Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Turkiye [Turkey] is a European country, since part of its territory lies in Europe. So the following sentence is true: Turkiye hosts the largest solar power plant in any European country. The plant, however, is not situated in Turkiye’s European provinces but in the Karapinar Desert, about sixty miles east […]
Riyadh-Islamabad “Islamic NATO” to Check Israel in Shadow of US Decline
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a dramatic signal that the Arab Gulf nations have completely lost faith in the American security umbrella, on Wednesday September 17, Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defense pact with Pakistan. Mirroring the language of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization charter, they announced that an attack on […]
“And those who husbanded the Golden Grain:” FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:15
Stanza 15 of the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám has for its theme a denial of the afterlife and resurrection. XV. And those who husbanded the Golden Grain, And those who flung it to the Winds like Rain, Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn’d As, buried once, Men want […]
“Like Snow upon the Desert’s dusty Face:” FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:14
Quatrain 14 emphasizes how short life is, even with all the good things the earth offers us (of which we should take advantage while we can). XIV. The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon Turns Ashes — or it prospers; and anon, Like Snow upon the Desert’s dusty Face Lightning a little Hour or […]
“Look to the Rose:” Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:13
Stanza no. 13 of the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s translation of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is about the free gifts we receive from nature. XIII. Look to the Rose that blows about us — “Lo, “Laughing,” she says, “into the World I blow: “At once the silken Tassel of my Purse “Tear, and […]
Israel’s Netanyahu starves 1 in 5 Gaza Children
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that 19 of every 100 Palestinian children in Gaza are malnourished. That is up from 15 in July. Even more worrying, UNICEF found an increase in cases of acute malnutrition. In July 8.5% of children examined manifested symptoms of the condition. In August, […]
Scientists Prove Justinian’s Plague, which Continued through the Rise of Islam, was Caused by Y. Pestis
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The first recorded world-historical pandemic took place in the Roman Empire and Sasanian Iran, as well as neighboring areas such as Arabia, 541- 750 CE. It began during the reign of Justinian (r.527 – 565) and continued during the rise of Islam and the fall of the Sasanian Empire in […]
Iran Seeks China’s help to Install 7 gigs of new Solar Capacity in “4th Industrial Revolution”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – With the prospect of new Iranian nuclear power plants looking dim after Israeli and American bombing of its civilian nuclear enrichment sites, and with a need to export its fossil gas rather than consuming it domestically, the Tehran leadership is at last turning to renewables for electricity generation. President Masoud […]
European Parliament asks for Recognition of Palestinian State, Upholds halt to Aid to Israel
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Thursday, the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, passed a resolution asking European Union member states to recognize a Palestinian state. It isn’t the first time that the European Parliament has given support to Palestine recognition, but this resolution is the first directly to call on member states to undertake […]
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