US Foreign Policy

By Tony Walker | – Canberra policymakers will be conducting a root-and-branch reassessment of Australia’s foreign policy following Donald Trump’s defeat in the US presidential election and ahead of an incoming Democrat administration. Top of the list of items for review will be a leaden-footed China policy. Chinese trade reprisals for perceived Australian slights are […]

Democratic Party

Iran’s Pres. Rouhani to Biden: We will Fulfill our Nuclear Obligations on Day One if you Return to 2015 Deal

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iranian president Hassan Rouhani was asked Tuesday in an interview with a state-owned news outlet under what conditions Iran would return to the 2015 nuclear deal with the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council (P5), including the U.S., plus Germany (+1) He replied, “A thing we are saying […]

Democratic Party

The Left must Seize the Initiative: Biden’s Centrist Instincts could be Disastrous

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Walden Bello | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Donald Trump embarked on an unorthodox course in economic policy that combined tax cuts for the rich with a protectionist trade policy that was ostensibly aimed at saving the U.S. industrial base and preventing the export of American jobs. The question is not whether […]

Democratic Party

“The Empire Strikes Biden” with Brent Terhune and Juan Cole – Francesca Fiorentini Podcast

Juan Cole

“It’s global hegemony not Adam and Steve! From very real US wars abroad to the imagined “war on Christmas”, Francesca digs deep with comedian Brent Terhune and historian Juan Cole. They discuss what foreign policy might look like under a Biden administration, from the Iran Deal to Israel/Palestine to Russia & China. Plus, the special […]

Donald Trump

Iran sends Oil, Gas Flotilla to Venezuela; will Trump attack it to Sabotage Biden?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Bloomberg reports that a flotilla of ten Iranian vessels is heading for Venezuela. They have turned off their shipboard Automatic Identification System, or AIS, so that US signals intelligence cannot find them easily. The ships typically go around the Cape of Good Hope and then head northwest to Caracas. Will […]

Democratic Party

How Biden is determined to Parry Trump’s Sabotage and restore Iran Nuclear Deal

Juan Cole

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 […]