Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new study by Dilek Koptekin et al., a Swiss-Turkish team, has appeared in Science that combines archeological and genetics research to shed new light on the emergence of farming in the Middle East in the transition from hunting and gathering, called the Neolithic Revolution. The authors find that big […]
America’s worsening Solar Gap with China, which installs 100 Panels per Second
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – According to Asia Society Policy Institute Senior Fellow Lauri Myllyvirta, China installed 93 gigawatts of solar in May, along with 27 gigawatts of wind. She points out that this is equivalent to 100 solar panels being put in every second. China has passed the 1 terrawatt milestone for installed solar […]
The Current Iran War will Likely end Soon, but the Arms Race will Heat Up
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Al Jazeera bureau chief in Tehran, Abdul Qader Fayez, reports from “informed sources” in Tehran that Iran’s clerical Leader, Ali Khamenei, and his National Security Council have still not decided how to respond to the US attack on Iranian civilian nuclear facilities, though they want the response to be […]
Top Things You Still Think You Know About Iran that are Not True
A revised version of an essay from a long time ago. It didn’t need much revision. Belief: Iran is aggressive and has threatened to attack Israel, its neighbors or the US. Reality: Iran has not launched an aggressive war in modern history (unlike the US or Israel), and its leaders have a doctrine of “no […]
Air Campaigns don’t Win Wars on their Own: Why Israel will largely Fail in Iran
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israel’s militarily useless, entirely unprovoked and wholly illegal air war on Iran differs significantly from its previous wars in the region, which involved ground invasions with armor and infantry. Israel defeated Egypt in 1956 and again in 1967 with a combination of air force and armor and infantry. It suffered […]
Iraqi Shiites Demand Expulsion of US Troops after Israel Attacks Iran
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli-Iranian War of 2025 has put Iraq in an extremely difficult situation. The country’s Shiite majority sympathizes with Iran and with the Palestinians, and resents Israel’s use of Iraqi airspace to attack their Shiite neighbor. On Sunday the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Soudani met with Thomas Seiler, the […]
Iran’s Hypersonic Missiles Hit Israeli Refinery, Military Sites, as Israel does the same to Tehran
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israel and Iran continued to trade airstrikes on each other on Saturday. Israel struck the Iranian Ministry of Defense, petroleum and gas sites, and, it said, further nuclear-related sites. So writes the Israeli newspaper Arab 48. Iran for its part hit military and intelligence sites nestled among civilians in Tel […]
Israel’s Netanyahu banks on TACO Trump as he Launches War on Iran to disrupt Negotiations
Israel Iran War Nuclear Enrichment
Women’s Cancer Rates are Rising in the Oil Gulf: is Global Heating causing it?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Human-caused global heating is hitting the Middle East hard, and rates of cancer in Middle Eastern women are increasing. Is there a correlation? This is the question asked by Wafa Abu El Kheir-Mataria and Sungsoo Chun at Frontiers . These scholars are at the American University in Cairo, my alma […]
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