By Reese Erlich | (The Progressive) | – – Syrian President Bashar al Assad claims to have won the war and that he is merely mopping up remaining rebel groups. With its escalation of the undeclared war in Syria, the Trump Administration risks a direct military confrontation with Russia. On June 20, the United States […]
Rate of Sea Level Rise increasing, As Greenland Melts
By John Church, Christopher Watson, Matt King, Xianyao Chen, and Xuebin Zhang | (The Conversation) | – – Contributions to the rate of global sea-level rise increased by about half between 1993 and 2014, with much of the increase due to an increased contribution from Greenland’s ice, according to our new research. Our study, published […]
Trump Son-In-Law did not declare $285m Loan from Deutsche Bank
TeleSur | – – Jared Kushner was an adviser to the Trump campaign and an employee at his own real estate company when the firm received the loan. A real estate company owned by senior adviser to U.S. President, Jared Kushner, received a $285-million loan from a German bank one month before the U.S. election. […]
America’s Special Ops Perpetual World War
Nick Turse | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – The tabs on their shoulders read “Special Forces,” “Ranger,” “Airborne.” And soon their guidon — the “colors” of Company B, 3rd Battalion of the U.S. Army’s 7th Special Forces Group — would be adorned with the “Bandera de Guerra,” a Colombian combat decoration. “Today we commemorate […]
Turkey’s Erdogan: Saudi demand he close Qatar base is ‘Disrespectful’
TeleSur | – – Erdogan told journalists after Eid al-Fitr prayers that “It (the list of demands from Qatar’s neighbors to lift the ban) is a breach of Qatar’s sovereignty rights.” On Sunday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan declared that he supported Qatar’s response to a list of demands issued by the Arab states that boycotted […]
Trump’s Folly: Oil is a Worthless Commodity and Saudi’s Crown Prince Knows It
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Crude oil prices are cratering, down 20% this year, in the biggest 6-month free fall in years. As Annie Pei of CNBC notes, Investment guru Dennis Gartman admitted in an interview with the network that petroleum is “a worthless commodity.” Gartman said that prices could rally […]
The World Is Burning (Stop burning Fossil Fuels, Stupid!)
By IPS World Desk | (Inter Press Service) | – – Record high temperatures are gripping much of the globe and more hot weather are to come. This implies more drought, more food insecurity, more famine and more massive human displacements. In fact, extremely high May and June temperatures have broken records in parts of […]
How Soon until we’re Using More Than The Earth Can Provide?
By David Korten | ( Yes! Magazine ) | – – Forget the GDP, it’s time for our leaders to pay attention to metrics that matter. Four days after President Trump announced the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, the Global Footprint Network (GFN) reported that Earth Overshoot Day 2017 will fall […]
Tense Eid for 1.2 mn Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
By Billie Jeanne Brownlee | (The Conversation) | – – For Syrian refugees in Lebanon marking the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, it has been a struggle to find enough food to break their fast each evening after sunset. This is not what Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, the festival at its end, should be about. […]