Thousands of Vietnamese have waved red flags and sang patriotic songs as a grand military parade held in Ho Chi Minh City concluded Vietnam’s 50th anniversary celebrations of the end of war with the United States. Wednesday’s event commemorated the first act of the country’s reunification on April 30, 1975, when communist-run North Vietnam seized… Read More Vietnam celebrates 50th anniversary of victory against US imperialism
A year after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, had suspended a Dalit PhD scholar on the charge of “misconduct” and “anti-national activities” because he took part in a protest rally against the Narendra Modi government, the Supreme Court has given him relief. Though a two-judge bench of the apex court comprising Justices Dipankar… Read More Supreme Court Orders TISS to Reinstate Dalit PhD Scholar Suspended Over ‘Anti-National Activities’
Its impact on Pakistan’s citizens is an important issue, but not the only one. At stake are India’s water sharing agreements with Nepal and Bangladesh. Bharat Bhushan Despite public enthusiasm in India about the Indus Waters Treaty being held in abeyance, the move is strategically flawed, and will have adverse consequences for India in the region.… Read More Weaponising Indus Waters Treaty is a strategic mistake
For vast numbers of Americans, disproportionately young, the monstrous warfare overseen by Presidents Johnson and Nixon caused the scales to fall from their eyes about the character of U.S. leadership. And like President Donald Trump now, President Joe Biden showed that nice-sounding rhetoric could serve as a tidy cover story for choosing to enable nonstop horrors without… Read More How the Vietnam and Gaza Wars Shattered Young Illusions About US Leaders
Hagia Sophia was built as a church over a Roman temple, and was subsequently converted into a mosque and then a museum. Since 2020 it is used as a mosque once more By Ali Halit Diker, CNN Whether you’re a believer or not, visiting Hagia Sophia is a spiritual experience. The architectural genius of this… Read More Hagia Sophia: Secrets of the 1,600-year-old megastructure that has survived the collapse of empires
The myth that news coverage turned Americans against the war persists. In fact, it was largely complicit in perpetuating the conflict Norman Solomon The last helicopter liftoff from the roof of the American embassy in Saigon on 30 April 1975 marked the end of the Vietnam war. Fifty years later, mythology about US media coverage of… Read More The US left Vietnam 50 years ago today. The media hasn’t learned its lesson
She faced endless opposition and threats to her life. This has become a reality for far too many journalists Maxine Peake A woman places flowers in front of a portrait of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Moscow, 2009. Photograph: Pavel Golovkin/AP What drives someone to become a journalist? A good journalist, someone whose keyboard is a tool for exposing… Read More The incredible tale of Anna Politkovskaya has taught me one thing: I could never be that brave
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Gaza by the numbers: The UN Relief and Works Agency reports about the situation on the ground: The agency says that since the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unilaterally ended the Gaza ceasefire on the night of 17–18 March 2025, fighting has escalated sharply, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians,… Read More Juan Cole: Israel’s Gaza Atrocity by the Numbers
Hundreds of conscripted North Africans were sent to fight France’s war in Indochina — instead they found a new life in Southeast Asia NB: April 30 will be the 50th anniversary of the victory of the National Liberation Front of Vietnam. Along with Palestine, The Vietnam war was a defining episode for my generation and… Read More Vietnam’s Village of Moroccan Defectors
Rodrigo Nunes, a senior lecturer in political theory, explains how despite harsh economic conditions creating fertile ground for ‘entrepreneur culture’, resistance has sprung up among delivery drivers Rodrigo Nunes On 1 April, Brazilian couriers organised a day of action in which thousands of workers engaged in pickets and protests in at least 60 cities, with places… Read More A lesson from Brazil – where gig workers have rallied against the right
After the truth-shower 