Tag: current affairs – international

Alfred McCoy: The Epic Struggle over the Epicenter of Global Power

Great Britain’s dominion over the oceans began with an historic naval triumph over a combined French-Spanish fleet off Spain’s Cape Trafalgar in 1805 and only ended when, in 1942, a British garrison of 80,000 men surrendered their seemingly impregnable naval bastion at Singapore to the Japanese — a defeat Winston Churchill called “the worst disaster and largest… Read More Alfred McCoy: The Epic Struggle over the Epicenter of Global Power

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LIZ THEOHARIS: Which Way America? Confronting Christian Nationalism in the Spirit of Desmond Tutu

Tomdispatch.com  – If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality – Archbishop Desmond Tutu    The world lost a great moral leader this Christmas… Read More LIZ THEOHARIS: Which Way America? Confronting Christian Nationalism in the Spirit of Desmond Tutu

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Edin Hajdarpasic: What use is fact-checking against fact-free politics?

Asking historians to dig deep into bluntly ahistorical political claims is like sending a scuba-diving team into a bathtub. But beyond fact-checking obviously false claims, of what use can professional historians be to society? In an age of denialism, one has to embrace history’s political potentials instead of reducing them to the task of safekeeping… Read More Edin Hajdarpasic: What use is fact-checking against fact-free politics?

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Increased repression and violence a sign of weakness, says Human Rights Watch

Increasingly repressive and violent acts against civilian protests by autocratic leaders and military regimes around the world are signs of their desperation and weakening grip on power, Human Rights Watch says in its annual assessment of human rights across the globe. In its world report 2022, the human rights organisation said autocratic leaders faced a significant… Read More Increased repression and violence a sign of weakness, says Human Rights Watch

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Patrick Wintour: Russia’s belief in Nato ‘betrayal’ – and why it matters today

The current confrontation between Russia and the west is fuelled by many grievances, but the greatest is the belief in Moscow that the west tricked the former Soviet Union by breaking promises made at the end of the cold war in 1989-1990 that Nato would not expand to the east. In his now famous 2007 speech… Read More Patrick Wintour: Russia’s belief in Nato ‘betrayal’ – and why it matters today

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Dozens of protesters and police dead amid Kazakhstan unrest: Chaos as Russian ‘peacekeepers’ arrive in country / As Kazakhstan burns over inequality, the elite’s wealth is safe and sound in London

Dozens of protesters and at least 12 police officers have died in ongoing violence in Kazakhstan, authorities have claimed, as “peacekeepers” from a Russian-led military alliance arrived in the country at the request of the embattled president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Witnesses in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, described scenes of chaos on Thursday, with government buildings being stormed or set… Read More Dozens of protesters and police dead amid Kazakhstan unrest: Chaos as Russian ‘peacekeepers’ arrive in country / As Kazakhstan burns over inequality, the elite’s wealth is safe and sound in London

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Michael Brenner: Lowering the Throne of America’s Delusion

The Afghan fiasco pales compared to the multi-dimensional tragedy created by the Iraq invasion and occupation. The scorecard: Hundreds of thousands dead, wounded, orphaned The fostering of sectarian blood-letting that institutionalizes the country’s political fragmentation. The massive destruction of economic infrastructure. The welding of ties between Shi’te majority governments in Iraq with Iran’s clerical regime… Read More Michael Brenner: Lowering the Throne of America’s Delusion

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Bruno Latour: The pandemic is a warning: we must take care of the earth, our only home

The climate crisis resembles a huge planetary lockdown, trapping humanity within an ever-deteriorating environment. There is a moment when a never-ending crisis turns into a way of life. This seems to be the case with the pandemic. If so, it’s wise to explore the permanent condition in which it has left us. One obvious lesson is… Read More Bruno Latour: The pandemic is a warning: we must take care of the earth, our only home

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