US Foreign Policy

( Tomdispatch.com ) – “To defend civilization, defeat Russia.” Writing in the unfailingly bellicose Atlantic, an American academic of my acquaintance recently issued that dramatic call to arms. And lest there be any confusion about the stakes involved, the image accompanying his essay depicted Russian President Vladimir Putin with a Hitler mustache and haircut. Cast […]

Featured

With Thousands Dead or Wounded, Will earthquake Aid for Syria be Impeded by US Sanctions?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A 7.8 earthquake that struck south-central Turkey and northwest Syria early on Monday morning. Although over two thousand are being reported dead in Turkey at midnight on Monday and more than a thousand in Syria, the death toll will grow a great deal as the rubble is combed by rescue […]

China

Was the Chinese Spy Balloon a Sign of Infighting among China’s Power Elite?

Michael G. Roskin

Nashville (Special to Informed Comment) – China’s balloon incursion was no accident but an expression of both internal Chinese politics and of its foreign policy. Beijing is rumbling with important policy disputes and who has what kind of power. Under the uniform surface, China still has political quarrels. “No one in charge” was one explanation […]

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Why is the Biden Administration So Worried about Israel’s New Government? (Juan Cole Video Interview)

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I am interviewed by prominent journalist Steve Clemons, editor at large of the global news site Semafor, for his Al Jazeera English show, The Bottom Line, on “Why is the US worried about Israel’s new government?” It is a rollicking 24-minute conversation. Here is the YouTube description of the show: […]

Israel

Why Isn’t Israel Helping the only other Jewish Head of State, in Ukraine?

John Feffer

By John Feffer | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – There are currently only two Jewish heads of state in the world. The first, not surprisingly, leads Israel. The second is Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine. They don’t get along. Religious affiliation by itself does not determine political or military alliances. Plenty […]

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US Sec. of State Blinken Offers some Anesthesia while Palestinians are Operated on by Far-Right Israeli Gov’t

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Tuesday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, and offered condolences on the “innocent Palestinians” killed by Israeli security forces or squatters on Palestinian land in the last year –though he did not specify a number and did not name a […]

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Sec. of State Blinken’s Happy Talk Middle East Tour meets Meat Grinder of Rising Israeli Fascism

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The actually existing Middle East is not cooperating with the Washington representation of it. To hear Secretary of State Antony Blinken speak, you would think that a two-state solution to the Israeli Occupation of the Palestinians is still possible. It is not. You would think there was a “peace process.” […]

Saudi Arabia

Mike Pompeo, seeking White House, runs interference for the Saudis, Trashing murdered Journalist Khashoggi

Michael G. Roskin

Nashville – (Special to Informed Comment) – Mike Pompeo asserts that murdered Washington Post columnist Jamal Kashoggi was no mild critic of the Saudi regime but a dangerous radical trying to subvert it. This, I suspect, has been the Saudi line fed to Washington since Kashoggi’s 2018 dismemberment at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Trump […]

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Turkey’s President Erdogan Says Swedish NATO Application out of Question after Qur’an burning in Stockholm

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Sweden can forget about membership in the 30-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Erdogan is demanding that Sweden cooperate with Turkey in repressing Kurdish activist expatriates in Sweden, all of whom he views as terrorists. He also says he is furious about the […]