US Foreign Policy

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The NYT’s Thomas Friedman reports on a recent telephone conversation he had with Joe Biden, and the interview contains good news. Biden made it clear that he will attempt to re-institute the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or Iran nuclear deal, admitting, “It’s going to be hard, but […]

Climate Crisis

The Fall of the American Empire on a Failing Planet

Tom Engelhardt

(Tomdispatch.com ) – We’re now living in an age of opacity, as Rudy Giuliani pointed out in a courtroom recently. Here was the exchange: “‘In the plaintiffs’ counties, they were denied the opportunity to have an unobstructed observation and ensure opacity,’ Giuliani said. ‘I’m not quite sure I know what opacity means. It probably means […]

CIA

Israeli Official: “World should thank Israel” for murdering Iranian Scientist; CIA’s Brennan: “Act of state-sponsored terrorism”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – An unnamed Israeli official told the New York Times on Sunday, “the world should thank Israel” for killing Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. I don’t guess I’m thanking Israel for committing a flagrant act of terrorism. If Israel can murder a scientist in Iran, what is to stop it from […]

Afghanistan

Why will we Fight 20 Years in weak Afghanistan but won’t make war on Menacing Climate Crisis?

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – The United States is engaged in forever hot wars. The war in Afghanistan now nears the end of its second decade. Why US history is so saturated -— some would say polluted -— by war has recently become an object of both academic and activist interest. University […]

Donald Trump

In Bid to Kill a Biden return to Iran nuclear Deal, Israel Assassinates Leading Nuclear Scientist

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Iranian newspaper Ettela’at reports that on Friday, what it called “armed terrorist elements” mounted an assault on the automobile carrying Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was badly wounded in the midst of the clash between his security team and the assailants and was transported to hospital, where he died of […]

Featured

Did Israeli PM Netanyahu Meet Saudi Bin Salman in Bid to Thwart Biden Plan to restore Iran Deal?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli news site i24 Arabic reports from the Hebrew press that Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the head of the Israeli Mossad intelligence service, Yosef “Yossi” Meir Cohen, flew to Saudi Arabia’s new planned model city, Neom, and met with crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman. They are said […]

Joe Biden

Can Progressives Push Biden to take on Washington’s Sacred Cows: Foreign Policy and the Pentagon?

Danny Sjursen

In this mystifying moment, the post-electoral sentiments of most Americans can be summed up either as “Ding dong! The witch is dead!” or “We got robbed!” Both are problematic, not because the two candidates were intellectually indistinguishable or ethically equivalent, but because each jingle is laden with a dubious assumption: that President Donald Trump’s demise […]

Donald Trump

A Trump strike on Iran will make the US an Outcast and won’t stop Tehran’s civilian Nuclear Program

The Conversation

By Christoph Bluth | – Donald Trump asked his senior advisers to examine options for air strikes against Iran’s main nuclear installation, the New York Times reported recently. According to the report, the meeting occurred the day after inspectors reported a significant increase in the country’s stockpile of nuclear material. Key advisers reportedly counselled against […]

Anti-War Movement

Ten Foreign Policy Fiascos Biden Can Fix on Day One (and Should)

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink ) – Donald Trump loves executive orders as a tool of dictatorial power, avoiding the need to work through Congress. But that works both ways, making it relatively easy for President Biden to reverse many of Trump’s most disastrous decisions. Here are ten things Biden can do as soon as he takes […]