My interview is at Renovatio concerning my forthcoming article on equality in the Qur’an, which I wrote in honor of the Black Lives Matter movement. The audio is embedded here: Renovatio’s notes: “God’s creativity is seen as an expression of the divine will and those blessed with insight can perceive it as such, and perhaps […]
UN Slams new Israeli gov’t of Bennett for new Squatter-Settlements in Palestine, a ‘Flagrant Violation of Int’l Law’
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Thursday, Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, gave a long a disturbing oral report on the situation in Palestine-Israel. The office of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres produced a 12-page report, as well. Wennesland is a seasoned Norwegian diplomat, having served as ambassador to Egypt […]
Top US Officer Gen. Milley Schools GOP Reps. on Critical Race Theory, Need for Military to Study Society: “I Have Read Marx and Lenin”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Republicans in Congress really miss the days of red baiting and the Communist threat. Dick Nixon made his bones running against leftist labor unions, intimating to then-conservative San Francisco burghers that insurrectionary Communists were hiding under their beds. The party won elections by making people afraid of workers, of […]
In Siccing Justice Dept. on Jimmy Kimmel and SNL, Trump Channeled worst Mideast Dictators
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Bassem Youssef was Egypt’s most famous comedian in the 2000s and until 2014. His weekly half-hour satire, “The Program,” skewered the government of president-for-life Hosni Mubarak in the run-up to the 2011 youth revolt. Mubarak was thin-skinned but did allow some comedians and pundits to blow off steam. He did, […]
Iran’s Raisi: Supports renewed Nuclear Deal, Seeks Lifting of US Sanctions, and Restored Saudi Diplomatic Relations
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In his first press conference on Monday, newly elected President Ebrahim Raisi expressed support for the negotiations in Vienna toward restoring the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the United Nations, as long as, he said, they achieve benefits for the Iranian nation and do not drag on forever. He […]
Far Right Israeli PM Bennett slams Iran Nuclear Talks for Tehran’s Poor Rights Record (Israel has 200 Nukes and has Killed Thousands of Occupied Palestinians)
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – New extreme-right Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett came out on Sunday to argue that the election of an extreme-right Iranian cleric (Ebrahim Raisi) as president of that country should cause the Biden administration to back off reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Bennett called Raisi the “hangman of Tehran” and […]
What does the election of hard liner Raisi in Iran mean for Mideast Flashpoints?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Former chief justice of the Iranian judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, won the presidential election, as expected, with over 60 percent of the votes. The problem was that less than half of eligible voters bothered to come out to the ballot box. The clerical establishment had so heavily vetted presidential contenders, barring […]
Iran’s Leading Candidate for President is a far right Notorious Hanging Judge
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Polling suggests that Ebrahim Raisi will likely win Iran’s presidential election. So who is he? An official Iranian point of view on Raisi goes this way: He was born in 1960 into a family of clerics claiming descent from the Prophet Muhammad in the Nowghan district of Mashhad, the largest […]
If Hard Liner Raisi wins Iran’s Presidential Election, he has Trump to Thank
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – June 18 is election day in Iran. There are two main candidates for president, the arch-conservative Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s chief justice, and the centrist Abdolnaser Hemmati, an academic who served as chief of the national bank for the past three years. So it is sort of as though Chief Justice […]
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