Asia

Russia and China are both putting their feet down about the talk in the US and France about renegotiating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 agreement on freezing and curtailing Iran’s nuclear enrichment program by the UN Security Council and Germany in return for lifting international sanctions. US President Trump is threatening […]

China

China’s Climate Policies Could Save 94,000 People from Early Grave

contributors

Beijing (AFP) – China could avoid nearly 94,000 premature deaths and save a whopping $339 billion in health costs over the next 12 years by honoring its carbon reduction commitments under the Paris climate accord, a study showed Monday. The country has pledged to reach peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 at the latest and […]

Afghanistan

Kabul Mourns Loss of ‘Invincible Hero’ in Anti-Shiite Suicide Blast

contributors

by Usman Sharifi | – – Kabul (AFP) – Whenever suicide attackers struck his fellow Shiites in Kabul, Wakil Hussain Allahdad would drop what he was doing and rush to the scene to help rescue survivors and carry away the dead. But on Sunday Allahdad himself became a victim, fatally wounded in the devastating blast […]

Iran

Could Trump’s Sabre-Rattling against Iran Spoil the North Korea Negotiations?

Neil Thompson

North Korea suspends nuclear testing ahead of talks with Trump North Korea has surprised the international community by announcing it is suspending its testing of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles ahead of talks between US President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The isolated communist regime said that the moratorium on […]

China

Oceania and Eastasia? New Cold War, this Time against both Russia and China?

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – Think of it as the most momentous military planning on Earth right now. Who’s even paying attention, given the eternal changing of the guard at the White House, as well as the latest in tweets, sexual revelations, and investigations of every sort? And yet it increasingly looks as if, […]

China

Wind & Solar Rising: Has world disillusionment with Nuclear Power reached China?

contributors

The Qinshan nuclear power plant in Zhejiang province (Image: baike) By Feng Hao | (China Dialogue) | – – Slowing demand for electricity and competition from renewables have halted new reactor approvals, writes Feng Hao Globally, the outlook for new, large nuclear reactors is gloomy, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) World Energy Outlook. […]

China

China met Carbon Intensity Goals 3 Years Early, but it Isn’t Nearly Enough

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – I am not a fundamentalist in any other area of life. But I am a carbon dioxide fundamentalist. Well, you can add methane and some other gases. The point is that CO2 emissions is the only issue that matters in speaking of climate change. It is […]

China

Could China oil Exchange & Green Energy pull the plug on the Dollar?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Kate Duguid at Reuters reports the alarm at UBS that China’s new oil futures exchange will hurt the standing of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. That development in turn would start the reverse snowball down the hill, with the dollar falling against other currencies, […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan: How a Shrine Bombing in Kabul tells us Trump’s Surge won’t Succeed

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – This year, the merriment of Now-Ruz in Kabul was marred by a suicide bombing that killed at least 33 persons and wounded 68, according to the Afghani Ministry of Health. The perpetrator was allegedly a member of ISIL (which really needs another name, since it isn’t […]