Energy

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – French President Emmanuel Macron declared independence of the United States and of China for Europe at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, in the starkest “third way” bid for a French president since Charles De Gaulle withdrew from the military wing of NATO in 1965 and established France’s own nuclear […]

Donald Trump

No, Iran is not near having a Nuke: Trump source tries Iraq Big Lie Playbook on Reuters, The Independent

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Trump administration is running the same scam on the public that George W. Bush & Co. ran on Iraq in 2002. Some creepy Trump swamp creature emerged to whisper anonymously in the ear of Reuters, which should be ashamed of acting as its stenographer: “The unnamed official told Reuters […]

Arab World

The Pandemic and Oil

Conn M. Hallinan

Foreign Policy in Focus) – With oil prices down and wealthy countries bungling COVID-19, the pandemic has exposed the weaknesses that wealth papers over. During the reign of the Emperor Justinian I (527-565 AD), a mysterious plague spread out of the Nile Valley to Constantinople and finished off the Roman Empire. Appearing first in China […]

Climate Crisis

1 in 4 New Cars in Europe will be Electric by 2025 – Study

Clean Energy Wire

( Clean Energy Wire) – One in four cars produced in Europe in 2025 will be fully electric, a study by the Chemnitz Automotive Institute (CATI) has predicted. The researchers say factories across Europe will churn out more than two million electric cars by the middle of the decade, more than half of which will […]

Featured

Russia defies US Sanctions, presses Syria on Long Term Trade, Investment deal for Energy

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Russia and Syria are preparing to enter into a wide-ranging trade and investment deal, according to RT Arabic. Sunday night, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov arrived in Damascus to meet with high Syrian officials. On Monday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov arrived, meeting with Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad and his […]

Green New Deal

When the Pandemic ends, Put People and the Economy back to Work on Solar and Wind Farms and Electrified Transport

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Me. (Special to Informed Comment) – Liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans share a problematic assumption: Once the Covid—19 pandemic is reduced to the harm level of the seasonal flu the economy can return to normal levels of at least moderate growth. Liberal Democrats would be more generous in providing the relief needed to […]

Environment

Paint some Blades Black: A Simple Hack for Solving the bird problem with Wind Turbines

The Conversation

By Jethro George Gauld| – With climate change threatening many of the world’s species with extinction, a transition from fossil fuels is urgently needed. But some argue that the rush to replace coal power with wind could endanger birds that have a habit of flying into turbines. While wind farms aren’t quite the bird slayers […]

Featured

With US AWOL, NATO Allies rattle sabers: Turkish Ruling Party says Greece is now a Rogue State

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Greece and Turkey have been having loud shouting matches this summer, with some pretty ominous language at times. The two are supposed to be NATO allies, but you couldn’t tell it from their bellicose rhetoric. A nationalist Turkish politician, Devlet Bahceli, is quoted as having said of said this past […]

Bangladesh

Climate Emergency is Drowning Bangladesh; is Dhaka Finally Dumping Coal?

China Dialogue

By Tom Baxter | – ( China Dialogue) – Bangladesh’s minister of power, energy and mineral resources, Nasrul Hamid, surprised energy watchers recently when he said the country is planning to “review” all but three of 29 planned coal plants. “We are keeping the three coal-fired power plants that are under construction. At present, we […]