Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The persistent myth-making of Israelis about history has become a geopolitical danger, no less than the myth-making of Christian Zionists like current US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleges that the Muslim jurist or mufti, Amin al-Husseini, put Hitler up to the Holocaust, probably the […]
Will Climate Change force Tehran to Evacuate?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian landed himself in hot water on November 6 by broaching the possibility of having to evacuate Iran’s capital, Tehran, if the current water shortage is not alleviated. He said, “If it does not rain in Tehran by December, we should ration water; if it still does […]
Turkiye Indicts 37 Israeli Officials for Genocide amid Reports Israel’s own Military Lawyers warned of War Crimes
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Daily Sabah, which is close to the government of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, reports that the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has issued arrest warrants for 37 Israeli officials on charges of genocide. The move comes amid jockeying between Turkiye and Israel over the Turkish proposal to send Turkish […]
On the Occasion of Dick Cheney’s Passing: “All the Vice President’s Men”
Richard Bruce Cheney, the 46th vice president of the United States, is dead at 84. He broke with the Republican Party at the end of his life and voted for Kamala Harris, perhaps aware of the way in which his own politics had turned the country to the far right. Long before Trump, Cheney purveyed […]
Conflicting Visions of an International Force for Gaza in Istanbul and Washington
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Two visions of the future of Gaza are congealing, in two different power centers. One is the Arab and Muslim foreign ministers who met Monday in Istanbul, including Türkiye, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Tuesday morning that the […]
When Zohran Mamdani campaigned in Arabic, He was Speaking an old American Language
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani made a campaign ad in quite passable colloquial Arabic for the some 180,000 Arab residents of New York, who live primarily along Steinway Street in Queens and in Brooklyn. Mamdani’s wife, artist Rama Duwaji, is a Houstonian whose family hails from Syria. Some observers are suggesting […]
Egypt’s Magnificent new Museum: Nationalism, Tourism, and the Economy
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Egypt’s new billion-dollar museum near the Giza pyramids opened on Saturday. It has 100,000 artifacts, including a massive statue of Ramses II (1279 BCE – 1213 BCE). It may be the biggest museum in the world. Given that Egypt is now a rigid dictatorship with few rights for citizens, the […]
With China’s Help, Saudi Arabia is Deploying Solar Power Faster than any Country in History
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Jeffrey Beyer and Stephen Gitonga of the UN Development Program present an overview of Saudi Arabia’s full court press to get 50% of its electricity from renewables by 2030. The kingdom is aware that fossil fuels, the source of its fabulous wealth, are on their way out. Its leaders want […]
“Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend:” FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:23
In Quatrain no. 23 in the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s translation of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, we find an explicit denial of the afterlife. This denial is repeated throughout the poetry, and it surely was one of the more challenging themes in this poetry for Victorian Britain and the United States. Of course, […]
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