By Leif Wenar | (The Conversation) | – – Donald Trump tweeted something true recently. Responding to the protests in Iran, the US president stated that “The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered.” Trump’s point is correct: what vice-president Mike Pence called Iran’s “unelected […]
Many in Press fall for Trump’s non-apology on retweet of anti-Muslim Hate
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In the course of Trump’s softball interview with his friend Piers Morgan, he said he’d be willing to apologize for retweeting three tweets by a member of a British far right racist group, Britain First, which has about 1,000 members. Guardian: “‘I would certainly apologise’: Trump […]
In blow to Trump, Syrian Kurds call on al-Assad to Save them from Turkey
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The hopes of the Trump administration to use the Syrian Kurds as a wedge against the government of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus may be rapidly fading. The liberal Lebanese newspaper Elbalad [The Country] reports that the Autonomous Administration of the Kurdish-majority Afrin region of northern Syria, […]
China surges with 52 Gigs of new Solar as Trump kneecaps US sector with 30% Tariffs
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Clean Technica reports that China blew the top off expectations for its solar installations in 2017, It put in 52.83 gigawatts. The incredible 2017 solar surge in China brought its total solar installed capacity up to 130 gigawatts. As a cursory look at these statistics makes […]
Countering Turkish Propaganda, Pentagon reports 150 ISIL Killed in Airstrikes
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The front page news today that US and coalition aircraft (mostly American joined by French and British pilots) struck last Saturday at an ISIL base in eastern Syria where hundreds of fighters had regrouped, killing 150 of them. There are lots of question marks about this […]
Jordan’s King Abdullah warns Pence-Trump of Major instability over Jerusalem
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Political scientist John Mearsheimer wrote a book on the tragedy of great power politics. While that subject is indeed shockingly depressing, imagine the tragedy of small power politics. Poor King Abdullah II of Jordan was forced to host Trump’s vice president Mike Pence, the world’s biggest […]
Top Trump officials, in Syria’s Raqqa, vow “Stabilization” w/out “Reconstruction”
Middle East Monitor | – – The US government’s aid chief, Mark Green, made an unannounced visit to Raqqa in Syria on Monday, the most senior US civilian official from the Trump administration to visit the war-struck northern city months after it was retaken from Daesh, Reuters reports. Green was accompanied by head of the […]
World’s Richest 1% Acquired 82% of Wealth in 2017: Report
TeleSur | – – Only 42 people own the same amount of wealth as the poorest 50 percent worldwide, the report claimed. Nearly 82 percent of global wealth generated last year went to one percent of the population, while the bottom 50 percent saw no increase at all, according to a new Oxfam report that […]
Turkey launches Land invasion of Syria, Calls France opposition “Terrorism”
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – BBC Arabic reports that Turkey has launched a land invasion of the Kurdish-majority Afrin canton in northern Syria, home to some 500,000 Kurds. Turkey has also flooded Arab fundamentalist fighters into the region, calling them “Free Syrian Army.” The move comes after some 72 Turkish F-16s […]
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