By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Pope Francis gave Donald J. Trump a going away present after their meeting on Wednesday. It was a copy of his Encyclical on the challenge of climate change, Laudato Si’, mi Signor,”Praised may you be, my Lord.” This document begins with a paean to Saint Francis, […]
The Other Terrorism: Toxic CO2 Gas Promoted by Trump Budget, Shell
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Terrorism is properly defined as non-state actors using violence against civilians to achieve a political purpose. Some argue that this definition lets states off the hook too easily, and that there is state terrorism as well. International law, however, puts those actions under the rubric of […]
Supreme Court Strikes down N. Carolina’s Racial Gerrymander
TeleSur | – – Ultra-conservative Justice Clarence Thomas sided with four liberal justices in the 5-3 majority decision. Yesterday the Supreme Court struck down North Carolina’s congressional map. The court found the that the Republican legislature was unconstitutional when it used race to draw the district lines, which reduced the voting power of minorities in […]
Terror and Geopolitics: Manchester 2017 and 1996
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Manchester, UK, was hit with the deadliest bomb attack on Monday since a June Saturday morning in 1996, when a massive 3000 lb. Provisional Irish Republican Army blast leveled the city center shopping district to rubble and left 200 wounded. The toll at the Ariana Grande […]
Trump on Islam: Neo-Orientalism and anti-Shi’ism
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump’s speech on Islam, written by notorious Islamophobe Stephen Miller, who used to organize Orwellian Two Minutes Hate sessions against Muslims at Duke, is just as bizarre as everything else Trump does. Miller-Trump imply, as has become common in right wing American discourse, that Muslims have […]
Trump in Absolute Monarchy during Iran’s Election
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The spectacle of Trump and of cronies such as alt-Neo-Nazi Steve Bannon hobnobbing with the Saudi monarchy, of the president curtsying to King Salman and receiving a huge gold medal from him (for what, bashing Islam relentlessly?) was made all the more seedy by its juxtaposition […]
Disaster or Repair? Trump heads to Saudi for Islam Address
by Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump left Friday afternoon for Saudi Arabia, where he will be feted with steak and ketchup by the Saudi monarchy and will deliver an address on Islam written by a far right wing notorious hater of Muslims. What could go wrong? Saudi Arabia is a relatively […]
Trump calls Special Counsel a “Witch Hunt”: But what is his relation to Russia?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Now that a Special Counsel (former FBI director Robert Mueller) has been appointed by the deputy head of the Department of Justice, it is time to review exactly what needs investigating. Trump is clearly terrified of the investigation. He immediately called the Mueller appointment harmful to […]
Was Chelsea Manning trying to stop the Endless War? Whistleblowing and Morality
By Peter Van Buren | (Tomdispatch.com) | <p>“My guilt will never go away,” former Marine Matthew Hoh explained to me. “There is a significant portion of me that doesn’t believe it should be allowed to go away, that this pain is fair.”</p> <p>If America accepts the idea of fighting endless wars, it will have to […]
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