South Africa has downgraded its embassy to Israel, the first phase in reducing diplomatic relations between the two countries at the request of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) party. In this first phase, South Africa’s formerly full-service embassy in Tel Aviv has been downgraded to a liaison office, a diplomatic mission with limited […]
Archives for April 2019
Gen. Hiftar’s Drive to Take all of Libya Raises Atrocity Concerns
Human Rights Watch – (Tunis) – All forces taking part in fighting around Libya’s capital, Tripoli, should take all necessary action to minimize civilian harm and abide by the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said today. Armed groups loyal to both sides have a record of abusing civilians. Fighters led by General Khalifa Hiftar, […]
Spirituality without Prophets: Ibn Tufayl and the story of the feral child of philosophy
By Marwa Elshakry and Murad Idris | – (Aeon) – Ibn Tufayl, a 12th-century Andalusian, fashioned the feral child in philosophy. His story Hayy ibn Yaqzan is the tale of a child raised by a doe on an unnamed Indian Ocean island. Hayy ibn Yaqzan (literally ‘Living Son of Awakeness’) reaches a state of perfect, […]
Why Designating the Iranian Rev. Guards Terrorists would paint a big Red Target On US Troops in Iraq
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Trump administration is considering designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization. This is an old Joe Lieberman idea from 2007, and it is a very bad idea. It keeps being done rhetorically (2007, 2017), and then announced again out of amnesia. It is illogical, but it […]
Florida PL’s Huge Solar Battery will make as much Electricity as half a Nuclear Plant
Solar and wind power are already here. By next year, Iowa is expected to get 40 percent of its electricity from wind. Nearly 20 percent of California’s electricity is generated by solar panels. The missing ingredient is energy storage, that is, batteries. Solar panels make electricity from photons, which the sun sends down on us […]
Our Oil, Gas and Chemicals are Threatening a Catastrophic Failure of Earth’s Global Systems: That is What Killed off the Dinosaurs
By Simon Beard, Lauren Holt and Paul Upchurch | – “Why did the dinosaurs die out?” The consensus, among palaeontologists and dinosaur crazy seven-year-olds alike, seems to be that about 66m years ago a 10km diameter asteroid crashed into what is now Central America. It raised up a cloud of dust and ash that spread […]
Why the Palestinians’ Gaza Protests Won’t Stop
By Abier Almasri | – ( Human Rights Watch) – On Saturday, Palestinians in Gaza will head to the fences with Israel that effectively serve as their prison wall– as they have done for over a year, since they began weekly demonstrations against Israel’s more than decade-long closure of Gaza. I’ve spent much of the […]
Israel demolishes al-Araqib Bedouin village for 142nd time
NEGEV (Ma’an) — Israeli bulldozers demolished the unrecognized Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Negev desert in southern Israel for the 142nd time, on Thursday. Locals reported that Israeli bulldozers, escorted by Israeli police forces, demolished residential structures and tents of al-Araqib villagers, leaving women, children and the elderly without a shelter. Villagers said that […]
Congress Slaps down Trump-Saudi War on Yemen
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The House of Representatives voted Thursday 247 to 175 to end the US involvement in supporting the Saudi-led war effort in Yemen. 16 Republicans voted with the Democratic majority. The Senate had already passed the act, invoking the War Powers act for the first time since it was enacted in […]
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