By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The climate pact forged at Paris lacks real teeth and so in and of itself will not solve our carbon dioxide and methane problem. But it is still important, as a clear signal of a sea change in world public opinion. You can’t address a problem […]
Archives for December 2015
Daesh in the Digital Realm
By Michael Degerald | (History x ISIS) | – – In popular discussion of the Islamic State, several topics have received the vast majority of the attention. The group’s executions, treatment of women, their oil profits, and rumors about state sponsorship have all gotten large amounts of attention. Not far behind that is discussion of […]
Should an al-Qaeda Ally have a seat at the Syrian Table? Al-Assad rejects talks w/ any armed Group
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Riyadh conference of the Syrian opposition this week included political groups but also nine armed bands. One of the nine, the Free Men of Syria or Ahrar al-Sham, has a formal alliance with al-Qaeda in Syria, the Nusra Front. I don’t think the US and […]
Deepening Inequality Driving US Middle Class into Oblivion
By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | – – “The hollowing of the middle has proceeded steadily for four decades, and it may have reached a tipping point,” Pew Research Center says A closer look at the shift out of the middle reveals that “a deeper polarization is underway in the American economy,” says […]
Paris COP21 will only slow Climate Change: Here’s What’s going to happen to you and your children
By Katja Frieler | (The Conversation) | – – At the Paris climate summit, delegates are deciding on a global goal for temperature rise. At the time of publication, the latest draft text calls for the world to “hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2℃ above pre-industrial levels and to […]
Top 10 Signs the US is the Most Corrupt Country in the World
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Revised Those ratings that castigate Afghanistan and some other poor countries as hopelessly “corrupt” always imply that the United States is not corrupt. VOA reports : While it is true that you don’t typically have to bribe your postman to deliver the mail in the US, […]
How U.S. Interventions Dismembered the Middle East
By Adil E. Shamoo | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – Despite everything, hawks are still pushing President Obama to send ground troops to Syria. He would be wise to reject their advice. For the last few decades in the Middle East, the policy of western powers — led by the United States — […]
Russo-Turkish Conflict over Syria & Iraq Boils: “Manifestations of impotent Rage”
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Turkish and Russian government have continued their war of words that followed on the shooting down of an Su-25 bomber on Nov. 24. Issues include a new Turkish accusation that Russian bombing in the north of Latakia province aims at ethnically cleansing the Turkmen populations […]
Obama: “Who will rid me of this Troublesome ‘caliph’? Someone? Anyone?
By Peter Van Buren | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – In the many strategies proposed to defeat the Islamic State (IS) by presidential candidates, policymakers, and media pundits alike across the American political spectrum, one common element stands out: someone else should really do it. The United States will send in planes, advisers, and special ops […]
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