A major shift in global relations has recently transpired. To some in America, it may look like the second coming of the Evil Empire. Too much of the rest of the world, it’s a welcome chance for a renewed multipolar order, where the sovereign desires of nations are respected and new collaborations can be established.… Read More Juan Cole: The Meaning of Historic China-Brokered Deal Between Saudi Arabia and Iran
An examination of the internet age suggests that we should cultivate the heresies of secrets and silence Stuart Jeffries During a commercial break in the 1984 Super Bowl, Apple broadcast an ad directed by Ridley Scott. Glum, grey workers sat in a vast grey hall listening to Big Brother’s declamations on a huge screen. Then a… Read More Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism & New Technologies of Power by Byung-Chul Han. Review (2017)
NB: Will George Bush & Tony Blair ever be held accountable for war crimes? DS We have a saying that captures the devastation of our country: ‘Saddam has gone, but 1,000 more Saddams have replaced him’ Balsam Mustafa Twenty years ago, around this time, the US-led military operation to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein’s… Read More We Iraqis had survived Saddam Hussein. It was the US invasion that destroyed our lives
Olga Chyzh A year into its war, Russia is not any closer to accomplishing its objectives in Ukraine. And yet, to the surprise of western observers, neither battlefield losses nor economic misfortunes have softened its initial demands of demilitarisation and regime change in Ukraine. If there is one thing that’s clear, even in the proverbial fog… Read More Putin enables the lifestyle of Russia’s elite – until they lose faith, there is little hope of peace
Macron uses special powers to force through plan Proposed changes to France’s pension system, which have provoked huge protests and strikes since the start of the year, were due to be voted on in parliament on Thursday, in a decisive moment for Emmanuel Macron. However, at the last moment he pulled the vote and used special… Read More Why are pensions such a political flashpoint in France?
Tobias Rupprecht Journal of Contemporary History: Vol. 51, No. 1, Special Section: The Dark Side of Transnationalism (January 2016) Numerous references to the Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet run through Soviet and Russian political discourse from the 1970s to the late 1990s. Official representations of Pinochet, a carefully constructed bogeyman of Soviet domestic and foreign… Read More Formula Pinochet: Chilean Lessons for Russian Liberal Reformers during the Soviet Collapse
The actions of the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha could impede the independent functioning of the parliamentary committees Bharat Bhushan Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and Vice President (VP) of India Jagdeep Dhankar has done something unusual. In an unprecedented move, he has appointed eight officers from his personal office to 12 parliamentary standing committees… Read More More than a referee? Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar prying on House committees
Without food sovereignty, private businesses will continue profiteering at the expense of the planet Davi Martins Imagine being able to provide food, shelter, medicine and clean drinking water for the 230 million most vulnerable people on Earth, and still having a cool $2bn in spare change. That’s the equivalent of the entire economic output of… Read More Food corporations paid shareholders $53.5bn while millions went hungry
Can patriotism be virtuous? Although philosophy has increasingly struggled to justify it on moral grounds in recent decades, patriotism remains a powerful source of self-identification and political participation. Simon Keller and Mitja Sardoč Mitja Sardoč: Despite its centrality in the pantheon of political ideals, patriotism remains a contested concept that continues to divide its advocates and… Read More The trouble with patriotism
How the US dollar shapes geopolitical power Herman Mark Schwartz What does the US dollar’s continued dominance in the global monetary and financial systems mean for geo-economic and geo-political power? In a recent article, Yakov Feygin and Dominik Leusder question whether the United States actually enjoys an “exorbitant privilege” from the global use of the USD… Read More The Dollar and Empire
