Trouble is brewing with Iran. How will the U.S. and others reply?

Tensions between Iran and the United States have been growing recently, irritating decades of pressure. Will damaged drones and tankers touch it all off?

Trouble brews between Iran and U.S.

Iran has shot down a drone operated by the United States, following weeks of rising tensions that include U.S.-led accusations that Iran has attacked several tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

Sure, both sides say they don’t want a war, but their actions have plenty of people worried. Both sides have a hawkish bend to them. The U.S. President tweeted that “Iran made a very big mistake!”, though he later softened his statement, implying that a rogue group of soldiers took action without a higher order. On Friday, the President abruptly canceled a military strike against Iran.

While Iran and the United States haven’t been friendly for decades, the genesis of the current upset took place less than five years ago. In 2015, the U.S. signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, along with the rest of the U.N. Security Council and the European Union. In this deal, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear weapons-building capacity in exchange for lifted sanctions.

In 2017, the U.S. withdrew from the agreement, citing unfair bias in favor of Iran. In November 2018, U.S. sanctions came back into effect.

The intention of this was to put added pressure onto Iran in order to more or less break its nuclear capabilities. However, now halfway through 2019, the opposite seems to have occurred. On Monday, Iran announced that it will no longer abide by the nuclear deal.

So far, it appears that all of Iran’s announcements and actions are meant as bargaining chips. Everything the nation has done so far is arguably reversible. Yet, while European leaders have attempted to work around American sanctions, the U.S. has threatened further penalties. Iran has little clout in this situation, beyond the threat of nuclear weapons and destabilizing forces within the country.

EPA gives coal companies a break

While scientists worldwide are ringing alarm bells over climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency seems more worried about economics. That’s because the EPA just released its new regulations for coal emissions, in a rollback of sweeping Obama-era legislation.

The new plan essentially allows states to set their own regulations for coal-fired power plants. Proponents say that Obama’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), first proposed in 2014, is an overreach for federal agencies. The White House has promoted this most recent deregulation as a form of energy “independence” from foreign powers. The new plan has been dubbed the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) plan.

Under the previous administration, the EPA conducted research showing that the CPP would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 32%, compared to 2005 levels. It was also set to reduce 3,600 premature deaths a year.

However, it’s worth noting that the CPP didn’t have much time to go info effect. Obama’s plan quickly came under attack after its debut, facing lawsuits from states and industry stalwarts. The Supreme Court put the CPP on hold in 2016, though some energy companies went ahead and began working towards regulations laid out in the plan.

Some Congresspeople attending the announcement event for ACE referred to a “war on coal”. Many lawmakers have referenced the impact of a sagging coal industry on their constituents, who face layoffs if coal operations cease. Yet, this form of energy has been on the downswing for decades. It’s at its lowest point in 40 years, thanks to cheaper natural gas and renewable energy. Whether loosened regulations will help coal along for a time remains to be seen, but its long-term future looks grim.

Juneteenth brings talk of reparations, but will we ever see anything done?

Juneteenth is a multifaceted holiday, to say the least. On one side, it celebrates the emancipation of African-American people from slavery, at least as it was declared in Texas on June 19, 1865. Yet, it’s also an occasion to take account of racial equity in the United States, and of the ways in which the U.S. still needs to make progress.

This year, as in many others, reparations were a prominent topic of conversation. Essentially, reparations are some form of compensation paid to descendants of African slaves who were trafficked in the American slave trade.

Proponents of reparations argue that, while slavery was officially abolished in the United States in 1865, its legacy has been felt for many generations since. African-American communities have faced rampant prejudice that still impacts their economic situation, hiring prospects, representation in government, and much more. That was part of the push behind the recent House hearings on reparations, held this week.

Not everyone is on board with the idea, though. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is against it, telling reporters “I don’t think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none of us currently living are responsible is a good idea.” It’s too complex, anyway, argued McConnell.

How would we determine who’s been affected by the legacy of slavery, and how should we determine the worth of that suffering? Anyway, said McConnell, we’ve fought a civil war to end slavery, we passed civil rights legislation, and we elected a black man as president. Isn’t that enough?

Looking at the subsequent election of Donald Trump to the same office, as well as eroding protections for voter rights – which happen to mainly protect African-American voters and other people of color – perhaps McConnell is mistaken. Or, less charitably, he doesn’t care to make moves that would inconvenience him, his party, or anyone who could take him out of power.

McConnell and others like him are looking closely enough. At least that’s the opinion of people like author and reporter Ta-Nehisi Coates, who testified in the House hearings this week. “For a century after the Civil War, Black people were subjected to a relentless campaign of terror,” he told listeners in the packed room. “Victims of that plunder are very much alive today.”

People also have a hard time agreeing on what reparations would look like. Should it be a payout, and nothing more? Would it be a comprehensive system that doesn’t merely compensate descendants, but attempts to right power imbalances, as envisioned by W.E.B. Du Bois? Will the conversation truly continue beyond this week?

President’s reelection bid goes live while Democrats duke it out for the nomination

Everyone in politics has been thinking about the 2020 elections for a while, but it’s only recently that anyone’s admitted to it. For Democratic hopefuls, the campaign announcements started relatively early and snowballed into a packed field. Things were congenial for a while, but now, with the first candidate debates quickly approaching, it’s getting tense.

Most recently, Joe Biden came under fire for saying that he missed the civility of interacting with segregationist politicians. His prospective opponents and their supporters naturally put out various statements claiming that they weren’t cool with racists, unlike a certain former Vice President. Biden has since said that his statements have been taken out of context, but it’s still a considerable blow before the first debate.

Meanwhile, the President announced his own reelection campaign this week at yet another political rally, now assuredly one of his most familiar and comforting public events. He denounced the “left-wing mob” that he maintains is busy attacking American values, while delivering little in the way of new policy or campaign promises. He spoke of his accomplishments in his first term and leaned into the specter of life under a Democratic president, in which dangerous immigrants have overrun the country and “Sleepy Joe” is in the Oval Office.

And, finally, your palate cleanser

Today is the summer solstice. For everyone in the northern hemisphere, it’s the longest day of the year and an occasion for celebration. Folks in the southern hemisphere will have to wait until December for their turn, as they’re in the midst of the shortest day of their year.

If you’re on the northern half of the planet, you’ve got a few ways to mark this occasion. Anyone in England with a patience for large crowds might head to Stonehenge, the ancient monument that perfectly frames the sunrise today. Anyone who can’t take part in person can luckily watch the whole thing from the comfort of their couch with a handy live stream. Very soon, you’ll also be able to check out Stonehenge any time through a live feed at the site.

There are a ton of traditions from a variety of cultures focused on the summer solstice. This also means that the history of humans at the solstice is complicated and, in a few places, a bit weird.

If you’re feeling somewhat more scientific, then check out the nuts and bolts of how a solstice works. Turns out that solstices as we experience them today aren’t exactly the longest days and nights ever in Earth’s history.