Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Binyamin Netanyahu appears to have fallen short in his quest for a majority of 61 in the 120-seat Israeli parliament or Knesset. As I write, his far-right Likud Party is tied 32 to 32 with its center-right rival, Blue and White. Netanyahu campaigned frenetically and acted a little unbalanced during […]
Glowing Review of Cole’s “Muhammad: Prophet of Peace” in “American Diplomacy”
Career foreign service officer, Benjamin Tua, who served in Brazil, Japan and Muslim-majority countries such as Kyrgyzstan, reviews my new book Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires for American Diplomacy. Tua writes, that it “is perfect for the reader who knows little about Mohammad’s life and origins as a member of a […]
Trump Has been Waging a Brutal War on Iran for over a Year, in Alliance with Saudi Arabia & Israel
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – You will note that in 2015-2018 we never heard anything about military tensions in the Gulf. During those years, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or Iran nuclear deal, was in effect and in January of 2016 all economic sanctions were lifted on Iran by the United Nations, the […]
Trump Awaits orders from Saudis; and Why the Houthis could have Done It
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump’s bizarre infatuation with strongmen and dictators was on full display in his response to Saturday’s drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities. As our foremost Gulf expert, Kristian Ulrichsen, noted, The way you phrase it sounds like you are waiting for the Saudis to tell you what to do. […]
Pompeo Manipulatively blames Iran as Saudi Arabia loses 58% of Oil Production to Houthi Attack
Yemen’s Zaydi Shiite Houthi rebels, who control the northwest of Yemen, including the capital of Sana’a, claimed on Saturday to have launched the 10 drones that struck the major Saudi petroleum production and refining installations at Abqaiq and Khurais. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denied that the drones came from Yemen, blaming the attack on […]
‘Emperor has no Clothes:’ Trump asked of Egypt’s al-Sisi, ‘Where’s my Favorite Dictator?’
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump has long been accused of having a soft spot for dictators, but now he has admitted it, even if only in the form of a jest. Nancy Youssef, Vivian Salama, and Michael Bender at the Wall Street Journal report that at the recent G7 meeting where Trump saw a […]
Israel caught by FBI electronically Spying on Trump, White House
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Daniel Lipmann at Politico dropped the bombshell that mysterious electronic spying devices placed throughout Washington, D.C. and close to the White House and the Capitol were traced by the FBI to Israel. The Israelis deployed StingRay mobile identity-catchers, devices that are mistaken for cell towers by cell phones, allowing them […]
Netanyahu Openly Boasts About Stealing vast Swathes of Palestine, but US Pols Won’t Acknowledge It
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Beleaguered Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is under serious corruption charges and is not assured of winning the upcoming election. So he engaged in grandstanding, saying that if he was reelected he would usurp the the Jordan valley and other parts of Palestine where Israeli squatters had already been sent […]
With Bolton gone, will Trump meet Iran’s Pres. Rouhani?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In the wake of the firing of national security adviser and full-time warmonger John Bolton, secretary of state Mike Pompeo and treasury secretary Dan Mnuchin held a press conference on Tuesday. Both reaffirmed that Trump is open to meeting Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani “without preconditions.” They also, however, affirmed that […]
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