US politics

( Tomdispatch.com ) – I didn’t want to write this article. In fact, I had something relatively uplifting planned: an Independence Day piece about the rich implications for the present moment to be found in the Declaration of Independence. But other excellent writers beat me to that one. So instead, I reluctantly find myself once […]

Donald Trump

War Criminal Netanyahu nominates Felon Trump for the Nobel Prize

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – When I read about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nominating convicted felon Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, my inclination was to write a piece of satire about it. But that would be redundant. Comedian Ronny Chieng mined for the dark humor saying, “Yes, a Peace […]

Artificial Intelligence

Grok’s MechaHitler Antisemitic Rant shows how Generative AI can be Weaponized

The Conversation

By James Foulds, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Phil Feldman, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Shimei Pan, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (The Conversation) – The AI chatbot Grok went on an antisemitic rant on July 8, 2025, posting memes, tropes and conspiracy theories used to denigrate Jewish people on the X platform. It […]

Donald Trump

Did the US and Israeli Attack leave the Islamic Republic of Iran Stronger?

The Conversation

By Bamo Nouri, City St George’s, University of London (The Conversation) – Israel’s attack on Iran last month and the US bombing of the country’s nuclear facilities, the first-ever direct US attacks on Iranian soil, were meant to cripple Tehran’s strategic capabilities and reset the regional balance. The strikes came after 18 months during which […]

China

Trump never saw a Wind Farm in China, but Beijing has half of all Installed Wind Capacity and will Eat America’s Lunch in this Industry

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The dufus-in-chief perorated on Friday once again on wind power, complaining that the components are made in China but that “I have never seen a wind farm in China. Why is that? Somebody check that out.” His just-passed tax bill eliminates federal incentives for the industry, ensuring a vast slow-down […]

Donald Trump

Between Two Enemies: Syria’s Silence in the Israel-Iran Conflicts

Daanish Faruqi

( Aljumhuriya ) – Even as a ceasefire has, for now, calmed tensions between Israel and Iran, Trump’s decision to officially join Israel’s war effort has been illuminating on a multitude of fronts. In particular, it revealed how quickly Iran was able to cultivate global support for its sovereignty and multiple calls for restraint, particularly […]

Cold War

The Trump Team’s Purge of Pentagon Photos Raises Sinister Echoes from the Past

Arnold R. Isaacs

( Tomdispatch.com ) – In early June, the Washington Post published a follow-up to earlier stories on a Trump administration plan to remove thousands of photographs from Defense Department websites because of “DEI-related content.” Illustrated with more than a dozen samples of the targeted photos (which the Post‘s reporters were able to find reproduced on […]

Authoritarianism

Trumpism holds all Men are Created Unequal and most should be Denied Life, Liberty or the Pursuit of Happiness

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Declaration of Independence has been made a dead letter by the Trump regime as we celebrate the 249th anniversary of the United States of America. These immortal words penned by an Enlightenment gentleman, Thomas Jefferson, still ring out powerfully today: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all […]

Donald Trump

Siamese Criminals: Trump and Netanyahu

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Convicted felon Donald Trump is now trying to intimidate the Israeli Judiciary into cancelling the three criminal trials of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. To that end, Trump and Netanyahu have become global running mates, campaigning with and for one another in their re-elections. The two men have […]