Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Northeastern England fell to the Vikings in 865, and they held it for several decades. They not only had what is now Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Durham but points south to the town of Bedale on the way to York. In 2012 archeologists found a silver and gold treasure hoard in Bedale […]
Trump to Xi: ‘Hold our Beer’ – EVs majority of Chinese New Car Sales, as Exports rocket 74%
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Car News China reports that in the first half of 2025, consumers in that country bought 10,891,000 passenger vehicles. But here’s the catch. They bought 5,458,000 EVs and 5,433,000 gasoline cars. Look carefully at those numbers. They bought more EVs than internal combustion engine cars. To be precise, 50.1% of […]
Cowardly Israeli Murder of 5 Journalists, including Anas al-Sharif, Smearing them as Hamas
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli state by now has a long and sanguinary history of murdering writers and journalists in cold blood. In 1972, Israeli commandos murdered novelist, painter and short story writer Ghassan Kanafani in Beirut with a car bomb — the weapon of choice for terrorists ever since — killing his […]
Protesting Gaza War, Massive Crowds Shut down Tel Aviv, Storm TV Station, Call for General Strike
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Rubaie Sawaid, writing for the Israeli newspaper Arab 48, reports that on Saturday enormous crowds demonstrated in Israel against the government’s plan to take over all of Gaza, demanding that the release of the remaining over two dozen Israeli hostages in the Strip be prioritized. He writes that the families […]
“Those who Stood before the Tavern” – FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:3
Omar Khayyam Persian Poetry
“Awake my little ones and fill the Cup!” FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:2
Persian poetry of life and love
FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:1
British man of letters Edward FitzGerald translated the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám from two Persian manuscripts and published it in 1859. He had substantial help from young Orientalist Edward Cowell, who discovered a manuscript of the Rubáiyát dated 1460 CE in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Rubáiyát means “quatrains,” and in Persian poetry they consist […]
US Green Beret: Israeli “Hunger Games in Gaza” (h/t Sen. Chris Van Hollen)
Senator Chris Van Hollen interviews Anthony Aguilar, former Green Beret and former contractor in Gaza, on what Aguilar witnessed there. Warning: Graphic language, Images. Transcript: This is the YouTube auto-generated transcript but cleaned up by Google Gemini. Caveat Emptor. Senator Van Hollen: Well, thank you for getting together. Let me start by thanking you for […]
Wildfire “Apocalypse” in Türkiye as Temperature rises to Record 122.9º F.
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Türkiye is facing “apocalyptic” wildfires according to one official in the northwest Bursa region. Temperatures in central Anatolia hit an unusual 108.32º F [42.4º C.]. But the record-breaking temperature was recorded in the southeastern town of Silopi — of 122.9º F. [50.5º C.] — in the largely Kurdish Şırnak province. […]
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