Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a surprise development, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif suddenly flew to Biarritz on Sunday for meetings on the sidelines of the G7 summit. He clearly was invited at the instance of French President Emannuel Macron, who is still attempting to salvage what he can of the 2015 Iran nuclear […]
- Africa (236)
- Animals (1)
- Asia (1,219)
- Australasia (8)
- Australia (24)
- Authoritarianism (382)
- Canada (6)
- Cats (1)
- Celtic Religion (1)
- Culture (515)
- Dehydration (1)
- Democracy (322)
- Dissent (418)
- Ecology (1)
- Economy (1,015)
- Agriculture (3)
- Banking (67)
- Carbon Footprint (6)
- Corporations (48)
- Cryptocurrency (2)
- Debt (21)
- Democratic Socialism (20)
- Demographic Decline (1)
- Development (26)
- Employment (118)
- Food Insecurity (21)
- Homelessness (15)
- Industry (4)
- Inequality (418)
- Inflation (4)
- infrastructure (10)
- Investment (92)
- Market Crash (10)
- Middle Class (61)
- Monopolies (8)
- Neoliberalism (198)
- Plutocracy (611)
- Poverty (202)
- Regulation (2)
- Sanctions (4)
- Taxes (36)
- Technology (3)
- Trade (113)
- Weapons sales (6)
- Education (127)
- Elderly (3)
- Electricity Cost (2)
- Energy (1,691)
- Batteries (47)
- Coal (137)
- Fossil Fuels (317)
- Fracking (50)
- Geothermal (7)
- Green ammonia (5)
- Green Energy (409)
- Green Hydrogen (8)
- Heat Pumps (5)
- Hydroelectric (14)
- Natural Gas (106)
- Nuclear Energy (156)
- Petroleum (296)
- Power Grid (12)
- Pumped Hydro (6)
- Solar Energy (396)
- Tar Sands (13)
- Wave Energy (9)
- wind energy (331)
- Environment (2,586)
- Climate Change (1,534)
- Acidification of Oceans (54)
- Agriculture (25)
- Biodiversity (12)
- Climate Refugees (2)
- CO2 (111)
- Dehydration (5)
- Denialism (145)
- Desalinization (4)
- Desertification (158)
- Divestment (2)
- Dust Storms (6)
- Environmental Investment (1)
- Extreme Weather (294)
- Flooding (132)
- Food Supply (2)
- Forests (17)
- Green New Deal (39)
- Greenwashing (3)
- Mass Extinction (61)
- Methane (20)
- Net Carbon Zerio (8)
- Nitrous Oxide (2)
- Rainforests (19)
- Rivers (11)
- Sea Level (333)
- Soil Carbon Release (14)
- Super Storms (250)
- wildfires (231)
- Wood Buildings (1)
- Climate Crisis (1,237)
- Drought (286)
- Ecology (10)
- Environmentalism (392)
- Green Transportation (249)
- Ice Melt (132)
- Invasive Species (2)
- Islands (1)
- Oceans (100)
- Oil Spills (7)
- Pollution (226)
- Water (92)
- wildlife (19)
- Climate Change (1,534)
- Europe (1,330)
- Featured (3,849)
- fiction (5)
- Food (13)
- G20 (1)
- Guns (9)
- Health (659)
- History (339)
- Human Rights (1,380)
- Apartheid (256)
- censorship (278)
- Death Penalty (30)
- Disappeared (3)
- Displaced and Refugees (554)
- Food Insecurity (11)
- Gay rights (28)
- Genocide (24)
- Human Rights Watch (90)
- Migrants (4)
- Slavery and Trafficking (16)
- Torture (96)
- Trans Rights (3)
- Transgender Rights (4)
- Unlawful Imprisonment (99)
- Unlwful Killing (75)
- War Crimes (360)
- War Rape (7)
- Immigration (20)
- International (787)
- Islamophobia (374)
- Juan Cole (270)
- Latin America (97)
- Latinos (4)
- leisure (21)
- media (467)
- Middle East (9,221)
- Arab World (5,140)
- Iran (1,272)
- Israel (864)
- Israel/ Palestine (3,024)
- Israel/Palestine (8)
- Kurds (289)
- Turkey (573)
- Turkiye (99)
- military (123)
- Modernism (3)
- nationalism (116)
- NATO (36)
- Natural Disasters (13)
- Neocolonialism (1)
- nuclear weapons (103)
- Patriarchy (10)
- Peace (135)
- Persian mythology (1)
- Pete Buttigieg (1)
- Planetary Exploration (1)
- Popular Culture (24)
- Poverty (12)
- privacy (21)
- racism (462)
- Rape (8)
- religion (1,461)
- Rights (139)
- robots (3)
- Romance (1)
- science (146)
- Secular (West) (9)
- Secularism (30)
- Sexual Assault (2)
- South Pacific (2)
- Spirituality (22)
- Statelessness (15)
- Stranded Assets (1)
- Surveillance (278)
- Terrorism (1,089)
- Tolerance (6)
- Uncategorized (8,075)
- United Nations (134)
- Urbanization (4)
- US Foreign Policy (1,260)
- US politics (5,215)
- Anti-War Movement (12)
- Campaign Finance (31)
- Censors (21)
- Central Intelligence Agency (62)
- Charity (1)
- Civil Rights (96)
- Congress (76)
- Conspiracy Theories (23)
- Constitution (394)
- Courts (12)
- crime (12)
- Democratic Party (935)
- Democratic Socialists of America (22)
- Domestic Terrorism (20)
- Drone Warfare (27)
- Espionage (124)
- Ethnicities (380)
- Far Right (385)
- FBI (47)
- Foreign Policy (204)
- Gay Rights (17)
- Guns (94)
- Immigration (234)
- Israel Lobbies (122)
- Marijuana (4)
- Militarization (271)
- National Security State (471)
- Native Americans (40)
- Nuclear arsenal (7)
- penitentiaries (6)
- Pentagon (556)
- Police (43)
- prison reform (8)
- Private Prisons (2)
- Progressive Politics (12)
- Puerto Rico (30)
- Religious Right (15)
- Reproductive Choice (66)
- Republican Party (2,912)
- Supreme Court (125)
- Voter suppression (35)
- Whistleblowers (5)
- Xenophobia (9)
- Veterans (35)
- Voting Rights (16)
- War (494)
- White Supremacists (225)
- wikileaks (8)
- women (550)
- workers (231)
- Writing (5)
- Youth (207)
Iran
Iran: The 14 Defiant Women Who Want To end Gender Apartheid in The Islamic Republic
(RFE/RL) – Iranian human rights lawyer Guity Pourfazel wants to see change in her country and believes Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should step down and the ruling clerical establishment be replaced with a democratic system. Pourfazel is one of 14 women activists in Iran who have publicly called for Khamenei to resign and for […]
Former Iraqi PM Threatens Military action against Israel after Tel Aviv Bombed Shiite Militia Base
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Former prime minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, responded to news that Israel had bombed Shiite militia bases in Iraq with threats that if it continued, Iraq would take strong defensive measures and would carry the fight to Israel itself, forming a multinational coalition and backed by Iran. Al-Maliki has been […]
In major Defeat for Trump Warhawks, Gibraltar Releases Iran Tanker, citing European Law
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Aljazeera reports that its correspondent in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, Andrew Simmons, confirms that a tanker carrying $140 million worth of Iranian petroleum has now left the island at the mouth of the Mediterranean. The tanker was seized by Gibraltar authorities on July 4 on the grounds that […]
The Biggest Losers in Trump-Iran Crisis? Gulf States. Biggest Winner? Vladimir Putin
By Marwan Kabalan | – It is in the nature of crises, both long term and temporary, for losers and winners to emerge. It is also natural for the human actors therein to be rational and base their calculations and considerations on reducing losses and maximising gains. However, these calculations are not always accurate or […]
Iran: Germany and France Refuse to be Inducted into Trump’s Gulf Naval Operation against Tehran
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The government of Angela Merkel in Germany has rejected participation in the the Trump administration’s naval mission, “Operation Sentinel,” aimed at securing the Straits of Hormuz from Iranian interference in shipping. German foreign minister Heiko Maas of the Social Democratic Party said that Berlin opposes the Trump policy of “maximum […]
Expert Letter on Deescalating with Iran (Bacevich, Cole, Esposito et al.)
Via NIAC: July 30, 2019 As foreign-policy practitioners with decades of collective experience in national security and diplomacy, we write to warn that U.S.-Iran tensions have entered a dangerous new phase that has put us on the brink of a disastrous and avoidable war. The administration’s decision to violate the Iran nuclear agreement in pursuit […]
Iran Crushing Rights just when it Needs understanding in the West: Must Release Prominent Anthropologist
Detention of French-Iranian Anthropologist Confirms Worrying Trend
Iran: How Bolton tricked Clueless UK Conservatives into Confrontation with Tehran
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Simon Tisdall at The Guardian explains the difference between Socialist Spain and the disorganized Conservatives in control of UK on foreign policy. US national security adviser John Bolton tried to hoodwink both of them about the Grace I, a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker carrying Iranian petroleum through the Straits of Gibraltar. […]