Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The CDC now estimates that there have been 1,045,389 excess deaths since January 1, 2020, because of COVID-19. PBS estimates that roughly 1,100,000 Americans have died in all US wars in history. That is, the death toll from COVID-19 is just about as great as the toll of all our […]
Conflict with Russia is Raising your Gasoline Bill; an Electric Car is the Answer
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Reporters pressed White House spokesperson Jen Psaki on Wednesday about the likelihood that any Russian military engagement in Ukraine will raise petroleum prices further. Ensuing US sanctions on Russia would keep some of its petroleum off the market, as has already happened to Iran, at a time when demand is […]
“Niagara Falls becoming Horizontal:” NOAA warns of nearly 1 foot Sea Level Rise in 30 years, “Common” High Tide Floods
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The sea level along the US coastline in the lower 48 will rise as much in just the next 30 years as it had the century before our own moment (1920-2020), which is to say, nearly a foot or a third of a meter. That is the takeaway from the […]
Not Since Charlemagne: Megadrought in US Southwest, boosted by Human CO2 emissions, is worst since 800 AD
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The megadrought in the US West has produced drier conditions as of the past year than any seen in over 1,200 years, according to a just-published article in Nature Climate Change by scientists A. Park Williams, Benjamin I. Cook and Jason E. Smerdon of UCLA. The length and intensity of […]
What Israel is doing to Palestine just as Bad as what Russia is doing to Ukraine, but US doesn’t Care
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The US government has been accused of hyping the crisis between the Russian Federation and the Ukraine, where some 120,000 Russian troops have been massed on Ukraine’s borders. US intelligence says Russia has plans to invade imminently, while Ukrainian leaders say they do not see any such signs. Joe Biden […]
Egypt announces Plan to Get 42% of Electricity from Renewables, become Solar Energy Hub for Europe via Greece
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ghada El-Gendy, the Executive Director of the Arab Renewable Energy Company, said Friday that Egypt has plans to increase the share of renewables in its electricity production to 42 percent by 2035. At the moment, most of Egypt’s power plants run on methane gas or petroleum, and only 12.5 percent […]
US Sanctions on Afghanistan are Complicit in Mass Hunger, even as Biden withholds $3.5 bn in Afghan Money
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Kevin Liptak and Natasha Bertrand report at CNN that the Biden administration has decided to split the $7 billion in Afghanistan government money held in the US and confiscated last August when the Taliban took over the country. $3.5 billion will be released for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan itself, while […]
From War on Terror to War on Climate Change: US Army to seek Green Electricity by 2030
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The US military has been worried deeply for over a decade about the impact of the climate emergency on its bases and operational readiness. The Department of the Army has just released its first Climate Strategy for dealing with what Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin calls an “existential crisis.” The […]
Iraq Pays off $52.4 bn. in Reparations for Invading Kuwait in 1990, but the US will Never Pay a Dime for Invading Iraq
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Stephanie Nebehay at Reuters reports that Iraq has finally paid off the $52.4 billion in war reparations imposed on it by the United Nations as punishment for its invasion and attempted annexation of Kuwait in 1990, which led to the Gulf War of 1991. The headline we’ll never see is […]
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