2025

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Medford, a city of 60,000 people in Massachusetts, voted to pass an historic ordinance to divest from weapons companies that contribute to human rights violations. Their vote included Israel’s ongoing genocide, starvation and destruction of everything that makes life in Gaza possible. The Medford City Council passed […]

Omar Khayyam

“Red Wine!” – the Nightingale cries to the Rose: FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:6

Juan Cole

The sixth quatrain of Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám continues with its celebration of wine-drinking in the morning. It connects ancient Iran’s language of Middle Persian or Pahlavi, spoken in the Sasanian Empire 224–651 AD with the biblical figure of David, said in the Qur’an to be the author of the Psalms. VI. And […]

Authoritarianism

Thugs R Us: How MAGA Uses Violence to Consolidate Power

Andrea Mazzarino

( Tomdispatch.com ) – President Trump, his cabinet, and those who have profited from his rise seem to revel in public displays of cruelty. Take former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk, holding a chainsaw at a televised event to celebrate the firing of civil servants. Or Trump’s White House sharing a video […]

Israel/ Palestine

Don’t Blame Israel for Violating Jewish Ethics

Yakov M. Rabkin

( Times of Israel ) – Many people, both Jewish and non-Jewish, blame Israel for violating Jewish ethics. More erudite critics quote the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud and even codes of Jewish law to prove their point. This is a mistake. David Ben-Gurion, who directed the Zionist takeover of Palestine, answered such critics almost a […]

Democratic Party

Dem Leaders Are Pretending that U.S. Weapons Don’t Enable the Slaughter in Gaza

Norman Solomon

San Francisco (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – This week will go down in history as a time when the governing body of the Democratic Party had a chance to oppose the U.S. government’s arming of Israel. But with the first Democratic National Committee meeting in seven months getting underway on Monday, the DNC’s leadership […]

Climate Crisis

Iran’s Water Crisis Opens A New Front With Israel

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

( RFE/ RL ) – Amid soaring temperatures, power blackouts, and widespread water rationing, Pezeshkian painted a grim picture of the nation’s water woes. He warned that “there won’t be any water in the dams by September or October.” Pezeshkian described the situation as “a serious and unimaginable crisis,” pointing to depleted reservoirs and underground […]

Environment

‘Green Islam’: how Muslims are powering environmental Action across the World

The Conversation

By Eva F Nisa, Australian National University and Faried F Saenong, Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII) (The Conversation) – As the world grapples with myriad environmental problems, a growing number of studies shows the role of religion is key. Religion influences people’s worldviews, including how we think about nature and our roles within it. This […]

Climate Crisis

When even Saudi Arabia Jumps into Solar and Wind Power, You know Change is Here

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Saudi Arabia’s massive oil deposits and its 9.53 million barrels per day (bpd) of petroleum production make it an enormous carbon polluter and the foremost enemy of climate science and of electric vehicles. Some 38% of Saudi power plants use petroleum and 62% of electricity generation is done by domestically […]

European Union

How Europe is managing Guilt over Gaza: The Politics of moral Cleansing

Global Voices

Europe’s distancing from Netanyahu masks deeper complicity in Gaza’s devastation and the silencing of Palestinians Written byGuest Contributor By Dalia Ismail ( Globalvoices.org ) In the last few months, a noticeable shift has emerged across Europe as several governments signal a willingness to pressure Israel by moving toward the recognition of a Palestinian state. France […]

Archives for 2025

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