Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Babcock Ranch, Florida, in the southwest of the state, was planned in 2005 as a 17,000 acre community. It had as goals conservation and sustainability. The town was built to withstand the hurricanes that sweep over Florida with ever more frequency and fierceness. And, lo and behold, it was able […]
Iran: School and University Women Lead Rallies, Sit-ins Bareheaded, as Leader Khamenei Softens on Compulsory Veiling
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Monday in Iran, demonstrations, marches and rallies continued for the 17th day, spearheaded by high school and college students. Many universities entered a third day of class boycotts by students, who said they would not return to their studies until the government released imprisoned students. At some universities students […]
Proliferation and Nuclear Winter: If Putin drops an Atom Bomb on Ukraine, Iran, Saudi Arabia — Everyone — will Want a Bomb
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Russian President Vladimir Putin again threatened on Friday, as he announced the annexation of four provinces from Ukraine, to use nuclear weapons, presumably as a last resort, in his war on Ukraine. Putin said, according to Reuters, “The United States is the only country in the world that has twice […]
Iran Protests for Personal Freedoms Enter 3rd Week, as all Three Branches of Government Vow Crackdown
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera reports that President Ebrahim Raisi met Saturday with the Speaker of Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and with the Chief Justice, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, about the wave of demonstrations that entered its third week this weekend. The heads of all three branches of civil government called on the police to […]
Nexstar, Broadcaster of “Kung Fu,” “Nancy Drew,” Fires Journalist Katie Halper for Defending Palestinian Rights
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Journalist Katie Halper of the YouTube channel Katie Halper Show (which can be supported at Patreon) was fired on Thursday from her three-year-long morning gig on “The Rising” at The Hill TV over her remarks on Israeli Apartheid practices toward Palestinians. Both the news site The Hill and The Hill […]
Dear Gov. DeSantis: Ian isn’t a once-in-500-years Flooding event, it is the New Normal, and Your Policies are helping Cause it
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has abruptly been handed an honest-to-God crisis that may distract him from his usual antics of trolling Venezuelan asylum-seekers, firing elected prosecutors who disagree with him on coerced childbirth, and firing scientists who wouldn’t manipulate state COVID statistics for him. DeSantis called Hurricane Ian a once-in-a-500-year […]
Juan Cole on Theocracy: The David Feldman Show (Video)
The David Feldman Show | Juan Cole on Theocracy | – “03:30:52 SPECIAL GUEST: Professor Juan Cole in conversation with Professor Adnan Husain Professor Cole is the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. Since 2002, he has written and edited Informed Comment (juancole.com). On today’s show: Professor Cole draws […]
Iranian Revolutionary Guards launch Drone Strikes on Dissident Kurds in Iraq, as Baghdad summons Iranian Ambassador
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps on Wednesday targeted Iranian Kurdish expatriate political and paramilitary groups in the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq for drone strikes, killing over a dozen people and wounding more than fifty. So reports Patrick Wintour at the Guardian. This is not the first time Iran has […]
Irony Officially declared Dead as Israeli Foreign Ministry Decries Russian Annexation of Others’ Territory
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a further sign that all irony is dead, the Israeli Foreign Ministry rejected the annexation of four Ukrainian districts by Russia on Tuesday, saying that Israel “recognizes the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, and will not recognize the results of the referendums in its eastern districts.” On Tuesday, […]
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