I continue with my proposed project of writing a commentary on the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s translation of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. FitzGerald was more faithful to the unconventional poetry attributed to Omar Khayyam than is generally thought, but there were moments in his first edition where he drew on images from other […]
America may have invaded Iraq for its Oil, but Solar Power is what Iraqis now Want
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iraqi farmers, tired of high electricity bills and frequent blackouts, are turning to solar panels, according to Khalid Al-Mousuly at Reuters. Farmers need electricity to run water pumps for irrigation. It isn’t just the farmers. With nearly a gigawatt annually in solar panel imports, Iraq has emerged as the third-largest […]
Israel is Deliberately Starving Palestinians of Gaza as Part of a Genocide: Amnesty
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Amnesty International concluded this week that the Israeli government is using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, and that denying food to people is part of a genocidal campaign. Like Human Rights Watch and other human rights non-govermental organizations, Amnesty International is extremely cautious and only issued the […]
Now the New Year is Reviving old Desires: FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:4
The fourth quatrain in Edward FitzGerald’s 1859 first edition of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is: IV Now the New Year is reviving old Desires, The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, Where the WHITE HAND OF MOSES on the Bough Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires. اکنونکه جهانرا بخوشی دسترسیست هر زنده دلی […]
State of Climate: Earth Hottest on Record again, as CO2 still Climbs and Glaciers Wilt
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The American Meteorological Society has issued its annual climate report, this one summarizing changes in 2024 now that all the data is in. It paints an alarming picture, especially at a moment when Big Oil has taken over the US government via its Republican puppets and is spiking all our […]
Psychopathocracy 3.0
This essay was first published in January 2017. It seems even more prescient 8 and a half years later. At that time I could not have imagined that Trump would bring in psychopathic cronies like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel to destroy US AID and potentially kill 14 million people, more than died in World […]
Scientists prove Extensive Viking Silver Trade with Abbasid Empire from British Silver Hoard
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Northeastern England fell to the Vikings in 865, and they held it for several decades. They not only had what is now Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Durham but points south to the town of Bedale on the way to York. In 2012 archeologists found a silver and gold treasure hoard in Bedale […]
Trump to Xi: ‘Hold our Beer’ – EVs majority of Chinese New Car Sales, as Exports rocket 74%
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Car News China reports that in the first half of 2025, consumers in that country bought 10,891,000 passenger vehicles. But here’s the catch. They bought 5,458,000 EVs and 5,433,000 gasoline cars. Look carefully at those numbers. They bought more EVs than internal combustion engine cars. To be precise, 50.1% of […]
Cowardly Israeli Murder of 5 Journalists, including Anas al-Sharif, Smearing them as Hamas
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli state by now has a long and sanguinary history of murdering writers and journalists in cold blood. In 1972, Israeli commandos murdered novelist, painter and short story writer Ghassan Kanafani in Beirut with a car bomb — the weapon of choice for terrorists ever since — killing his […]
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