Featured

Trabzon, Turkey (Special to Informed Comment, Feature) – The recent visit of Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan to Lebanon on 23 January marks a critical moment for Saudi Arabia-Lebanon bilateral relations. This visit comes after years of strained relations between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, driven by the ongoing rivalry between Saudi Arabia […]

Featured

It is Time to Junk the “Munich” Analogy

Arnold Oliver

Tiffin, Ohio (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – No sooner had the announcement about a new policy for Ukraine from the Trump administration been made than the cries of “appeasement! Munich! Hitler! Neville Chamberlain” began to ring out from almost all corners of the mediaverse. The lessons to be learned from the events in Munich […]

Bill of Rights

For Trumpism “Free Speech” means Neo-Nazi Speech

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Convicted felon Donald Trump is eviscerating the US Constitution in a particularly insidious way. Previously, I have written about Trump’s efforts to hijack the Free Speech Movement, and invert it, thrusting us all down the Republican rabbit hole. This perversion of free speech takes a most precious, […]

Featured

Netanyahu’s Quest to Attack Iran with the Mother of all Bombs

Dan Steinbock

The emboldened Netanyahu cabinet is in a war path, again. It is mobilizing to attack Iran and lobbying President Trump into a plan that presumably would use the “Mother of All Bombs” Ever since his rise to power in the late 1990s, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has worked toward a war with Iran, presumably […]

China

Moonbases and Solar Arrays: Will China win the Space Race as Musk’s DOGE cripples NASA?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The irrational, ignorant and often plain stupid cuts that rogue DOGE operatives of Elon Musk are making to the US government will endanger the health and well-being of American society for decades. Musk himself is a giant contractor for the government and many of his moves may be intended to […]

Featured

Proem: The Trauma of Gaza Scholasticide

Hugh J. Curran

We are closed in, and the key is turnedon our uncertainty…We had fed the heart on fantasies,the heart’s grown brutal from the fare,more substance in our enmitiesthan in our love; (WB Yeats,The Empty House of the Stare) Traumas make for suffering as scholasticide becomes a destroyer of learning, thus tearing asunder the intricate tapestry […]

Donald Trump

Sinai! Why Egypt’s al-Sisi says he will snub White House Invitation if Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza is on Agenda

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Egypt has shown more spunk in standing up to Trump than has the mostly supine US Congress. Offered the most insane rogues’ gallery of cabinet appointees in American history (and there have been some doozies), the Senate has rolled over time and again. Not so former Field Marshall Abdelfattah al-Sisi. […]

Featured

In the Race for Influence in the New Syria, will Türkiye come out on Top?

Volkan Isbasaran

Istanbul (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Last week, Syria’s newly appointed President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited Ankara to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, marking the highest-level meeting between Türkiye and Syria since 2009. The visit was al-Sharaa’s second international trip since being declared president, following his recent visit to Saudi Arabia. During the […]

Asia

As Trump Shutters US Offshore Wind, Asia’s Renewables Promise Cheaper Manufacturing, Trade Surpluses

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump has halted the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management from granting new offshore wind licenses. This move will gut the growing US offshore wind industry, though it does not necessarily affect already-granted licenses. Gavin Maguire at Reuters explains the outcome of this policy will be high energy costs for Americans, […]