Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Trump administration is unlikely to have the same success in getting other countries to boycott Iranian petroleum as did the Obama administration in 2012-2015, though its officials are making a full court press in that regard. Proof came in the form of statements from the Turkish, Iraqi and Chinese […]
Archives for June 2018
Turkey’s re-elected Erdogan, a Hybrid of Putin and Trump, will Change Mideast
By Mehmet Ozalp – (The Conversation) – Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the incumbent president and main political actor in Turkish politics for the last 16 years, has won yet another election with a majority vote of 52%. The election was held in the climate of a two-year state of emergency, Erdogan’s considerable weight on Turkish media, […]
Netherlands Proposes going 100% Green by 2050
The Dutch legislation aims to slash greenhouse gas emissions to near zero and mandates that the Netherlands have 100 percent carbon-neutral electricity by 2050 The Hague (AFP) – Dutch MPs unveiled ambitious new climate legislation Wednesday aimed at reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions to almost zero by 2050, while introducing an annual review to […]
Progressive Dems Are Celebrating Ocasio-Cortez v. Crowley Win; But where is the Legislation?
Progressives are rightly elated by the surprise win in a New York primary of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They saw her ten-term opponent as having failed to stand for workers. But it is possible for Ocasio-Cortez never to pass even a single law. My advice to her and to her backers is not just to perfect her […]
Trump Admin. Tries to Strong-Arm World into Halting Iranian Oil Imports by Nov. 4
Washington (AFP) – The United States warned Tuesday that countries around the world must stop buying Iranian oil before November 4 or face a renewed round of American economic sanctions. A senior State Department official warned foreign capitals “we’re not granting waivers” and described tightening the noose on Tehran as “one of our top national […]
The Seventh Exclusion: Great Moments in American Racist Immigration History
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I had predicted after Trump’s announcement that he wanted to try to keep Muslims out of the United States that he might well have some success in that endeavor. Courts, as SCOTUS just showed once again, are reluctant to micro-manage the Executive on things like who can enter the country. […]
New Light on the Arabian Religious Background of Islam?
There is a key problem with our sources on early Islam. Aside from the Qur’an itself, all the sources we have were written down after the Abbasid Revolution of 750 against the Umayyads. The first author to compile a complete biography of Muhammad (d. 632), the chronicler Muhammad ibn Ishaq of Medina, was born around […]
TrumpWorld: A Vast Guantanamo Bay just for Children
New York (Tomdispatch.com) – By the time Donald J. Trump threw in the towel, who among us hadn’t seen or heard the chilling videos in which U.S. border officials shamelessly grabbed uncomprehending children and toddlers from their pleading mothers and fathers? Some were told they were being taken to bathe or shower by people with […]
Defying US, Syrian Troops Launch Assault on Daraa City as Civilians Flee
With Tony Gamal-Gabriel in Beirut Daraa (Syria) (AFP) – Syria’s army launched an assault on the flashpoint southern city of Daraa Tuesday, state media said, after a week of deadly bombardment on the nearby countryside caused mass displacement. Government forces have set their sights on retaking the south of the country, a strategic area that […]
© 2025 All Rights Reserved