Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al-Quds reports that Shiite militias in Syria fired several rockets or artillery shells at the US military base in the al-`Umar oil field in Deir al-Zor province in southeastern Syria on Monday evening, in response to Sunday’s US bombing raids on Iraqi Shiite militias on the Syria-Iraq border. There were […]
A Litany of Failure: Nearly 20 Years Later, the US is Still Bombing Iraq, and Iraq is Still Condemning Israeli Occupation of Palestine
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – When the architects of the illegal 2003 Bush Administration war on Iraq imagined the country nearly twenty years later, they did not foresee that the US would still be bombing it in 2021 in revenge for Iraqi militia attacks on US troops. In fact, Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of […]
Gaslighting the Pentagon: Tucker Carlson, who called Iraqis ‘Monkeys,’ Poses as anti-Racist in defending White Supremacy from “Pig” Gen. Milley
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Fox white nationalist (there, I’ve been redundant and repeated myself) Tucker Carlson once called Iraqis “semiliterate primitive monkeys,” managing to be racist, anti-Arab and Islamophobic all at once. Now Carlson is posing as an anti-racist. Funny thing, though. He isn’t out there apologizing for his racism against Iraqis. Then there […]
73 Dems in Congress demand Biden Brand Israeli Squatter-Settlements in Palestine “Illegal,” Dump Trump’s “Deal of the Century”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – 73 Democratic Congressional representatives wrote a letter to President Biden on Friday urging him formally to withdraw from Trump’s so-called “deal of the century,” which actually authorized Israel unilaterally to steal large swathes of Palestinian land. And these representatives frankly say this. They want an outbreak of frank talk and […]
The Qur’an and Black Lives Matter (Podcast)
My interview is at Renovatio concerning my forthcoming article on equality in the Qur’an, which I wrote in honor of the Black Lives Matter movement. The audio is embedded here: Renovatio’s notes: “God’s creativity is seen as an expression of the divine will and those blessed with insight can perceive it as such, and perhaps […]
UN Slams new Israeli gov’t of Bennett for new Squatter-Settlements in Palestine, a ‘Flagrant Violation of Int’l Law’
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Thursday, Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, gave a long a disturbing oral report on the situation in Palestine-Israel. The office of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres produced a 12-page report, as well. Wennesland is a seasoned Norwegian diplomat, having served as ambassador to Egypt […]
Top US Officer Gen. Milley Schools GOP Reps. on Critical Race Theory, Need for Military to Study Society: “I Have Read Marx and Lenin”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Republicans in Congress really miss the days of red baiting and the Communist threat. Dick Nixon made his bones running against leftist labor unions, intimating to then-conservative San Francisco burghers that insurrectionary Communists were hiding under their beds. The party won elections by making people afraid of workers, of […]
In Siccing Justice Dept. on Jimmy Kimmel and SNL, Trump Channeled worst Mideast Dictators
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Bassem Youssef was Egypt’s most famous comedian in the 2000s and until 2014. His weekly half-hour satire, “The Program,” skewered the government of president-for-life Hosni Mubarak in the run-up to the 2011 youth revolt. Mubarak was thin-skinned but did allow some comedians and pundits to blow off steam. He did, […]
Iran’s Raisi: Supports renewed Nuclear Deal, Seeks Lifting of US Sanctions, and Restored Saudi Diplomatic Relations
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In his first press conference on Monday, newly elected President Ebrahim Raisi expressed support for the negotiations in Vienna toward restoring the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the United Nations, as long as, he said, they achieve benefits for the Iranian nation and do not drag on forever. He […]