( Middle East Monitor) – The decision by several governments across the globe to institute travel bans on seven African countries, starting on 27 November, due to the discovery of a new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, was perceived to be hasty in the eyes of some and fully justifiable on medical grounds, in the view of […]
Archives for December 2021
To Succeed in US Foreign Policy, Biden needs a clean Break with Trump
( Code Pink) – The Biden presidency is still in its early days, but it’s not too early to point to areas in the foreign policy realm where we, as progressives, have been disappointed–or even infuriated. There are one or two positive developments, such as the renewal of Obama’s New START Treaty with Russia and […]
How to End America’s Forever Wars for Once and for All
( Tomdispatch.com) – As August ended, American troops completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan almost 20 years after they first arrived. On the formal date of withdrawal, however, President Biden insisted that “over-the-horizon capabilities” (airpower and Special Operations forces, for example) would remain available for use anytime. “[W]e can strike terrorists and targets without American boots […]
“Given me a Lever and I will Move the Earth:” Biden orders greening of Federal Gov’t, buying of EVs and Solar Panels
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse (d. 212 BC), speaking of the power of the lever, said, “Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth” (δῶς μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω). In the US economy there are few more powerful levers than […]
Immigrant Rights: US Senate Should Reinstate Pathway to Citizenship in Build Back Better Act
By Hina Naveed | Aryeh Neier Fellow | – ( Human Rights Watch) – All people, including immigrants like me, have a basic need for some semblance of stability. But addressing this need hangs in the balance as the Senate contemplates the Build Back Better Act. When the US House of Representatives passed the nearly […]
It was Israel, not Iran, that Derailed the 2015 Nuclear Agreement, and Bennett is still working against it
By Nasim Ahmed | – World leaders have been trying desperately to salvage the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+ countries: the US, Britain, China, Russia, France and Germany. The seventh round of talks in Vienna ended on Friday with very little to suggest that the main […]
A century of Criminality: How the car and gas industry knew about the health risks of leaded fuel but sold it for 100 years anyway
By Bill Kovarik | – On the frosty morning of Dec. 9, 1921, in Dayton, Ohio, researchers at a General Motors lab poured a new fuel blend into one of their test engines. Immediately, the engine began running more quietly and putting out more power. The new fuel was tetraethyl lead. With vast profits in […]
Justice: French arrest Man they believe to be Top Saudi Assassin of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi
Update: French authorities have released the individual they apprehended on Tuesday. Read on for the significance of this attempted arrest of al-Otaibi. Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Rick Noack and Sarah Dadouch at The Washington Post report that French authorities arrested a Saudi man they believe to be Khalid Aedh al-Otaibi, a member of the […]
Yes, America overthrew the Democratically Elected gov’t of Iran in 1953 and Ray Takeyh is wrong on the History
Newark, Del. (Special to Informed Comment) – It is likely that, if the elected government of Iran’s Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh had stayed in power, the Middle East or at least Iran would look very different now. But, in history, we cannot reach satisfactory conclusions based on ‘ifs‘. We have to consider only the facts and […]
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