Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Amid ongoing katyusha attacks by Shiite militias on the Green Zone, the site of the US Embassy in Iraq, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has threatened to close the embassy. Analysts are saying he is unlikely to follow through on the threat, but the Iraqi government of prime minister Mustafa […]
Archives for September 2020
In the Age of Trump, the the Nuclear Threat is only Growing
Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Perhaps because last Saturday was devoted to the future makeup and judicial course of the US Supreme Court and its possible role in the transition of power hardly anyone noticed that this day was International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. That is a shame […]
Fixing Our Eyes on American Poverty: How Christian Nationalism Punishes the Poor
( Tomdispatch.com) – On August 26th, during the Republican National Convention, Vice President Mike Pence closed out his acceptance speech with a biblical sleight of hand. Speaking before a crowd at the Fort McHenry National Monument in Baltimore, he exclaimed, “Let’s fix our eyes on Old Glory and all she represents. Let’s fix our eyes […]
Six Years later, remembering how Socialist Kurds and the US Air Force defeated the ISIS Siege of Kobani
By Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Troy Souza | – Dartmouth, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – Six years ago, in October, 2014, the brutal ISIS terorist group came for the Kurds in the Syrian enclave of Kobani. It would have been a gateway for them into Turkey, on which it bordered. The US intervened […]
Why Trump/DeSantis Herd Immunity (‘Let’s Kill Grandma’) Strategy won’t Work: Only about 9% of Americans have Covid-19 Antibodies
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Taking his cue from Trump, Florida governor and grandma-killer Ron DeSantis announced on Friday the complete reopening of Florida, unleashing crowds in restaurants and bars. He won’t allow city governments like Miami’s to fine residents who won’t wear masks or establishments that do not honor social distancing. He says he […]
With Barrett on the Court, if Trump is Reelected and goes Full Mussolini, Can he be Stopped?
Williamsport, PA (Special to Informed Comment) – “A republic, if you can keep it,” Ben Franklin famously described the new Constitution in 1787. Well, can Americans, including the Republicans, keep it, or will they let it slide into authoritarianism? I, like Franklin, am an optimist, but we have to prepare ourselves for the possibility that […]
What is Amy Coney Barrett’s charismatic Catholicism?
By Mathew Schmalz | – Amy Coney Barrett reportedly will be Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. Questions have been raised about her alleged association with the “People of Praise,” a nondenominational Christian charismatic community, seen by some as being a potential influence on her legal thinking, particularly […]
Has Trump done Irreparable Damage to US Partnerships Abroad?
Donald Trump used to care what the world outside America thought of him. ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Before he ran for president, he was focused on turning his business into a global brand. The name “Trump” was supposed to connote all the luxury and success of the elite lifestyle. Trump hotels, Trump golf […]
Montesquieu in Najd: Saudi Arabia, World’s Last Absolute Monarchy, Challenged by New Democratic Political Party
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A group of expatriate Saudi intellectuals announced this week the formation of the National Assembly Party, which they intend as an opposition party working for a rule of law and separation of powers in the kingdom. The group’s manifesto is printed here, declaring that they want to see democracy implemented […]
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