Featured

Istanbul (Special to Informed Comment; Featured) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently said “there is no reason” not to pursue normalization of diplomatic ties with Syria, and he said that he does not rule out a possible meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Erdoğan added that Turkey had no intention of interfering in Syria’s […]

Democracy

Britain’s Labour beat the Right, but Must hasten to Win Public Trust and heal Rift with own Left

Farhang Jahanpour

Oxford (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Britain’s latest General Election held on 4th July was nothing short of a major political earthquake that put an end to 14 years of often tumultuous and chaotic Conservative rule. The Labor Party, led by Sir Keir Starmer, overturned a big Conservative majority of 80 seats in the […]

Egypt

Centuries of Co-Existence: Jewish Cultural Heritage in Egypt and Morocco

Yoram Meital

Beersheba (Special to Informed Comment; feature) – Amid the prevailing focus on the war and the geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East, it is easy to forget that it has not always been this way. Until the 1950s, Jewish communities had thrived in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. For centuries, Muslims, Jews, […]

Featured

When will Americans let the Palestinian People have their Fourth of July?

Juan Cole

Revised. Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Americans are commemorating the Fourth of July today, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Implicit in this holiday is the recognition of the right of a people to self-determination. The grievances that the four million inhabitants of British North America had in 1776 were not felt by them […]

Featured

Turning the Red Sea Redder: Will America’s backing for Israel’s War in Gaza Torch the Red Sea Region Too?

Juan Cole

( Tomdispatch.com ) – In mid-June, the Associated Press announced that the U.S. Navy had been engaged in the most intense naval combat since the end of World War II, which surely would come as a surprise to most Americans. This time, the fighting isn’t taking place in the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans but in […]

Donald Trump

Did the Supreme Court just Immunize Trump from his Insurrectionist Tweets?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I may not have a law degree, but I do know a great deal from personal experience (as a pioneering blogger) and wide reading about the internet. So the passage about presidential tweets in the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity in Trump v. United States caught my eye. The […]

Featured

Netanyahu, emboldened by Biden’s Debate Performance, again Defies US, Intensifies Attacks on Gaza

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu once again rejected the Biden peace deal on Sunday, vowing complete victory. After Biden’s performance in the debate last Thursday, Netanyahu is apparently more assured than ever that he can defy Biden without facing any consequences. The woolly-mindedness of the president in turn perhaps […]

Addiction

The Sacklers may not Get away with Opioid Grift after all, as SCOTUS strikes Down Bankruptcy Settlement

F. Douglas Stephenson

Gainesville, Florida (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Allen Frances, M.D., distinguished former chair of psychiatry at Duke University school of medicine wrote in a Oct., 2017 New Yorker magazine expose, “Their name (Sackler/Purdue Pharma) has been pushed forward as the epitome of good works and of the fruits of the capitalist system. But, when […]

Democratic Party

AIPAC’s Destructive Reach in American Politics: How it made an Example of Rep. Jamal Bowman

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Rep. Jamal Bowman’s loss to George Latimer for the 16th District of New York in the Democratic primary illustrates the destructive reach of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Israel wading into American electoral politics. Their agenda is driven by a single issue, about which […]