Featured

Here is my essay for this week’s Tomdispatch.com. Don’t miss Tom Engelhardt’s canny introduction, in which he points to Donald Trump’s climate denialism as a context for that of his “billionaire buddies.” And by the way, it has now been shown that Hurricane Melissa clocked a wind gust of a mind-boggling 252 mph shortly before […]

Climate Crisis

The COP30 Climate Meet had One Job, and Totally Crashed and Burned

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – COP30 in Belém, Brazil, has ended without an agreement by member states to reaffirm the phasing out of fossil fuels, which is the only way to avert rolling climate catastrophes. COP28 at Dubai had included such language. The vague advice to countries to cut down on their carbon dioxide emissions […]

Climate Crisis

India Plans 2.45 Gig Solar Park + 5 GWh Battery in Rajasthan, so why drag its Feet at COP30?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The paradox of India’s unhelpful stance at COP30, which has gone into extra innings over the obstacles the “like-minded developing countries” have placed in the way of a renewed pledge to transition away from fossil fuels, lies in New Delhi’s impressive investments in renewables. That is, even the right wing […]

Climate Crisis

Global Battle Royale at COP30 between Fossil Fuel Producers and Green Energy Advocates

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Fiona Harvey at The Guardian reports from the COP30 climate conference that a bloc comprising such countries as India, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Bolivia (under its new right wing President Rodrigo Paz), calling themselves “like-minded developing countries,” are attempting to deep-six the pledge made at COP28 in Dubai […]

Climate Crisis

Türkiye to host Climate Meet COP31: Can it Rise to Green Energy Leadership Challenge?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Türkiye has emerged as the host of COP31, after a vigorous contest with Australia. In a compromise, the representatives of the world’s nearly 200 countries will assemble in Türkiye for the conference, but Australia will lead the negotiations. COP refers to the Conference of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, initiated […]

Donald Trump

Trump Pledges F-35s to Saudi Arabia in return for an unlikely $1 trillion in Investment, Angering Israel Lobbies

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al-Jazeera reports on the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to the White House. One US goal for the meeting was to induct Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords, which Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Kazakhstan have joined, recognizing Israel in return for US economic and […]

Apartheid

The Genesis of Israeli Ultra-Apartheid

Dan Steinbock

Unlike South African apartheid, which backed supremacy and exploitation, Israeli apartheid condones ethnic cleansing, even mass atrocities – as evidenced by the obliteration of Gaza and anti-Palestinian violence in the West Bank. New York (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – On November 10, the Israeli parliament passed the first reading of a bill to impose […]

Academic Freedom

Assaults on US Academic Freedom: Acquiescence and Resistance

H. Scott Prosterman

Academic freedom in the US is under siege as never in our nation’s history. Convicted felon Donald Trump is doing all he can to blackmail great universities and education systems into conforming to his model of indoctrinated, far right-wing education. And it’s happening in places one might not expect, namely California. A phony veil of […]

Featured

Practicing Social Ecology: From Bookchin to Kurdish Rojava and Beyond

Peter G. Prontzos

Review of Eleanor Finley Practicing Social Ecology: From Bookchin to Rojava and Beyond, Pluto Press, 2025, by Peter G. Prontzos. Vancouver (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Murray Bookchin was one of the most significant thinkers – and activists – in the 20th century, beginning with his pioneering ecological analysis, Our Synthetic Environment, which was […]