Sacramento (Special to Informed Comment) – Who is a public intellectual? What role should they play? Searching the internet yields several answers. Alan Lightman’s The Role of the Public Intellectual offers a thoughtful discussion of different visions of the public intellectual and their role and responsibilities. I have opted for a broader description, but with […]
Archives for February 2024
The Utter Madness of Nuclear Arsenals, as Global ‘Titanic’ Picks up Speed
By Norman Solomon ( Tomdispatch.com) – Yes, the Doomsday Clock keeps ticking — it’s now at 90 seconds to midnight, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists — but the ultimate time bomb never gets the attention that it deserves. Even as the possibility of nuclear annihilation looms, this century’s many warning signs retain the status […]
Saudis Contradict Blinken: Want Actual Palestinian State now, not Vague ‘Peace Process’
Oxford (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – On Tuesday afternoon (6 February 2024), U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken took part in a joint press conference with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha. The press conference was mainly about the war in Gaza and the possibility […]
Why Cutting the Funding of the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza is a Humanitarian Catastrophe
By Emilie El Khoury, Queen’s University, Ontario | – (The Conversation) – Shortly after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its ruling in the case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, Israel accused 12 members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) of being […]
A Trumpian Bacchanalia in 2024?
( Tomdispatch.com ) – I was born on July 20, 1944, almost two years after Joe Biden arrived on this planet and almost a year before You Know Who, like me, landed in New York City. The United States was then nearing the end of the second global war of that century and things were […]
Super Bowl Conspiracy: How the MAGA Republicans are (Taylor) Swift-Boating Themselves
Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – I love how Republicans are using the romance of pop star Taylor Swift and football great Travis Kelce to forecast and promote their own political doom. They’re crying, “This is how we’re gonna’ lose and it’s not fair.” They are “swift-boating” themselves, and they have my permission. […]
Israel isn’t Complying with the International Court of Justice Ruling – What Happens Next?
By Basema Al-Alami, University of Toronto | – (The Conversation) – More than a week has passed since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) mandated provisional measures against Israel following South Africa’s accusation of genocide. The court’s demands were clear: Israel must take immediate steps to prevent genocidal actions in Gaza; prevent and punish incitement […]
Federal Appeals Court to Trump: You’re a Citizen, not a King, and no you don’t have Immunity
By: Jacob Fischler and Ashley Murray – ( Michigan Advance ) – WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted for charges he schemed to overturn the 2020 election, a three-judge panel of a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday, rejecting Trump’s argument he was immune from criminal prosecution for any alleged conduct during his […]
Greater-Israel Advocates see Gaza Crisis as Opportunity for Expansion
Storrs, CT (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The media rightly focused attention on a recent “packed gathering” of Israeli leaders and citizens discussing their support for returning Israeli settlers to the Gaza Strip, where they have not been since Israel’s disengagement in 2005. More generally, for the past four months, some ministers in the […]
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