China’s Battery Exports Surge as War Drives Energy-Supply Crunch China’s lithium battery exports surged in the first quarter, reinforcing early signs of demand for alternative power sources to counter the global energy-supply crunch arising from the war in the Midd...

China won the war.

Lebanon: ICRC outraged by deadly strikes in densely populated areas The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is outraged by the devastating death and destruction in densely populated areas across Lebanon today following intensified military operations.

Difficult to describe how unusual it is for @icrc.org to speak publicly like this.

"Heavy explosive weapons with wide-area effects struck densely populated urban areas, including the capital Beirut, without effective advance warnings."

ICRC Outraged by Deadly Strikes in Densely Populated Areas

a man sitting at a desk with a box of boise paper in front of him ALT: a man sitting at a desk with a box of boise paper in front of him

I DECLARE CEASEFIRE!

The US-Iran ceasefire is better than a wider war. That doesn't make it a US victory The US-Iran ceasefire announced late on April 7 is being celebrated in Washington as a victory, and the relief at avoiding wider catastrophe is genuine. But declarations of victory deserve close scrut...

The US-Iran ceasefire is a relief, but let’s not mistake "avoiding catastrophe" for "strategic victory." From effectively ceding control of the Strait of Hormuz to depleting US missile stockpiles, the costs of this conflict are staggering. My latest for @piie.com.

www.piie.com/blogs/realti...

It's not a "ceasefire" like they aren't "trade deals." Neither exist in the legal, institutionalized sense of these actual things. Media coverage needs to reflect that. Calling it the thing is lazy, it actively misinforms the public, & it is basically spreading propaganda.

bsky.app/profile/mcop...

👇🎯 There is no plan for how to fund public universities w/o foreign graduate students, just as there is no plan for how to fund them w/o the illegal federal cuts being restored. But the public doesn't know there has been no loud public collective action from our leaders.

bsky.app/profile/mcop...

Israel Plots razing Iran, but it has 330K STEM graduates per Year Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - The Apartheid government of indicted war criminal Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has turned to using Gaza genocide-style tactics against Iran -- even while...

Israel Plots razing Iran, but it has 330K STEM graduates per Year www.juancole.com/2026/04/isra...

Trump Willing to End War on Iran without opening Hormuz Strait? Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - Trump has rep...

Trump Willing to End War on Iran without opening Hormuz Strait? www.juancole.com/2026/03/will...

China has been preparing for a global energy crisis for years. It is paying off now As other Asian economies race to conserve energy, China has huge reserves of oil and gas as well as alternative energy sources like wind and solar

50/ Every country in the world right now--jeez,we should have strategic buffers to last essentials for months; more homegrown energy! more electrification!

China got that msg after 2003 US invasion of Iraq. It is not paying off, it is planning, sciencing & acting
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Oil Reserves last for weeks; Solar Panels last for Decades By Andrew Blakers, Australian Nation...

Oil Reserves last for weeks; Solar Panels last for Decades www.juancole.com/2026/03/rese...

Malice is more like it.

The Dead and the Dying in Trump's American Gulag | Common Dreams A system of concentration camps is being built and it's time the nation reckon with this monstrosity before any more people are killed.

The Dead and the Dying in Trump's American Gulag www.commondreams.org/opinion/trum...

Nations Rush to Renewables, EVs in face of Iran Forever War Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - The energy crisis provoked by the world-historical US-Israeli war on Iran has set off a scramble throughout the world to replace petroleum and natural gas, as coun...

Nations Rush to Renewables, EVs in face of Iran Forever War www.juancole.com/2026/03/nati...

Apocalypse Now: The Great Battle of the Gas Fields and Looming World Hunger Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - The world changed for everyone on Thursday. The US was only predicted to grow 0.7% this year. It could well be that as of today, we have been tipped into recessio...

Apocalypse Now: The Great Battle of the Gas Fields and Looming World Hunger www.juancole.com/2026/03/apoc...

Immigrants Are Our Neighbors Fremont’s motto is “Where People Come First.” We are showing our commitment to this motto by asking you to sign a unity pledge to make sure that when we say people, this means all people– including ou...

I just signed a @theactionnetwork.bsky.social petition: Immigrants Are Our Neighbors. Sign here: actionnetwork.org/petitions/fr...

Cast behind Oscar-nominated Palestinian drama demand permanent ceasefire The cast of The Voice of Hind Rajab, which is nominated for Best International Film at the Academy Awards, shared their thoughts on a major political issue on the red carpet

Oscar-nominated, “The Voice of Hind Rajab" is up for best international feature film.

Trump barred Wesam Hamada, Hind’s mom and Motaz Malhees, an actor starring in the film, from entering the country due to their Palestinian citizenship.

This is the part of the “trust-in-media-is-declining” argument that many people miss. The media most Americans trusted in the 1960s? Outlets that encouraged their prejudices and confirmed their worldviews to the point of brazen lying. That’s neither informative nor healthy for democracy.

This Is What Fascist Politics Sounds Like in America Joshua Scheer When Donald Trump told a radio audience that there is “something wrong” with the “genetics” of Muslim immigrants, it did not land as an accidental slip, nor as one more improvisationa…

scheerpost.com/2026/03/14/t...

“Why is it that these apparently liberal democracies in the West are such incredibly violent warmongers?”

BREAKING: As many as 150 U.S. troops have been wounded in the war with Iran, according to sources familiar—far higher than the Pentagon’s publicly disclosed figure of just 8 seriously wounded troops. The true toll of this war is already far worse than the public has been told. (Reuters)

How To Stop Trump From Blowing Up The World Legislation to prevent any president from unilaterally causing a nuclear apocalypse is just sitting there in Congress. Seems like now is a good time to pass it.

Everyone should call their lawmakers to tell them to pass this bill. Right now.

Obviously, I’m under no illusion that this bill has an easy path — but I’m also under no illusion that trying to pass it is pointless. We’re talking about the prospect of a nuclear apocalypse.

So pass this on.

🌲

KC Airport evacuated potential threat. FBI on scene.

You will not convince me that this is not a plan to terrorize Americans.

The regime wants terrorism on US soil to cancel the election.

Warriors and Soldiers and the War in Iran Sandusky, Oh. (Special to Informed Comment) - In Greek lore, Achilles was said to be the quintessential warrior - valiant and fierce. In dispatching Hector outside the walls of Troy, Achilles did...

Warriors and Soldiers and the War in Iran www.juancole.com/2026/03/warr...

Pete Hegseth's murderous buffoonery, coming amid a lifetime in which he's betrayed everyone close to him and failed up from one disaster to the next, is a perfect example of how the appeal of Trumpism is that it creates a permission structure for people to openly be their worst selves

And there it is.

Why the Trump Administration's use of Legality in a Lawless Fashion, is worse than just Law-Breaking ( Tomdispatch.com ) - In response to his sentencing following his conviction on 34 felonies in May ...

Why the Trump Administration's use of Legality in a Lawless Fashion, is worse than just Law-Breaking www.juancole.com/2026/03/admi...

Republicans spend an incredible amount of time and energy finding new ways to obstruct justice and accountability. www.news5cleveland.com/news/politic...

the price of oil surging means you can burn your shein clothes, extract the oil, and make more money than you paid