Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Amid the European heat wave, Ruth Mottram of the Danish Meteorological Institute set off a panic this week when she observed that Greenland lost 11 billion tons of ice on August 1, the most in recorded history, and half the ice sheet was experiencing some level of melting. She added […]
Archives for August 2019
1917: The Racist, Right Wing Age of Delirium that Trump Resurrected
By Adam Hochschild | – (Tomdispatch.com) – Along rivers prone to overflowing, people sometimes talk of preparing for a 100-year flood — a dangerous surge of muddy, debris-filled water so overwhelming it appears only once a century. In our political world, we are now seeing a 100-year flood of toxic debris. The sludge washing ashore […]
Slamming Ilhan Omar, Orientalist Sen. Rand Paul confuses Somalia with Game of Thrones
By David Pechefsky | – (Informed Comment) – US Senator Rand Paul’s recent statements regarding Somalia are absurd on many levels. They are perhaps not worthy of further comment, but given that Paul a) sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and b) the US is fighting a war in Somalia, they shouldn’t be ignored. […]
Shadowy Pro-Saudi D. C. Think Tank that Defended Crown Prince Suddenly Closes
(Al-Bab.com) – The Arabia Foundation, a pro-Saudi think tank established in Washington only two-and-a-half years ago suddenly closed down yesterday, citing “ongoing differences” among its donors that have “made continued operations difficult”. In a series of posts on Twitter the organisation’s founder, Ali Shihabi, said the closure decision was made by the board of directors. […]
Iran: Germany and France Refuse to be Inducted into Trump’s Gulf Naval Operation against Tehran
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The government of Angela Merkel in Germany has rejected participation in the the Trump administration’s naval mission, “Operation Sentinel,” aimed at securing the Straits of Hormuz from Iranian interference in shipping. German foreign minister Heiko Maas of the Social Democratic Party said that Berlin opposes the Trump policy of “maximum […]
Stop It! Fracking Can’t be Done in a way that doesn’t Threaten Human Life
By Barbara Gottlieb | – Over 1,500 reports show there’s simply no safe way to do it — and it’s harming us all every day it goes on. Science. Evidence. Facts. Do these even matter anymore in U.S. policy? They should — especially when it comes to issues that affect our health and environment, like […]
Combatting the Climate Emergency: The Chinese Path or the Green New Deal?
(Tomdispatch.com ) – At its best, the earth was once likened to a spaceship that sails through the heavens with a crew working together for the common good. Thanks to climate change, this metaphor no longer works. Our planet is now more like a lifeboat that’s sprung a major leak. People onboard are beginning to […]
Expert Letter on Deescalating with Iran (Bacevich, Cole, Esposito et al.)
Via NIAC: July 30, 2019 As foreign-policy practitioners with decades of collective experience in national security and diplomacy, we write to warn that U.S.-Iran tensions have entered a dangerous new phase that has put us on the brink of a disastrous and avoidable war. The administration’s decision to violate the Iran nuclear agreement in pursuit […]
The Climate Emergency comes for the Democrats
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Despite the reluctance of corporate America, its cable news channels and its favorite candidates to tackle the looming menace of our climate crisis, it came for the Democrats big time in the second CNN debate. Credit where credit is due; the governor of Washington state, Jay Inslee, was the primary […]
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