Featured

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden’s signature piece of legislation that was passed with no Republican support, contains $369 billion for the green energy transition. Since much of this funding leverages corporate and individual investments, its impact will be in the trillions of dollars. Given the dire climate crisis we […]

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Belgian Minister says what Biden won’t: Israel is wiping Entire Palestinian Villages off the Map

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I heard Noam Chomsky speak in my youth about the press coverage of the Middle East in the United States, and as I remember it he at one point remarked that it was sometimes the regional newspapers, such as the San Francisco Chronicle that had the most honest headlines. In […]

Climate Crisis

Idalia: DeSantis may not want to “politicize” Climate Change, but Climate Change is determined to Politicize DeSantis

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, on being asked about human-caused climate change, said he did not want to “politicize the weather.” Of course, it is not the weather that is at issue but climate, which is long-term and repeated weather patterns. DeSantis ducked the question because Koch Industries and ExxonMobil etc. […]

Climate Crisis

Solar soars by 13%, Fossil Fuel use Plummets 17% in Europe in first 1/2 of 2023

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – At the energy think tank Ember, Matt Ewen and Sarah Brown have issued a new report showing that the use of fossil fuels in the European Union fell a remarkable 17% in the first two quarters of 2023, year over year. Indeed, hydrocarbons accounted for only a third of energy […]

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“Friends of Israel:” Trying to outlaw Solidarity with Palestine

Marc Martorell Junyent

Review of Hil Aked, Friends of Israel: The Backlash against Palestine Solidarity (London: Verso, 2023). Munich (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Amid Israel’s assault on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank in early July, the House of the Commons passed a bill with significant implications for the United Kingdom’s relations with Israel/Palestine. […]

Africa

African and Maghrebi “Migrants” versus Ukrainian “Refugees”: Europe’s Racial Tunnel Vision Creates discriminatory, and deadly, Policies

Mohamed Jegham

Sousse, Tunisia (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The Mediterranean Sea route is still the most dangerous immigration route in the world. Since 2014, the UN has registered more than 20,000 deaths and disappearances in the Central Mediterranean Sea. Immigration to Europe is not a new phenomenon. Still, the numbers of immigrants have increased substantially […]

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Putin’s Assassination of Prigozhin Decapitates Wagner’s Empire in Libya, Sudan, Syria and E. Europe, and Puts Oligarchs on Notice

Dan Dinello

Chicago (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Russia confirmed Tuesday that Yevgeny Prigozhin, ex-convict oligarch and leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, died in a plane crash last week. Prigozhin had, in fact, been a dead man walking ever since he masterminded an aborted mutiny against Russia’s military leadership on June 23 of this year. His […]

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Israeli Minister Eliyahu: The Palestinians aren’t under Apartheid, they’re Just in a Prison Camp

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Other members of the the extremist Jewish Power Party are adding fuel to the firestorm that broke out last week when the party’s leader and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir asserted that Israeli rights to move around the Palestinian West Bank took precedence over Palestinian rights to freedom of […]

Featured

The Fascist and the Supermodel: Ben-Gvir slams Bella Hadid for demanding Palestinian Equality with Israeli Jews

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The saga began when Israel’s extremist Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has a long rap sheet of convictions for racist incitement, said the quiet part out loud. In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 News on Wednesday, Ben-Gvir was asked a question about the deteriorating security situation in […]