1. Scotland Goes Ahead With World’s Largest Wave Energy Project. “At 40 megawatts (MW), it will provide energy to nearly 30,000 homes” once the requisite cable is laid, by 2017. 2. Gujarat’s wind power capacity has grown to be the highest in India over the past 4 years. “Installed wind power generation capacities in the […]
Taksim Square Protests in Turkey Spread to other Cities, Police accused of Brutality
Protests at Taksim Square in Istanbul that began by opposing the privatization of a park (one of the last spots of green in that part of the city) took on a different life when they were met with a disproportionate response by police. The authorities used water canon and fired tear gas at young people […]
Falsely Accused Pot Mom Released in Mexico; Case Argues for Decriminalization
The release of Yanira Maldonado from a Mexican jail after an apparent attempt to frame her for marijuana trafficking underlines the need to end the disastrous “war on drugs” and to legalize marijuana. Maldonado only escaped a very unpleasant fate because she happened to be exonerated by a surveillance video showing her boarding a bus […]
A German Guru and his Solar Park for the Brahma Kumari Community in Rajasthan
The Brahma Kumari spiritual community in Mt. Abu, Rajasthan, seeks to live a life in harmony with nature. Their solution to the need for power for residents and the 20,000 pilgrims a year? A solar farm being built with backing from the Indian and German governments. Germany is a leader in solar energy and is […]
Egyptian-Ethiopian Conflict Spikes as Addis Ababa dams Blue Nile
The Ethiopian government’s unilateral and high-handed decision to build an enormous dam on the Blue Nile has thrown Egypt into a state of high anxiety. Egyptians already suffer from too little water (700 cubic meters/ yr vs. about 1,000 cubic meters average in rest of world). Water shortages were among the impetuses to rural populations […]
McCain’s Photo Op raises Questions about Arming Syrian Rebels
Lauren Williams of The Daily Star (Beirut) reported that when Sen. John McCain made a visit to rebel-held northern Syria on Monday, one of his photo ops was with a man implicated in the kidnapping of 11 Lebanese Shiite religious pilgrims, 9 of whom are still being held. The report provoked controversy because it undermined […]
Iran candidates all “Loyal Servants of Dictator”: Kadivar
by JULIE POUCHER HARBIN, EDITOR, ISLAMiCommentary, on MAY 30, 2013: Mohsen Kadivar Several Iranian opposition figures have declared Iran’s upcoming June 14 presidential election illegitimate, following last week’s decision by Iran’s constitutional body to disqualify several candidates. Among the disqualified is leading opposition-backed candidate and former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Exiled Iranian dissident and […]
Summer Reading: Napoleon’s Egypt (Cole Video)
A twitter friend commented that he was finding my book, Napoleon’s Egypt great summer reading. Here is my talk 3 years ago at AUC on Bonaparte’s invasion of Egypt as an 18th century Neoconservative blunder:
Top Ten Michele Bachmann Goofs on the Middle East
Michele Bachmann has announced that she won’t run for Congress again (she is under investigation for, let us say, irregularities in her campaign finances). I once wrote of her, “It has become increasingly apparent that politics and business often attract psychopaths, because of the opportunities they offer for the gratification of narcissism, grandiosity, sadism and […]
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