Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dan Murphy at CNBC reports that the giant Saudi Aramco oil company posted an unprecedented profit of $161 billion for 2022. The company’s CEO, Amin Nasser, commented that this was probably the biggest profit ever made in the course of one year by any private company. Murphy reports that Nasser […]
As Half a Million Israelis Protest Netanyahu Regime, it Faces setbacks in Arab World
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Hadas Gold and Amir Tal report for CNN that the tenth major weekend of protest against the plans of the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to gut the judiciary grew to half a million people, with about 250,000 massing in the streets of Tel Aviv and a similar number […]
Is China the New Indispensable Nation? Beijing Brokers Iran-Saudi Relations as U.S. and Israel are Sidelined
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In an interview with Al Jazeera English, veteran Washington Iran watcher Hillary Mann Leverett asserted that, in the wake of the reestablishment of Iran-Saudi diplomatic relations in an agreement brokered by Beijing, China is now “the indispensable nation” in the Middle East. She underlined that the United States could not […]
America’s War of Aggression on Iraq, 20 Years Later: Or, Putin the Prequel
( Tomdispatch.com ) – Who remembers anymore that, in 2003, we were Vladimir Putin? Today, our cable and social-media news feeds are blanketed with denunciations of the president of the Russian Federation for his lawless and brutal invasion of Ukraine. When Secretary of State Antony Blinken met briefly with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New […]
US Sec’ry of Defense Austin intervenes in Israeli Crisis: Condemns Settler attacks on Palestinians, Netanyahu Assault on Courts
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s visit to Israel on Thursday was overshadowed by the massive protests in the streets, which demonstrators termed the “Day of Resistance to Dictatorship.” Austin had planned to visit the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, but instead was trapped at Ben Gurion Airport, where he […]
Elite Israeli Reserve Military Units Pass around Petitions calling Religious Parties Corrupt Parasites, threatening to go AWOL if Netanyahu guts Judiciary
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that protests against the government of Binyamin Netanyahu’s plans to gut the Israeli judiciary are now spreading in elite military reserve units. A petition circulated in their ranks saying, “As long as these dictatorial and methodical pieces of legislation continue, with the aim of […]
South Africa downgrades Israeli Embassy over Ongoing Apartheid (and they should know)
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Middle East Eye reports that the South African parliament has voted to downgrade the Israeli embassy in Pretoria to liaison status. The resolution was introduced by the tiny center-left National Freedom Party, which has only two seats in parliament. Its passage was assured, however, when the African National Congress […]
Iran discovered to have 10% of World’s Lithium Deposits, in Good News for China’s EV Industry
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Indian Express reports from Iran’s PressTV that the country has discovered a deposit of 8.5 million tons of lithium in the Qahavand Plain of western Hamedan province. There are only 89 million tons of lithium in the world in known deposits so far, with the bulk of them in […]
37 Israeli ‘Top Guns’ Boycott Training to Protest Gutting of Courts; Most El Al Pilots decline to fly PM to Italy
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli Air Force, like its other armed forces, heavily depends on reservists. That was why Egypt was able to surprise Israel in the 1973 War, which they launched on the holy day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when reservists were with their families. The reservists are required […]
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