(Informed Comment) – The 4th November 2019 marks the 40th anniversary of the Iran Hostage Crisis that has dominated and poisoned Iran-US relations ever since. The event refers to the seizure of a number of US diplomats and other employees in the United States Embassy in Tehran by the so-called “Muslim Students Following the Imam’s […]
Archives for November 2019
Trump in Blunder-land or Down the Rabbit-Hole
(Tomdispatch.com) – There can be no question about it. Donald Trump is Lewis Carroll’s Queen of Hearts. “Off with his head!” was the president’s essential suggestion for — to offer just one example — a certain whistleblower who fingered him on that now notorious Ukrainian phone call. And if The Donald hasn’t also been playing […]
Biggest Iraqi Crowds in History Demand changes in Bush Constitution
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dubai’s Al-Akhbar al-An reports that further large demonstrations broke out in Iraq on Saturday, leaving 91 wounded and one dead. Friday saw some of the largest demonstrations in modern Iraqi history. Protesters are demanding an end to corruption and sectarianism and want a government that can deliver basic services. They […]
ISIL and Donald Trump’s Delusion
By John Feffer | – (Foreign Policy in Focus) – Even before the recent raid that resulted in the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the erstwhile head of the Islamic State, Donald Trump had spoken of how he had single-handedly defeated the caliphate. “Now, when I came, the caliphate was all over the place,” the […]
To Address Climate Change, We Need to Take Back the Supreme Court
By Thom Hartmann | – (Via Yes! Magazine) – There were those among the founders and framers of the Constitution who didn’t mean for the Court to have as much power as it does today—Thomas Jefferson among them. My new book The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America dives into […]
Why the California wildfires signal the arrival of a planetary fire age
By Stephen Pyne | – Another autumn, more fires, more refugees and incinerated homes. For California, flames have become the colors of fall. Free-burning fire is the proximate provocation for the havoc, since its ember storms are engulfing landscapes. But in the hands of humans, combustion is also the deeper cause. Modern societies are burning […]
Syria’s Al-Assad: Trump, Openly Criminal, is the best US President we could Wish for
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Syrian strongman (and mass murderer) Bashar al-Assad gave an interview to Syrian media in which he expressed his happiness that Trump is president of the United States, “because he is the most transparent, so he says, ‘We want the oil,’ and this is the reality of American policy.’” Al-Assad said, […]
How Lebanon’s Uprising Defies the Sectarian Narrative: Not Sunni, Shiite, Christian
By Mira Assaf Kafantaris | – Religion has shaped Lebanon since it gained independence from France in 1943. In this multicultural country of Muslims, Christians and Druze – a medieval faith derived from Islam – religion defines membership and belonging. It is woven into Lebanon’s economic, political and social fabric. The mass protests that began […]
Afghanistan: CIA-Backed Forces Commit Atrocities: HRW
(New York) – United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-backed Afghan forces have committed summary executions and other grave abuses without accountability, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. These strike forces have unlawfully killed civilians during night raids, forcibly disappeared detainees, and attacked healthcare facilities for allegedly treating insurgent fighters. Civilian casualties from […]





