Europe

In Blow to Democracy, British Parliament Votes to Outlaw University and Council Boycotts of Israel amid Gaza Genocide

Belfast (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – On January 10, the UK parliament passed the third and final reading of the anti-boycott bill proposed by pro-Israel Conservative hawk Michael Gove, who serves as Secretary of State for Leveling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Governmental Relations. The House of Lords still needs to approve […]

Climate Crisis

Renewables now Generate more of Britain’s Electricity than Fossil Fuels

The Conversation

By Will de Freitas, The Conversation | – (The Conversation) – At the start of 2016, in an article noting some exciting changes in British energy, The Conversation published the following paragraph: Wind, solar and hydro – the weather-dependent renewables – together generated 14.6% of Great Britain’s electrical energy in 2015, the highest ever annual […]

Climate Crisis

Renewables cover 52% of Germany’s Electricity Demand for First Time in 2023

Clean Energy Wire

By Sören Amelang | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Germany has generated more than half of the electricity it used this year with renewable energy for the first time, according to preliminary calculations by the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and utility association BDEW. “Renewable energies will have covered […]

European Union

The Empire of Whiteness: Race in the European Perspective

Marc Martorell Junyent

Review of Hans Kundnani, Eurowhiteness: Culture, Empire and Race in the European Project. London: Hurst & Co., 2023. Munich (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – What does it mean to be European? This is a complex but legitimate question. Still, one is unlikely to find an answer to the conundrum in the numerous billboards paid […]

Armenia

In the Caucasus, the US Priority is Fossil Fuels, not Armenians

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Edward Hunt | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Officials in Washington are doubling down on their efforts to create a new energy corridor that runs through the Caucasus, a major transit route for trade and energy that connects Europe and Asia. Focusing on Armenia and Azerbaijan, two countries at odds over […]

Arab World

Moscow and Gaza: Is Russia ready for a major Shift in its Middle East Policy?

Ramzy Baroud

( Middle East Monitor ) – Gaza was among the main topics on the agenda of Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrived in the Middle East on 6 December. Some news reports referred to the trip as “rare”, especially since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022. We know that the situation […]

Featured

On How Israeli/US War Crimes in Gaza are orders of Magnitude Worse than those of Russia in Ukraine

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Biden administration has spent most of its diplomatic energy since the February 24, 2022, Russian invasion of Ukraine marshaling the world to punish the Russian Federation, to boycott its petroleum and gas, to seize assets even of private citizens in Europe and North America, and to make Russia a […]

Colonialism

Juan Cole on Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” (StayTunedNBC)

Juan Cole

Here is the interview Alex Greaney of StayTunedNBC did with Juan Cole about the Egypt scenes in Ridley Scott’s film, “Napoleon.” StayTunedNBC: “Juan Cole on Ridley Scott’s depiction of Napoleon in Egypt” I wrote a book about Bonaparte in Egypt for those of you who want to know more about the first major Western colonial […]

Colonialism

That Time when Napoleon Bonaparte’s Army in Palestine Burned Crops, Pounded Houses with Artillery, and Cut off Water to Cities

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On 24 June 1799 General Louis-Alexandre Berthier wrote a dispatch from Ottoman Palestine back to the French Ministry of War (people were more honest back then) about the French retreat from their failed attempt to take Ottoman Palestine. Since the army ravaged the Palestinian countryside with retaliatory attacks, given their […]