Japan

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – In 2011 the Great East Japan Earthquake and ensuing tsunami devastated northeast Japan, taking the lives of more than 18,000 people and triggering one of the worst industrial accidents in history: the crippling breakdown of the Fukushima Dai’ichi nuclear power plant. Three of the plant’s six reactors suffered […]

Japan

On Anniversary of U.S. Nuking of Hiroshima, can we Learn from the Forests?

H. Patricia Hynes

(Special to Informed Comment) – On August 6 and 9 throughout the world, people will commemorate the hundreds of thousands of Japanese people who died—crushed, vaporized, burned beyond recognition, poisoned by radiation—from the atomic bombs the United States dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The bombs’ hideous intent and impact constituted a crime […]

Featured

Under Pressure from Biden, Japan pledges to double target for Renewables in energy mix by 2030, to 38%, and to Slash Emissions

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The importance of having a U.S. leader like Joe Biden, who has come to believe in the necessity of drastically cutting the emission of greenhouse gases, was demonstrated Wednesday when Japan announced that it was doubling its proposed cuts to carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. This according to Reuters. Japan […]

Israel/ Palestine

How Pro-Israel Sentiment took Hold in Japan’s Conservative Government

Michael Penn

Tokyo (Special to Informed Comment) – The recent flareup of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has revealed the degree to which pro-Israel sentiment has crept into the views of Japan’s conservative government. The most overt indication of this trend became visible in the tweeting of State Minister for Defense Yasuhide Nakayama. He entered the fray on May […]

China

New Wind and Solar up 50% globally in 2020, as China beats US by over 4 to 1

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The new report on 2020 by the International Renewable Energy Agency reveals that the world’s renewable energy generation capacity increased by an astonishing 10.3% in 2020 despite the global economic slowdown during the coronavirus pandemic. It beats the previous record for an annual increase in this sector by a healthy […]

China

The EV Onslaught: 80% of Norway’s New Cars Plug-Ins, as they soar 190% in EU, 120% in China

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Cleantechnica reports that if you consider pure electric automobiles alongside plug-in hybrids, plug-in vehicles accounted for 80% of new car registrations in Norway in November. This is a 20% increase year over year. And, gasoline cars fell to only about 10% of new car purchases. Volkswagen’s new ID.3 soared in […]

Australia

Australia’s Massive Solar Energy Hub in Outback to produce coal-killer Green Ammonia

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Asian Renewable Energy Hub is planning a $16 billion solar and wind project in the part of the Australian outback known as Pilbara, that is, in the north of the West Australian desert. The panels work by converting photons or ordinary light rays to electricity. The Australian Bureau of […]

Corruption

Top Six Lessons of Beirut and Hiroshima

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Did the massive explosion in Beirut, about three quarters of a century after the decimation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have any lessons or warnings for us. I think the answer is clearly yes. Lesson 1: Early news reports regarding the Beirut blast indicate that government officials had […]

Japan

Atomic Poet Survivors, Military Realists and Millennials: August 6 and 9

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – Poet survivors of the merciless, savage US atomic bombing of Japan guide us to the deepest, most intimate loss and suffering of survivors, the hibakusha. Give back my Father give back my Mother. Give Grandpa, Grandma back; Give my sons and daughters back. Give me back myself. Give […]