“The Current Iran War will Likely end soon, but the Arms Race will Heat Up” Juan Cole, Ann Arbor (Informed Comment). The Al Jazeera bureau chief in Tehran, Abdul Qader Fayez, reports from “informed sources” in Tehran that Iran’s clerical Leader, Ali Khamenei, and his National Security Council have still not decided how to respond to the […]
Along with the return of trump, the United States popularity is in decline. U.S. President Donald Trump receives mostly negative ratings in a new Pew Research Center survey of 24 nations. More than half in 19 of these countries say they lack confidence in Trump’s leadership in world affairs-Pew. I would suggest not traveling globally […]
Juan Cole is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. He is fluent in Arabic, Persian and Urdu, and Turkish as well as several European languages. Since he allows reposts of his blog content on social media, I’m going to exceed the fair use limit in quoting him here. To […]
Juneteenth became a federal holiday on June 17, 2021. President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. When Melynda Price thinks of Juneteenth, she thinks of hope, home, and of heritage. A legal scholar at the University of Kentucky, Price is a fifth-generation Texan whose great-great-grandmother was enslaved in Southeast Texas. […]
In its latest attack on Iran, Israel has resorted to bombing and assassination to convince Iran to capitulate on its nuclear program*. What’s the track record of success for bombing and assassination campaigns? Bombing “Unless an enemy army takes Tehran, as the US military took Baghdad in 2003, this four-branch government cannot be gotten rid […]
– by New Deal democrat Today’s second report was for industrial production, including its important manufacturing component. The data for May was mixed, as total production (blue) declined -0.2%, while manufacturing production (red) increased 0.1% In March I wrote that “I suspect the big increases in February and March in manufacturing, like this morning’s retail […]
Duncan Black enters the wayback machine. These were the headlines in November 2024. Trump wasn’t even in office yet. “Politico:The Resistance Is Not Coming to Save You. It’s Tuning Out.The first Trump administration sparked waves of public activism and aggressive media coverage. This time, not so much. “Axios:The Resistance goes quiet “[NYT]:‘Get Somebody Else to […]
Part II of II Due to automation (The Digital Age) and the offshoring of production (Globalization), since the early 1970s, we have seen less demand for labor lead to fewer production workers with less bargaining power settling for lower wages, leading to significantly less wealth being distributed to fewer of the population. For this and […]
Open Thread for Talk. You can talk about tipping waiters or you may choose a different topic. Initial topic is “tipping waiters.” When we go to dinner, we expect good service and usually get it. A good waiter is typically checking on the restaurant guests and being attentive to their needs. The exchange should be […]
Part I of II Was wealth that brought us this far. The wealthy say that it was them, but it wasn’t. It was wealth. Those first surpluses after the climate stabilized were the genesis of civilization, of the modern world. Gave mankind more time to think, to make better tools. Gave us democracy and the […]