Republican Party

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The coronavirus statistics in both Iran and the United States are horrible. The US has the worst record on dealing with the pandemic in the industrialized world. One clue to why the two countries are doing so badly with regard to basic public health strategy may lie in the importance […]

China

Has Russian media turned on its golden boy Trump, joining with China and Iran?

The Conversation

By Robert Hinck, Robert Utterback and Skye Cooley | – It can be easy to overlook how the rest of the world is making sense of America’s chaotic campaign season. But in many cases, they’re paying attention just as closely as U.S. voters are. After all, who wins the U.S. presidency has implications for countries […]

Donald Trump

Trump’s Health Insurance Plan benefits the 1% and Harms all the Rest of Us

F. Douglas Stephenson

Gainesville, Florida (Special to Informed Comment) –Considered a serious danger to the wealth of private corporations and individuals, the highly class-conscious corporate-run, profiteering U.S. business community seeks to contain and reduce the political power of the 99%. Toward this goal, President Trump and the GOP are attempting to terminate Obamacare (ACA) including health plan subsidies […]

Democracy

Their Germs and Guns, our Steel: Canvassers Risk it All for America

Rebecca Gordon

( Tomdispatch.com ) – “Look, folks, the air quality is in the red zone today. The EPA says that means people with lung or heart issues should avoid prolonged activity outdoors.” That was J.R. de Vera, one of two directors of UNITE-HERE!’s independent expenditure campaign to elect Biden and Harris in Reno, Nevada. UNITE-HERE! is […]

Democracy

Did Trump blackmail Sudan into Recognizing Israel by offering to remove Khartoum from Terror List?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdulla Hamdock announced Monday that the US had agreed to remove his country from the list of international supporters of terrorism, paving the way for Sudan to rejoin the international community and attract desperately needed international investment. Sudan’s revolutionary government has moved to ensure human and civil […]

China

China grows nearly 5%; Will historians look back at Trump’s disastrous Pandemic Response as the Moment Beijing Overtook the US?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Even if Trump loses, he can go on screwing up the country for two and a half months thereafter, and it will take years to undo the damage he has done. Pandemics are the sort of thing you want to nip in the bud. If you let them go to […]

Donald Trump

With UN Embargo on Arms Sales to Iran Lapsing, Will Russia take on US to reap Bonanza?

Nikola Mikovic

Belgrade (Special to Informed Comment) – As of today, the 2007 UN Security Council embargo on conventional arms shipments to Iran expired. At least from the point of view of international law, Iran can now purchase powerful and advanced weapons such as the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft system, or the Su-30 fighter jet. Still, although Iranian […]

Donald Trump

Trump’s Body Count in Historical Perspective: Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths on his Hands

Al Carroll

Alexandria, Va. (Special to Informed Comment) – Many presidential biographies are somewhere between pseudo profound and pure fluff, arguing presidents be judged by Hollywood-like silliness like “presidential bearing” and “leadership qualities.” In 2014, I wrote Presidents’ Body Counts, my book arguing presidents be judged based on their human rights records. How many lived or died […]

Donald Trump

Can America escape the cave of Trump’s Quirky Isolationism?

Andrew J. Bacevich

( Tomdispatch.com ) – The so-called Age of Trump is also an age of instantly forgotten bestselling books, especially ones purporting to provide the inside scoop on what goes on within Donald Trump’s haphazard and continuously shifting orbit. With metronomic regularity, such gossipy volumes appear, make a splash, and almost as quickly vanish, leaving a […]