By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Swedish auto manufacturer Volvo, owned by the Chinese automotive corporation Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd, has abruptly decided to produce only electric, plug-in hybrid and “mild hybrid” vehicles by 2019, only two years from now, AP reports. Le Monde called the announcement “a coup […]
Record: Germany at 35% Renewables in Electricity Production
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – So far this year, over a third of German electricity has come from wind, solar, biomass and hydro, at 35%. That is 2 percentage points higher than in 2016. The percentage for the US is only 15%. Germany still has a long way to go to […]
Leftist Kurds with US Air Support breach Walls of ISIL Capital, enter Old City
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Al Jazeera reports that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) supported by the US Air Force and other international allies, has breached the walls around the old city of al-Raqqa in eastern Syria and managed to get into the old city itself. Al-Raqqa is the capital of […]
With CNN Reporter Attack Video, Trump apes Seedy Dictators
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump has taken another big step toward becoming an African dictator. On Sunday he tweeted a video someone made for him that was posted at a white supremacist site at Reddit.com. It showed him attacking a CNN reporter, WWF style, and wrestling him to the ground. […]
Top 6 Things Trump didn’t know about Herat when he barred Girl robotics Scientists from US
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The US embassy in Kabul has denied a visa to 6 Afghan high school students from Herat to accompany their invention in robotics to the United States for a demonstration. The girls made the 500 mile journey from the western city of Herat to the capital […]
UN: Saudi Bloc attempt to close Al Jazeera is attack on Freedom of Expression
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Reuters reports that U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, is “extremely concerned by the demand that Qatar close down the Al Jazeera network, as well as other affiliated media outlets.” The statement was released by UNCHR spokesman Rupert Colville. Colville added: “Whether or […]
Top 5 things Trump is doing to us Worse than insulting Mika
by Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Yes, Trump’s gratuitous Twitter insult to newswoman Mika Brzezinski was horrible. But US cable news and even a lot of print news are falling down on the job by focusing on these clashes of personality that Trump provokes. In contrast, corporate news is not doing a […]
Freeing Fayza: A Journey to War-Torn Iraq to Rescue a Yazidi ISIL Slave Girl
By: Brian Glyn Williams and Christopher Natola | (Informed Comment) | – – It began with an electrifying text message from a Yazidi member of a network dedicated to freeing Yazidis (an ancient people from Northern Iraq who adhere to a faith rooted in old Iranian religion and influenced by Sufi mysticism). The message was […]
Syria: Russians alarmed, Washington Befuddled, by White House threats
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The unusual statement from the “White House” on Monday saying that there were indications that the Syrian regime was preparing to use poison gas has provoked much head-scratching both inside the Trump administration and around the world. Why would the “White House” say this? Is it […]
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