By Michelle Lim | – We are witnessing the loss of biodiversity at rates never before seen in human history. Nearly a million species face extinction if we do not fundamentally change our relationship with the natural world, according to the world’s largest assessment of biodiversity. Last week, in the culmination of a process involving […]
Archives for May 2019
Boondoggle, Inc.: Making Sense of the $1.25 Trillion National Security State Budget
By William D. Hartung and Mandy Smithberger | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – In its latest budget request, the Trump administration is asking for a near-record $750 billion for the Pentagon and related defense activities, an astonishing figure by any measure. If passed by Congress, it will, in fact, be one of the largest military […]
300 Former Prosecutors: Multiple Felony Counts of Obstruction against Trump in Mueller Report
STATEMENT BY FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTORS (Medium.com) – We are former federal prosecutors. We served under both Republican and Democratic administrations at different levels of the federal system: as line attorneys, supervisors, special prosecutors, United States Attorneys, and senior officials at the Department of Justice. The offices in which we served were small, medium, and large; […]
Gaza Palestinians and Israelis Wounded Past Year by the Numbers: 31,691 v. 250
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The reporting on the fighting between Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and Israelis the past few days, as usual, has mostly lacked context and proportionality. Number of Gaza Palestinians killed by Israeli snipers in past year: 304 Number of Gaza Palestinians injured by Israeli snipers in past year: 31,691 Number […]
Don’t Even Bother: Why Trump’s Israel-Palestine “Deal” is Dead on Arrival
By Dov Waxman | – Dead on arrival. That’s what almost every expert predicts will be the fate of the Trump administration’s long-awaited peace plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As the author of the new book, “The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: What Everyone Needs to Know,” I share this view. Low expectations Developed in secrecy for […]
The Reality for the Middle Classes behind the supposedly “Surging” U.S. Economy
By Sarah Anderson | – A tiny uptick in wages won’t do much to help Americans squeezed by debt and facing rising prices for medicine, child care, housing, and other essentials. Recent economic reports have President Donald Trump crowing. The big headline numbers do sound encouraging. The unemployment rate is down to 3.6%, the lowest […]
Warmongers Bolton & Pompeo send Aircraft Carrier to Menace Iran, still Hoping for Confrontation
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Uber warmongerers John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, somehow the National Security Adviser and Secretary of State of the United States, respectively, have sent an aircraft carrier battle group toward the Gulf in the vicinity of Iran, in hopes of provoking a military confrontation with that country. Iran does not have […]
Trump’s Backward Foreign Policy: Seeing China as a threat but ignoring Russian Interference
By Mel Gurtov | – (Informed Comment) – There is a dangerous confusion in US national security policy when evaluating relations with Russia and China. The Trump administration has made China the main US enemy when it is Russia that has attacked the US electoral system, a barely disguised Russian force has carved out a […]
Why Trump can’t ban the Muslim Brotherhood without Damaging Democratic Prospects
(Informed Comment) – Donald Trump’s already problematic and divisive Middle Eastern policy could create more problems as he seeks to label the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization. Though presented as a national security move, it could ignite further Middle East and North African tensions, while giving another green light to authoritarianism – all […]








