By Mark Quigley, The University of Melbourne | – (The Conversation) – A pair of huge earthquakes have struck in Turkey, leaving more than 3,000 people dead and unknown numbers injured or displaced. The first quake, near Gaziantep close to the Syrian border, measured 7.8 in magnitude and was felt as far away as the […]
Archives for February 2023
Houthis Violating Women’s and Girls’ Rights in Yemen: UN Experts Highlight Widespread Harm
By Niku Jafarnia, Bahrain and Yemen Researcher, Middle East and North Africa Division | – ( Human Rights Watch ) – Several United Nations human rights experts recently sent a letter to Ansar Allah – also known as the Houthis – the de facto authority in much of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, detailing the […]
Poverty amid Plenty: A World Fragmented by Inequality
By Liz Theoharis | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – A few weeks ago, the world’s power brokers — politicians, CEOs, millionaires, billionaires — met in Davos, the mountainous Swiss resort town, for the 2023 World Economic Forum. In an annual ritual that reads ever more like Orwellian farce, the global elite gathered — their private jets […]
With Thousands Dead or Wounded, Will earthquake Aid for Syria be Impeded by US Sanctions?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A 7.8 earthquake that struck south-central Turkey and northwest Syria early on Monday morning. Although over two thousand are being reported dead in Turkey at midnight on Monday and more than a thousand in Syria, the death toll will grow a great deal as the rubble is combed by rescue […]
Yemen in the Shadow of Transition: Pursuing Justice Amid War (Review)
Review of Stacey Philbrick Yadav, Yemen in the Shadow of Transition: Pursuing Justice Amid War (London: Hurst and Co., 2022). Greifswald, Germany (Special to Informed Comment) – In a context of war, do accountability and justice need to wait until the end of the conflict? In her well-researched and original book Yemen in the Shadow […]
Suspected Israeli Drone Strike In Iran Part Of New ‘Containment Strategy’
( RFE/ RL ) – A suspected Israeli drone strike hit an Iranian military facility in Isfahan on January 28, in an attack that is part of a new effort to contain Tehran, analysts said. Protracted efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers have floundered. In the absence of a […]
Climate Crisis: Atmospheric rivers are hitting the Arctic more often, and increasingly melting its Sea Ice
By Pengfei Zhang, Penn State | – (The Conversation) – Atmospheric rivers, those long, powerful streams of moisture in the sky, are becoming more frequent in the Arctic, and they’re helping to drive dramatic shrinking of the Arctic’s sea ice cover. While less ice might have some benefits – it would allow more shipping in […]
Iran’s Khamenei admits to holding “Tens of Thousands” of Prisoners of Conscience, Offers Amnesty if they Apologize for anti-Regime Protests
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The official website of Iran’s “August Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced Sunday that “tens of thousands” (دهها هزار) of political prisoners arrested for participating in the nationwide protests since the middle of September last fall will be granted amnesty or have their sentences much reduced. He said this move came […]
Was the Chinese Spy Balloon a Sign of Infighting among China’s Power Elite?
Nashville (Special to Informed Comment) – China’s balloon incursion was no accident but an expression of both internal Chinese politics and of its foreign policy. Beijing is rumbling with important policy disputes and who has what kind of power. Under the uniform surface, China still has political quarrels. “No one in charge” was one explanation […]
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