Featured

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Joe Biden has been easy for the pundit class to write off. He isn’t, unlike Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, a great speechifier. He overcame his childhood stutter, but he still sometimes hesitates just as he gets to an applause line. He is still the little guy who got picked […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Emergency: Europe Parched, Farms Fallow, as Lakes and Rivers Dry up in worst Drought since time of Christ

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Europe is in the throes of a once-in-500 years severe drought that is making its rivers into shallow streams and its lakes into vanishing puddles. The mighty Rhine in Germany is so low that it may soon not be navigable. The biggest lake in Italy is fast disappearing. These are […]

Books

In Honor of Salman Rushdie, Novelist and Stabbing Victim: Midnight’s Other Children, by Juan Cole

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Salman Rushdie, Booker Prize-winning novelist, was repeatedly stabbed on Friday at a literary event at Chautauqua Institution in western New York, where he was arguing that the U.S. should give asylum to persecuted writers. Allegedly one Hadi Matar of New Jersey, wearing a black mask, leaped up onto the stage […]

Corruption

Trump may have Stolen Classified Nuclear Weapons Documents, but tried to Destroy Iran over its Civilian Program

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – According to the Washington Post, former president Donald Trump is suspected of having kept classified nuclear secrets at his Mar-a-Lago resort, provoking the dramatic FBI execution of a search warrant on Monday. So report the intrepid Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey, Perry Stein, and Shane Harris. Former government officials are not […]

Featured

Irony Alert: Amateurish Iranian attempt to hit John Bolton may derail Nuclear Negotiations Bolton wanted Derailed

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – An attempt to hire a hit man to kill former National Security Adviser John Bolton by an alleged member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps was revealed by the Department of Justice at a delicate time in the negotiations to bring both the US and Iran back into compliance with […]

Climate Crisis

Virginia’s bid to be Saudi Arabia of Offshore Wind, Bolstered by Dem IRA, to Save Consumers Billions

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Virginia’s State Corporation Commission on Friday approved America’s largest offshore wind farm project, a 2.6 gigawatt facility to be constructed by Dominion Energy 27 miles out from Virginia Beach. The project could get some help from the Democratic Party Inflation Reduction Act, which the House will likely finalize soon, and […]

Corruption

Trump joins Corrupt former French President Sarkozy in Having Authorities Raid his Home; Will he Also be Convicted?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Reacting to the serving of a warrant and search by the Federal Bureau of Investigation at his Florida resort on Monday, Donald John Trump alleged that former presidents are only treated this way in banana republics or words to that effect. This allegation, like 99% of the things Trump says, […]

Batteries

The Great Pivot: Why Dem Green Energy IRA Will Steamroll Fossil Fuels and Help Save the Planet, Despite Manchin

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Democrats in the Senate Passed the Inflation Reduction Act on Sunday, with its nearly $370 billion in new spending on the green energy transition. The Democratic majority in the House of Representatives is such that the bill will certainly be passed into law at the end of this month […]

Antarctica

Warm Waters, Winds head for East Antarctica, threatening eventual Massive Sea Level Rise

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I attended an academic conference once in Melbourne, Australia. I was strictly instructed to pronounce it mel-bun, and have complied. Australia is really far away from the Detroit area. I asked someone about the beaches to the south of the city, and what body of water they were on. Oh, […]