NB: A blurb for a book of philosophical essays asks if ours is the era of ‘faint-hearted’ philosophy, because we were/are not ‘able to bear the greatness, the immensity of the claims made by the human spirit.’ The ongoing ideological assault on the mind and the very soul of humanity point to the widespread failures… Read More Natalia Ginzburg: Our Monstrous Ideas
A plutonium-packed generator disappeared on one of the world’s highest mountains in a hush-hush mission the U.S. still won’t talk about. By Jeffrey Gettleman, Hari Kumar, Agnes Chang and Pablo Robles Photographs and videos by Atul Loke. – Dec. 13, 2025 The mission demanded the utmost secrecy. A team of American climbers, handpicked by the C.I.A. for their mountaineering skills —… Read More How Did the C.I.A. Lose a Nuclear Device?
This article was authored in June 2024. It appears in our fifth print issue, Contra Temps, available here Buber had written that for “political Zionism,” “the State is the goal and Zion a ‘myth’ that inflames the masses.” That propaganda employed to shore up nationalist militarism and settler-colonialism could leverage European guilt to “distort and exploit respectable… Read More Zionism Breaks
Earlier this year, Bangladesh asked Pakistan for a formal apology for the 1971 war crimes. But responsibility for the massacre of civilians does not rest with Pakistan alone. Ramesh Sharma’s latest documentary ‘Chronicles of the Forgotten Genocide’ looks at the role of the US in the violence that accompanied the birth of Bangladesh. The Emmy-nominated filmmaker… Read More The puppet-masters behind the Bangladesh genocide of 1971: Interview with Ramesh Sharma
Peace cannot be engineered on the basis of coercion. It requires justice, and justice is precisely what has been denied to Palestinians for generations – Rashid Khalidi In a region where peace has been promised and broken more times than history can count, optimism is a luxury few can afford. The latest proposal put forward… Read More Trump’s Gaza Plan Is Built on Sand: Why This Proposal Cannot Deliver Peace
United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Amnesty International has said Israel is “still committing genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, despite the ceasefire agreed last month.The fragile, US-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect on 10 October, after two years of war. “The ceasefire risks creating a dangerous illusion… Read More Israel still committing genocide in Gaza, Amnesty International says / Israeli forces shoot Palestinians dead after surrender
Donald Trump is using US power to insert himself into other countries’ affairs, treating them as vassals Steven Greenhouse For decades, president after president has sought to rid the US of its image as a bullying, imperialistic nation. But with his blustering, often brutish behavior toward other countries, Donald Trump has rapidly revived that notion. Under Trump,… Read More Brutish, bullying, imperialistic: the Ugly American is back
There can be no healing until the world stares into and acknowledges the void torn open by this conflict Orly Noy About two weeks after 7 October, I received a WhatsApp message from an acquaintance in Gaza. He asked me to check on his mother, who at that time was hospitalised in East Jerusalem. He had… Read More Disappearing people, disappearing morals – how two years has changed Gaza and Israel
By Dan Steinbock / Informed Comment New York (Special to Informed Comment) – In December 2022, Israeli Ministry of Energy launched the Fourth Offshore Bid Round offering new exploration licenses. A year later, it awarded licenses to several Israeli and international companies: Eni (Italy), Dana Petroleum (UK, a subsidiary of a South Korean company, and Ratio… Read More Whitewashing Gas Exploration in Post-Genocide Gaza
Rightwing politicians and pundits have called the soldiers accused of attack on Palestinian detainee ‘heroes’ and military investigators traitors. Her arrest and detention raises serious questions about the rule of law in Israel, accountability for abuse and killing of Palestinians during what a UN commission has called a genocidal war, and the country’s ability to defend… Read More Israel’s top military lawyer arrested after she admitted leaking video of soldiers’ abuse
After the truth-shower 