
(By Juan Cole) 1. The research and development monies now going into solar energy are great…
(By Juan Cole) 1. The research and development monies now going into solar energy are great…
(By Juan Cole) Yesterday Boston responded with its vigorous spirit of community and transcendence to the…
(By Juan Cole) David Brooks attacked President Obama on Sunday, saying: “Basically since Yalta we’ve had…
(By Tom Engelhardt for Tomdispatch) [Editor's note]: Our old friend Colonel Manners (ret.) made his first appearance at TomDispatch last October. Today, he’s back for the third time. We have yet to run into anyone…
(By Paul Jamiol) From Jamiol’s World
Warming melts last stable edge of Greenland icesheet (via AFP) The last edge of the Greenland ice sheet that had resisted global warming has now become unstable, adding billions of tonnes of…
(By Juan Cole) The Fall of the New Year Throne (To read this serialized sword and sorcery novel as it has unfolded before this installment, click here) Chapter Ten 4. Kaveh resented…
(By Lewis Lapham) [This essay will appear in "Revolution," the Spring 2014 issue of Lapham's Quarterly. This slightly adapted version is posted at TomDispatch.com with the kind permission of that magazine.] In case…
(By Juan Cole) The Fall of the New Year Throne (To read this serialized sword and sorcery novel as it has unfolded before this installment, click here) Chapter Ten 3. In a…
(By Sarah Lazare) Four years after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, oil still washes up on the Gulf Coast shore, and residents and cleanup workers face health hazards from the millions of gallons…
By Bobby Magill Follow @bobbymagill Oil refineries and drilling platforms in the U.S. are vulnerable to sea level rise and greater storm surge. Fuel pipelines, barges, railways and storage tanks are vulnerable to melting permafrost and severe weather…
America’s clean energy economy created nearly 80,000 green jobs in 2013, benefitting virtually every state across the country even as looming market and policy uncertainty threaten to shrink green growth. Solar, energy efficiency, and public transportation…
(By Juan Cole) The Fall of the New Year Throne (To read this serialized sword and sorcery novel as it has unfolded before this installment, click here) Chapter Ten 2. Matroyao felt…
(By Paul Jamiol) Courtesy Jamiol’s World
(By Juan Cole) The Fall of the New Year Throne (To read this serialized sword and sorcery novel as it has unfolded before this installment, click here) Chapter Ten 1. Kaveh felt…
By Brian Kahn Follow @blkahn Despite reports of a global warming “hiatus,” a new study shows that the number of areas being affected by extreme heat are on the rise and that the hottest temperatures on the planet are also increasing. The idea of a …
Source: SecurityDegreeHub.com —— Related video: TheRealNews: “Obama Expands Militarization of Police” )
President Obama on funnyordie.com plugging the Affordable Health Care Act: Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: President Barack Obama from President Barack Obama —– Related video: The Young Turks: “Anger Over Obama…
(By Rebecca Solnit via Tomdispatch) As the San Francisco bureaucrats on the dais murmured about why they weren’t getting anywhere near what we in the audience passionately hoped for, asked for, and…
SXSW: Snowden Touts Encryption, Swipes at NSA (via slashdot) In a Google Hangout with an auditorium full of South by Southwest attendees, government whistleblower (and former NSA employee) Edward Snowden suggested that…
91 Illinois Communities Powered 100% By Green Electricity (via Clean Technica) Article by the WWF. WASHINGTON, DC, March 7, 2014 – Illinois has embraced renewable electricity on a massive scale not seen anywhere else…
(By Paul Jamiol) Courtesy Jamiol’s World
Some date the advent of the tea party to 2007, when then-presidential candidate Ron Paul held a “tax day tea party” fundraiser to fill his campaign coffers. But the broader movement began five years ago last week — shortly after Barack Obama was…
Foreign Policy
Rep. Mike Rogers Says Snowden’s To Blame For Russia’s Aggressive Actions Against Ukraine
Mike Rogers is still willing to spread his stupidity to any new outlet that will have him. Despite the NSA and FBI being unable to find any evidence that Snowden colluded with Russian intelligence, Rogers continues to insist the former analyst is a…
Turkey: Is Twitter Mightier than Prime Minister Erdogan?
(By Erdağ Göknar via IslamiCommentary) Erdağ Göknar Claiming that Twitter has not responded to Turkish court requests to suspend specific accounts, the Turkish communications ministry blocked Twitter last Friday. Ruling Prime Minister…
Egypt Shocks the World with Plan for Mass Execution of 528 Muslim Brothers
(By Juan Cole) An Egyptian court in the provincial center of El Minya on Monday shocked the world by sentencing 528 persons to death in the killing of a policeman and engaging…
The Frightening Israeli Army used on Palestinian Children (Australian TV)
Australian Broadcast Co. and Journeyman Pictures: “The Frightening Israeli Army Used On Palestinian Children”: For more on Israeli arrests and abuse of Palestinian children see this post from February.
Gaza’s Palestinians, Besieged by Israel, turn to Solar Power
Here’s an excellent AFP film clip and article from a couple weeks ago that I think deserves a wider audience. Gazans turn to solar power as fuel crisis bites (via AFP) On…
Why Romney is Wrong that Obama’s Syria Policy Emboldened Putin
(By Juan Cole) On Face the Nation on Sunday, Mitt Romney slammed President Obama’s policies toward Russia as “naive” and called the country a “geopolitical adversary” of the US. He also seemed…
Saudi Arabia Again Fails Human Rights 101 (UNHRC)
The [United Nations'] Human Rights Council’s review of Saudi Arabia comes at a time of serious concern about the rights situation in the country. Authorities have intensified efforts to repress and silence…
Tahrir in Madrid: Tens of Thousands Demonstrate in Spain against Unemployment
Clashes at end of month-long ‘march for dignity’ to Madrid (via AFP) Violence flared as tens of thousands descended on Madrid on Saturday, some having trekked from the furthest corners of Spain,…
Pakistani Sufi Anthem: Jhule Lal Dam Mast Qalandar by Nusrat Fateh Ali
Qawwali is the South Asian Muslim equivalent of African-American Gospel music. This particular song celebrates the thirteenth-century Sindhi mystic, Sayyid `Uthman Marwandi, known as Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (1177 – 1274 AD), a…
ABC: Bush’s Neocon Spokesman for Illegal US Occupation of Iraq Slams Russia for Crimea
It just baffles me that failed Neocons like Dan Senor are still given a hearing inside the Beltway. ABC News actually interviewed Senor, the spokesman for the Bush administration’s illegal invasion and…
Are Some Iraqi Politicians being Disqualified because they Criticized PM Nouri al-Maliki?
(From a Niqash Special Correspondent in Baghdad) A number of high profile MPs have been banned from running in Iraq’s upcoming general elections – allegedly because they contravene an electoral rule about…
India’s Massive Youth Vote tilting to Right Wing Hindu Nationalist
(By James Tapper) 100 million new voters are about to transform India (via GlobalPost) NEW DELHI, India — With only a few weeks until India elects its next prime minister, the country’s…
Egypt: Military Rule, Arbitrary Jailing of Protesters, and… Public Silence
(By Daniel Nour) This article will probably annoy you. Telling the truth about Egypt, speaking frankly – not appropriately, or prudently, but just plain honestly – is fraught with danger. Doing so…
Massive increase in Israeli Squatter settlements in West Bank blamed for Collapsing Peace Talks
Israel settlements led to peace talks impasse: Palestinians (via AFP) US-sponsored peace talks with Israel have reached an impasse because of Jewish settlement activity, a Palestinian spokesman said, as plans for over…
Top attempts by Dictators to Shut down Twitter in Mideast (including Turkey’s PM Erdogan)
(By Juan Cole) Trying to close down social media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube has been a desperate ploy of dictatorial regimes throughout the world. It doesn’t work very well, since…
US Special Interest Groups in the Middle East Peace Process
(by Mahmoud M.A. Abdou) In this post, Mahmoud Abdou presents a summary of his book The Middle East Peace Process and U.S. Special Interest Groups. The Middle East Peace Process and U.S.…
Google’s Larry Page: We can’t Have NSA Spying and a Functioning Democracy
Google’s Page says US online spying threatens democracy (via AFP) Google co-founder Larry Page on Wednesday condemned US government snooping on the Internet as a threat to democracy. His comments came during…
On Iranian New Year, Russia hints it May Swing Support to Tehran over Crimea Sanctions
(By Juan Cole) Iran may have gotten a New Year’s gift via the Crimea crisis, as Russia threatens to play the Iran card over proposed US sanctions. As I argued in the…
Climate Change and the Rise of Genghis Khan
Mild weather may have propelled rise of Genghis Khan (via AFP) A pleasantly warm and wet spell in central Mongolia eight centuries ago may have propelled the rise of Genghis Khan, according…
East African countries are dealing with the impacts of climate change
Posted on 17 March 2014 by Guest Author, John Abraham As I have written before, I have a particular interest in smart energy sources for the developing world. Issues of climate change and energy supply meet as countries try to provide basic services…