Mastodawn

Green Enterprise: 1 Gigawatt He Dreiht North Sea Wind Farm receives no Gov’t Subsidies http://dlvr.it/TKxFFk

Green Enterprise: 1 Gigawatt He Dreiht North Sea Wind Farm receives no Gov't Subsidies

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - The first giant Vestas offshore wind turbine of the German He Dreiht ('It Spins') project in the North Sea has been installed, some 190 miles northwest of Bremerhaven. It is capable of generating 15 megawatts just on its own. When the other 64 turbines are erected on the already-sunk pilons within the next year, the wind farm will generate nearly 1 gigawatt, enough to power 1.1 million homes -- more than the number of households in Houston, Texas (population 2.4 million). And here's the thing: it is receiving no government funding. This is a money-making

Informed Comment

Juan Cole 2h ago

‘Killing all Humanity’: 2 Israeli Embassy Workers Killed in ‘Horrific’ Washington, DC Shooting http://dlvr.it/TKxCz5

'Killing all Humanity': 2 Israeli Embassy Workers Killed in 'Horrific' Washington, DC Shooting

'We are grounded first and foremost in the belief that all human life is precious, which is precisely why we are struggling for a world in which all people can live in safety and dignity,' said Jewish Voice for Peace. ( Commondreams.org) - Jewish Voice for Peace on Thursday was among those condemning the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy staff members in Washington, D.C., as federal agents investigated at the suspected shooter's home in Chicago. 'We are grounded first and foremost in the belief that all human life is precious, which is precisely why we are struggling for a

Informed Comment

Juan Cole 2h ago

Israelis’ Blinkered Media Drive Public Doubts on Gaza’s Hunger Plight http://dlvr.it/TKxCz2

Israelis' Blinkered Media Drive Public Doubts on Gaza's Hunger Plight

By Jori Breslawski, Tel Aviv University and Carlo Koos, University of Bergen (The Conversation) - Under mounting international pressure, Israel announced on May 19, 2025, that it would lift its monthslong humanitarian blockade on Gaza. The aid, which the Israeli government said would include a “basic amount” of food to stave off starvation, comes as more than 90% of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are experiencing acute food insecurity. Despite the staggering number of people at risk of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza, however, two-thirds of Israelis are opposed to allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza. That’s true even when that

Informed Comment

Juan Cole 2h ago

500 Years of Inflicted Horrors, from the New World to Israel http://dlvr.it/TKxCyB

500 Years of Inflicted Horrors, from the New World to Israel

( Tomdispatch.com ) - Leon Golub once related a story to a mutual friend. A Chicago artist famous for large canvases depicting crimson torture rooms in Central America, Golub had been asked what it meant to him to be a “Jewish political artist.” The painter’s quick reply was that he wasn’t a “Jewish political artist,” he was just a “political artist.” In the end, though, Golub came to believe that he had let himself off too easily, that his answer was too pat. Yes, he was a political artist. His paintings had focused not just on Latin America but on war-torn Vietnam

Informed Comment

Juan Cole 1d ago

Islam: A New History http://dlvr.it/TKw6W5

Islam: A New History

A Review of Islam: A New History, from Muhammad to the Present (Princeton University Press, 2025) by John Tolan Detroit (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) - Islam has had a major influence on the world as a religion, a culture and a civilization. As a religion, Islam is based on two main sources: the Quran and collections of the sayings and actions of Muhammad (hadith). It is a faith cherished by nearly 2 billion believers around the world. As a culture and a civilization, global Islam has developed and evolved over fourteen centuries, shaped by rapid expansion beyond Arabia through

Informed Comment

Juan Cole 1d ago

As US Pushes For Zero Enrichment, Iran Insists It Won’t Give Up Nuclear Program http://dlvr.it/TKw5s0

As US Pushes For Zero Enrichment, Iran Insists It Won't Give Up Nuclear Program

By RFE/RL's Radio Farda and Kian Sharifi ( RFE/RL ) - US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff declared that the Donald Trump administration's 'red line' in the nuclear talks with Iran is Tehran's ability to enrich uranium at any level, prompting Iran to say it will continue enrichment 'with or without a deal.' 'We cannot allow even 1 percent of an enrichment capability,' Witkoff told ABC on May 18, insisting any enrichment, even for civilian purposes, could enable weaponization. 'Everything begins…with a deal that does not include enrichment…because enrichment enables weaponization. And we will not allow a bomb to get here,'

Informed Comment

Juan Cole 1d ago

Israel’s Policies have already Created Catastrophic Starvation Risk for Millions in Gaza: a Trickle of Aid won’t Avert It http://dlvr.it/TKw5qx

Israel's Policies have already Created Catastrophic Starvation Risk for Millions in Gaza: a Trickle of Aid won't Avert It

By Yara M. Asi, University of Central Florida (The Conversation) - After 18 months of punishing airstrikes, raids and an increasingly restrictive siege in Gaza, the United Nations on May 20, 2025, issued one of its most urgent warnings yet about the ongoing humanitarian crisis: an estimated 14,000 babies were at risk of death without an immediate influx of substantial aid, especially food. The assessment came a day after Israel allowed the first trickle of aid back into Gaza following its nearly three-month total blockade imposed on March 2. But on the first day of that resumption, the U.N. Office

Informed Comment

Juan Cole 2d ago

From Gaza to America and Vietnam, the Prospect of a Peacemaker Pope http://dlvr.it/TKv1fx

From Gaza to America and Vietnam, the Prospect of a Peacemaker Pope

Auburn, Al. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) - It’s not surprising that Pope Leo XIV took the name Leo in honor of Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903). Why so? In 1891, Leo XIII wrote the encyclical, Rerum Novarum, that stated Capital and Labor must cooperate and there should be a just wage for workers. Leo also affirmed the rights of the poor, arguing for the obligations of the more fortunate toward them, and for the rights of workers to unionize. Leo wrote these words during a period of industrialization. In retrospect, Rerum Novarum was over a hundred years before its time,

Informed Comment

Juan Cole 2d ago

Protesting NYU’s Withholding of Degree over Gaza Protest http://dlvr.it/TKv1fv

Protesting NYU's Withholding of Degree over Gaza Protest

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association Letter to New York University concerning its decision to withhold the degree of graduating senior Logan Rozos and initiate disciplinary proceedings against him Linda G. Mills President, New York University office.president@nyu.edu Dear President Mills, Provost Dopico and Dean Rosner: We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern about the decision of New York University to withhold the diploma of graduating senior Logan Rozos and subject him to disciplinary action because of remarks he

Informed Comment

Juan Cole 2d ago

Trump isn’t even Trying to Hide the Racism Anymore http://dlvr.it/TKv1fN

Trump isn't even Trying to Hide the Racism Anymore

( Tomdispatch.com ) - On May 5th, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute held its annual fundraising gala. The event showcases the extraordinary imaginations of people who design exorbitant clothes and the gutsiness of those who dare (and can afford) to wear them. I’m dimly aware of this annual extravaganza because of my interest in knitting, spinning, and weaving — the crafts involved in turning fluff into yarn and yarn into cloth. Mind you, I have no flair for fashion myself. I could never carry off wearing the simplest of ballgowns and I’m way too short to

Informed Comment