Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera reports that Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz on Thursday signed an agreement with visiting Chinese Premier Xi Jinping at the Yamama Palace regarding a “comprehensive strategic partnership” between the two countries. Xi announced that his visit to the kingdom would inaugurate a “new era” in the relationship of […]
Women’s Revolt in Iran reaches Household of Leader Khamenei, as his Sister denounces “Despotic Caliphate”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Badri Hosseini Khamenei, the sister of Iran’s clerical Leader Ali Khamenei, just issued a public broadside against him on her son’s web site, denouncing him as a dictator who is entangled in a web of high-level corruption and disgraceful thuggery. Thus, the women’s revolt in Iran, which has been led […]
U.S. State Department Slams Al Jazeera for taking Israeli Assassination of Abu Akleh to Int’l Criminal Court, though US asked Court to Investigate Russia
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Qatar-based satellite news channel Al Jazeera has referred the case of one of its slain reporters, Shireen Abu Akleh –an American citizen — to the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Ms. Abu Akleh, who had reported from Israel and Palestine for over twenty years for Al Jazeera, was […]
In Escalation, Iranians in 23 Provinces join in National Strike, as Truckers, Shopkeepers Walk Out
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Protesters in Iran, including political prisoners had called for three days of national strikes beginning Sunday, and if reports and videos posted to social media can be believed, there was substantial buy-in to the strike, as shopkeepers closed their establishments and workers in key industries stayed home. So report Patrick […]
Spike in Extrajudicial Executions by Israeli Police of Palestinian Youth
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The European Union has expressed its profound concern about the rash of extra-judicial killings by Israel of Palestinian young men, with ten having been killed recently. This year alone, some 207 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces. The new extremist government of Binyamin Netanyahu and his fascist partners in […]
52% of S. Dakota’s Electricity comes from Wind Power and other Green Energy Triumphs even in Red States
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – About 10% of the electricity generated in the US comes from wind installations. It isn’t nearly enough, either to fight the climate crisis or just to improve people’s health. It has now become clear that the people who get lung cancer but do not smoke are living near coal-fired power […]
Israel: Defying Biden, Netanyahu allows extremist Religious Zionists to rule over West Bank Palestinians
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that that Binyamin Netanyahu’s far right Likud Party concluded a coalition agreement with the extremist right-wing Religious Zionism bloc on Thursday, defying the warnings by the Biden administration that unilateral Israeli steps in the Palestinian West Bank would harm security between Washington and Tel […]
Yemen: Ukraine War, boosting Wheat Prices, has increased Food Insecurity and Acute Malnutrition for Children
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Russia’s War on Ukraine has added to global inflation along many dimensions, including higher gasoline and fossil gas prices. It has also affected the price of wheat, since Ukraine and Russia used to be responsible for 9% and 19% of global wheat exports. Although wheat shortages of the magnitude that […]
The Pakistani Mega-Flood and our Climate Emergency
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Here is a talk I recently gave about the mega-flood this fall in Pakistan, which affected 33 million people, inundated a third of the country at one point, and caused between $15 billion and $30 billion in damages, including to crops and food supplies at a time when the Ukraine […]
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