Tag: critical commentary

Sam Kriss: ‘Neoliberalism’ isn’t a left-wing insult but a monstrous political system of inequality

The One Word Guaranteed to Make the Corporate Pundit Class Squirm Neoliberalism is not particularly hard to define. It’s not only an ideology or a set of principles; it’s a system of practices, and an era, the one we’re living in now. What it means, over and above everything, is untrammeled ruling-class power, an end… Read More Sam Kriss: ‘Neoliberalism’ isn’t a left-wing insult but a monstrous political system of inequality

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Joe Biden, the National Security State, and Arms Sales

BY WILLIAM D. HARTUNG Here’s a seldom commented-upon reality of this century and this moment: the United States remains the number-one arms-exporting nation on the planet. Between 2017 and 2021, it grabbed 39% of the total global weapons market and there’s nothing new about that. It has, in fact, been the top arms dealer in every year but one for… Read More Joe Biden, the National Security State, and Arms Sales

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A matter of time

First posted Hiroshima Day, August 6, 2014 NB: This article was written for an edited volume on contemporary terrorism, more specifically, terror in the name of Hindutva. I disagree with the habit of approaching terrorism with a prefix, but nevertheless wrote it, in order precisely to make my point more explicitly. It was completed more than… Read More A matter of time

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The Political Prophet Harvard Didn’t Want

In our age of global conflict, István Hont is finally having his moment Danielle Charette and William Selinger In 2001 a dispute over hiring in Harvard’s government department briefly became national news. The faculty had voted unanimously to offer a tenured position to the historian István Hont (1947-2013), a specialist in Enlightenment political thought at King’s College,… Read More The Political Prophet Harvard Didn’t Want

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Paul Krugman warns of collapse of crypto institutions after FTX debacle

 Alex Henderson Right-wing libertarians and socially conservative MAGA Republicans disagree about many things, but one thing they do have in common is an affection for cryptocurrencies. It isn’t hard to find people on the right who are unapologetically bullish on cryptocurrencies. But one person who doesn’t share their enthusiasm is liberal economist and New York… Read More Paul Krugman warns of collapse of crypto institutions after FTX debacle

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Nationalism is the ideology of our age. No wonder the world is in crisis

Gordon Brown There is no longer such thing as the international community,” a prominent African leader recently complained to me, lamenting that this week’s G20 would, like September’s UN general assembly, October’s IMF-World Bank meetings and this month’s Cop27, fail to combat the world’s food, energy, debt, inflation, currency, pollution and poverty crises. At the very moment… Read More Nationalism is the ideology of our age. No wonder the world is in crisis

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End of nations: is there an alternative to countries?

First posted October 01, 2016 Debora Mackenzie Try, for a moment, to envisage a world without countries. Imagine a map not divided into neat, coloured patches, each with clear borders, governments, laws. Try to describe anything our society does – trade, travel, science, sport, maintaining peace and security – without mentioning countries. Try to describe… Read More End of nations: is there an alternative to countries?

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It could have been worse

George Blecher The red tide never surged but the re-election of numerous brazen careerists and hardline crazies is bad news for the next two years and beyond, particularly since the Democrats have little idea about how to oppose this new breed of politician. ‘It could have been worse.’ That was the prevailing sentiment among left-liberal… Read More It could have been worse

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The Illogic and Inanity of the Religious Right in India

S.K. Arun Murthi I wrote a short critical article a few weeks ago on the ideas of some ancient Indian schools of thought. My critique was aimed at revealing how such ideas are pseudoscientific and pseudo-philosophical and, therefore, incompatible with that of modern science (I had written this article in the context of ISRO co-hosting the ‘Akash… Read More The Illogic and Inanity of the Religious Right in India

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