Learning to Live in the World Instead of Ruling It
By John Grant
So how should Americans live in this new world? That’s the crossroads we’re at, the question at hand. Some advocate a very...
How to Defeat Western Neo-Colonialism
By Andre Vltchek
The West managed to build its wealth, including the social nets, on plunder, deception, slavery and countless holocausts on all continents of...
Failed Statebuilding versus Peace Formation: The Consequences and Implications over the Last 25 Years
By Oliver P. Richmond
Recent years have seen an abundance of foreign intervention to achieve peace and statebuilding. Below, Oliver Richmond discusses how statebuilding...
Durability before Democracy: Why Stability is Elusive in the Middle East
By Sean Yom
In this article Sean Yom discusses how the lack of permanence of Middle Eastern governments means that democracy is for the time...
The Delusions of Counterinsurgency
By David Martin Jones and Michael L.R. Smith
The theory and practice of counterinsurgency, ‘COIN’, preoccupied Western military thinking after 9/11. In the Political Impossibility...
Can the West Get Out of Its (Self-Made) Cul-de-Sac?
By Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett
In recent years, the limits on America’s ability to shape important outcomes in the Middle East unilaterally—or even...
America’s Iran Policy and the Undermining of International Order
By Flynt Leverett & Hillary Mann Leverett
Strategic competition between America and Iran will shape not only the Middle East’s balance of power, but also...
Duterte’s Global Impact
From the Editors
On 1st July 2016, Rodrigo Duterte will begin his term as the President of the Republic of the Philippines.
Mr Duterte has formidable...
The New Tyranny: A Preface to the 2016 Elections in the United States
By Timothy K. Kuhner
Democracy in the United States has been replaced by a rival form of government premised upon the power of wealth. Not...
Donald Trump is the Presidential Candidate the Republican Party Deserves
By Lawrence Ware
Republicans have had no problem using bigotry, often in subtle ways, to win elections. White supremacy is a well-established part of Republican...
How the Brexit Referendum was Trumped: Personality, Protest and Patriotism
By Glyn Atwal and Douglas Bryson
In this article, the authors contend the electioneering style of what they label “Trumpism” was distinctly manifested and a...
America at War with Itself
By Henry A. Giroux
As the United States has moved from a welfare to a warfare state, it has militarised every aspect of society. This...
Bigotry for Profit and “Fun:” Traversing the Wasteland of U.S. Election News
By Anthony DiMaggio
By now, many Americans are familiar with CBS President Les Moonves’ infamous comment that journalists’ sensationalistic fixation on the Donald Trump “circus”...
Donald Trump and the World: Five Challenges
By Simon Reich
The election is finally over. It has resulted in the most stunning political upset in the modern era.
But that is really...
How to Understand Syria’s “Proxy war” – And Who’s Fighting For Whom
By Simon Mabon
As another attempted ceasefire falls apart, the destruction of the Syrian people and state goes on. The country’s economy has been annihilated, and...
Japan’s Politics is Opening Up to Women, But Don’t Expect a Feminist Revolution Yet
By Emma Dalton and Mari Miura
Three women have in recent months been appointed to politically powerful positions in Japan. But even as seeing...
Revisiting The Anthropology of Trump: Ethnography and the Power of Culture
By Paul Stoller
Two days ago the election of Donald J Trump as our 45th President shocked millions of Americans. How could a man so...
Chosen Leaders, Proven Failures And Political Debacles – OpEd
By James Petras
The concepts, symbols and signs of the ruling class determine who will be the political “choices” for leaders and officials. Political elites...
After the Election: Don’t Panic, Think!
By Diana Johnstone
In 2016, the fundamentally undemocratic U.S. two-party system presented the public with the two most hated candidates in history. The choice was...
Lessons from the Vietnam War
By John Marciano
Forty years after the American war in Vietnam ended in 1975, the central and most critical issue is the “struggle for memory”,...
2016 Elections: The Political Process as a Mechanism of Control
By Vince Montes
This article examines the US political process and the duopoly party system within a vast array of state strategies and elite manipulation....
Enduring Gender Inequality in Politics: Where to from here?
By Emma Dalton
Women political leaders are no longer anomalies. But gender parity in politics is still a long way off. This paper considers why...
Trump’s War on Dangerous Memory and Critical Thought
By Henry A. Giroux
Trump’s election has unleashed a brand of savage capitalism that not only has and will continue to have horrible consequences, but...
North Korea – Killer Sanctions Imposed by the Foremost Institution of Peace and Justice...
By Peter Koenig
The United Nations was created to safeguard peace, justice, and security at a time when the “world was in ruins”. In this...
What the West Can Learn from the ASEAN Way
By Edgardo Angara
The rise of ASEAN shows how consensus-building, more than the rule of the majority, can help nations overcome religious and racial...
Identity Politics: Diversion from the Growing Economic Crisis?
By Ghada Chehade
Despite the reality of ever-increasing economic despair – including, and perhaps especially, for minorities – no one is willing to talk about class...
The Demise of Global Britain
By Graham Vanbergen
The almost universal collapse of British foreign policy could not have been timed any more accurately than right now – a time...
Hindu Nationalism and the Consolidation of Hate Politics in India
By Kalim Siddiqui
When we look back, since the demolition of the Babri Masjid a quarter of century ago, it seems a well-planned and well-thought...
Cuba – “The Equilibrium of the World” – and Economy of Resistance
By Peter Koenig
The Forth International Conference for “The Equilibrium of the World” took place in Havana., Cuba from 28 to 31 January 2019. The Conference,...
Sri Lanka – Candidate for a New NATO Base?
By Peter Koenig
Sri Lanka, Easter Sunday, 21 April 2019: More than half a dozen bomb blasts shook the country killing from 250 to...
APEC 2015: Change is in the Air
By Dan Steinbock
Despite diplomatic missteps, APEC 2015 could pave way to regional peace and development. The triangular perspectives of Washington, Beijing and Manila tell...
The Problems of Unfree Trade: Various Implications of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
By Binoy Kampmark
How free is the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Covering a region spanning 40 percent of the world’s GDP and 12 signatory states, an argument...
Failed Statebuilding versus Peace Formation: The Consequences and Implications over the Last 25 Years
By Oliver P. Richmond
Recent years have seen an abundance of foreign intervention to achieve peace and statebuilding. Below, Oliver Richmond discusses how statebuilding...
Saudi Arabia’s Yemen Offensive, Iran’s “Proxy” Strategy, and the Middle East’s New “Cold War”
By Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett
Riyadh’s war in Yemen marks a dramatic escalation in its efforts to roll back Iran’s rising influence in the Middle...
China Looks West: What Is at Stake in Beijing’s “New Silk Road” Project
Flynt Leverett, Hillary Mann Leverett and Wu Bingbing
Not even two years into what will almost certainly be a ten-year tenure as China’s president, Xi...
The Year of Iran: Tehran’s Challenge to American Hegemony in 2014
By Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett
In 1979, Iran shocked the world—and directly confronted America’s hegemonic ambitions in the Middle East—by charting its own...
“Without Haste But Without Pause”: Cuba-US Relations in the Age of Obama
By John M. Kirk and Stephen Kimber
This article analyses the significance of the March 2016 visit to Cuba by President Barack Obama, assesses changes...
Will Africa Feed China? “Begging with a Golden Bowl” Food Security and Commercial...
By Deborah Brautigam
In this excerpt from her book, ‘Will Africa Feed China?’, the author discusses China-Cameroon agricultural development and investment.
On November 17, 2005, Yang...
The China Model: A Civilizational-State Perspective
By Zhang Weiwei
China’s dramatic rise should be understood in the context of China as a civilizational state, i.e. an amalgam of the world’s oldest...
American Millennials and the World
By A. Trevor Thrall and Erik Goepner
The 9/11 attacks have been the defining event of the American millennial generation. The article discusses how American...
The Frighteningly High Human and Financial Costs of War
By Rami G Khouri
The ravages and costs of war can persist for generations after the fighting and bombing stop.
We have always known that war...
Loss and Damage of Climate Change – from Managing Risks to the Politics of...
By Swenja Surminski
With the passing of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, efforts to fight the changing climate’s causes and consequences have received increased...
Five Things That Explain Donald Trump’s Stunning Presidential Election Victory
By Anthony J. Gaughan
A populist wave that began with Brexit in June reached the United States in stunning fashion on Tuesday night. In one...
“Anti-Americanism” in the Philippines. President Duterte’s Subaltern Counter-Hegemony
By E. San Juan Jr.
Guerilla Incursions from the Boondocks
“A howling wilderness” was what General Jacob Smith ordered his troops to make of Samar, Philippines....
Assad Adviser Says We Are In A Time That Will Determine The Future Of...
By Brandon Turbeville
As the war in Syria continues to rage on, it is becoming more and more obvious that the battle taking place...
The Coming War on China
By John Pilger
When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfect impression...
The Iran Sanctions Act by US Congress – Versus the Multilateral Iran Accord
By Dan Steinbock
In a broad interview with Iran’s leading international news agency and international daily, Dr. Steinbock takes a critical look at the at...
Snowden – Just a Clever Ruse? Propaganda, Empire’s One of the Key Strategic Weapons
By Peter Koenig
This is not about Snowden, the movie. This is about Ed Snowden, the by now 33-year-old NSA whistleblower and hero for hundreds...
The Curse of Aleppo and Understanding the Syrian Civil War
By Simon Mabon
Five years have passed since the deadliest civil war of the 21st century began. Dr. Simon Mabon discusses what caused the uprising...
Life After Trump
By Boris Kagarlitsky
Trump’s election is not just a separate random episode of current politics. It is also not an indicator of American exceptionalism. It...
Unelectability, Sovereignty and Occupy
By Thomas Swann
Highly popular candidates such as Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn were deemed unelectable. In being described as unelectable, these politicians are being...
Democracy in Exile and the Curse of Totalitarianism
By Henry Giroux
With his white supremacist ideology and racist contempt for Muslims on full display, President Trump has issued an executive order banning all...
London, Manchester, Paris et al – State Terror on its own Citizens – Again...
By Peter Koenig
Are you still fantasising about justice, equality, and liberty? Peter Koenig elaborates on the understated claims of “False Flags”, the horrors of...
Venezuela – Confronting the Neoliberal Propaganda Media Machine
By Peter Koenig
Venezuela is arguably the only true democracy in the western world. In this article, Peter Koenig elaborates on the western world's “demonisation”...
Yemen – Appeal to President Putin
By Peter Koenig
Dear President Putin,
Yemen, a peaceful and extremely poor country is being slaughtered, literally slaughtered by the Saudis, with the full weapons, funding...
Brexit – How the British People were Hacked
By Graham Vanbergen
In today’s context, social engineering has now moved on – dramatically. It refers to the manipulation of people into performing actions they wouldn't normally...
Jerusalem – The Straw that Breaks the Empire’s Back?
By Peter Koenig
When President Trump on 6 December 2017 declared unilaterally Jerusalem as the capital of Israel to where the US Embassy shall...
North Korea – an Agent of Peace?
By Peter Koenig
The false alarm on a ballistic missile attack on Hawaii last Saturday from North Korea did not help the Peace Talks which...
Dogged by Charges of Racism Where is Trump’s Concern for American Workers?
By Kim Petersen
Hillary Clinton described half of Donald Trump’s base as “deplorables” holding racist attitudes. Indeed, many of Trump’s policies do negatively target people...
Facing the Shadow of Colonialism in Trump’s America
By Nozomi Hayase
From Muslim bans to attacks on LGBTQ communities and immigrants, the Trump presidency is regressing civil society with a colonial hierarchy. In...
The Dark Plight of Immigrants in the Racist Era of Trump
By Alvaro Huerta
This essay argues that President Donald J. Trump represents an existential threat to immigrants in the United States. Trump’s immigration rhetoric and...
Venezuela – Towards an Economy of Resistance
By Peter Koenig
The Government of Venezuela called an international Presidential Economic Advisory Commission, 14-16 June, 2018 – to debate the current foreign injected economic...
NATO – 70th Anniversary of the Most Murderous – and Legal – Organization on...
By Peter Koenig
On 4th of April 2019 NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) “celebrated” the 70th Anniversary of its murderous existence. This horror organization...
Iraq – Why Doesn’t the US Move Out Despite the Iraqi Parliament’s Decision?
By Peter Koenig
Why doesn't the U.S. respect the decision made by the Iraqi Parliament and move out of Iraqi territory? – The short answer...
The Story of Trump’s Perilous Iran Escalation
By Dan Steinbock
The Trump assassination of major general Qasem Soleimani reflects regime change efforts - withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal, new...
Is Europe Sleep-Walking into a Diplomatic Disaster with Iran?
By Dan Steinbock
Iran charges Brussels for serving US interests in the Middle East. The accusations are the net effect of Europe’s failure to protect...
The Covid-19 Global Pandemic: How Africa Should Respond
By Mills Soko and Mzukisi Qobo
Global Context
The coronavirus global pandemic has caused significant harm to the global economy. With two-thirds of the world’s population located in developing...
The Politics of Russian Extraditions
By Jasvinder Nakhwal and Rachel Cook
Russian assurances on prison conditions are highly topical and have been crucial to the UK courts’ decisions in recent...
New Poll: How many Britons believe in conspiracy theories?
By Dr. Rainer Zitelmann
Since the onset of the coronavirus crisis, conspiracy theories have been spreading almost as fast as the virus itself, especially on...
Conspiracy Theory – What Is It?
By Peter Koenig
Being blamed for disseminating “conspiracy theories” and therefore being a conspiracy theorist, is an extraordinarily and smart tactic used by the true...
Belarus – A Color Revolution of a Different Shade?
By Peter Koenig
Belarus in turmoil, after an election where the incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko – 25 years already in power (in office since 1994)...
Who is Kamala Harris, Joe Biden’s pick for vice president?
By Bryan Cranston
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has announced Kamala Harris as his running mate for the 2020 election — the first woman of colour to...
Venezuela – A Tribute for Her Endless Pursuit of Democracy
By Peter Koenig
Venezuela is again the shining light of Democracy – pushing ahead with the 6 December 2020 National Assembly (NA) elections – despite...
The Rise of the Chinese Economy and Growing Concerns in the United States
By Kalim Siddiqui
I. Introduction
The article discusses recent global economic changes and will largely focus on two of the worlds’ largest economies, namely China and...
Yemen – Prisoner Swap and What May be Behind it.
By Peter Koenig
Background
The fourth batch of Yemeni detainees has arrived the in Sana’a as part of the largest prisoner swap between the country’s warring...
As the World Watches US Election, the Appeal of America is Diminished
By Liam Kennedy
A US presidential election always draws intense worldwide interest, in part due to the spectacle, but also because the leadership of the...
Radical De-Globalization – Finding back our Freedom and Sovereignty: Tyrants don’t Create Tyranny. Your...
By Peter Koenig
Art is being applied to protests. As very well demonstrated in Germany the Netherlands and Denmark – see video “Lockstep” Protest Marches...
The Dark Forces behind American Insurrectionists
By Dr Dan Steinbock
On January 6, 2021, a mob of white supremacists stormed the U.S. Capitol, presumably to overturn Trump's defeat. Their final goal...
Post-inauguration, restoring the soul of Biden’s America must be truly inclusive
By Daniel McNeil
Over the past few months, I’ve been editing a book about soulful beliefs, practices and feelings that overflow from their religious and...
ICC debacles – and the Philippines
By Dr Dan Steinbock
After the Philippine withdrawal from the ICC, the battlelines against the Duterte government are politicized – and messy.
In the first half...
Vaccine Nationalism Is a Multilateral, Neocolonial Failure
By Dr. Dan Steinbock
In the coming months, vaccine nationalism is likely to compound COVID-19 economic damage and penalize more lives. It reflects the utter...
Making Sense of the Far-right March on the US Capitol
By Anthony A. Gabb, Ph.D.
The storming of the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021 by an angry far-right mob was an exigent distraction...
Flawed human information processing, magic pipers and our conscience
By Bernard Yeung
Fierce competition between dominant countries leads to accusatory narratives, creating intense but dysfunctional crowd emotions. Flawed human behaviour allows a big gap...
Playing Genocide Politics: The Zenz-Xinjiang Case
By Dr Dan Steinbock
Recently, the Trump and Biden administrations have initiated a genocide case against China. Like during the Cold War, some European leaders...
When “A Little Corruption” In Mexico Goes Too Far
By Duggan Flanakin
“Corruption is not a disagreeable characteristic of the Mexican political system: it is the system.”Gabriel Zaid, La Economia Presidencial
“It is widely known,” Mexican journalist Ricardo Ravelo wrote in...
Why politicians should be wary of publicly pursuing the Wuhan lab-leak investigation
By Maxime Lepoutre
The theory that SARS-CoV-2 originally leaked out of a laboratory in Wuhan, China, is making a comeback – so much so that President Joe...
Nigeria’s Twitter ban could backfire, hurting the economy and democracy
By Jeff Conroy-Krutz
bbetra.com
Nigeria’s decision to suspend Twitter indefinitely could backfire for the government and cost the country economically in terms of new investments into...
The Olympics strive for political neutrality. So, how will they deal with surging athlete...
By Dr. Michelle O’Shea, Dr. Daryl Adair, Hazel Maxwell, and Dr. Megan Stronach
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has long tried to insulate itself from...
The US withdraws from Afghanistan after 20 years of war: 4 questions about this...
By Mark R. Jacobson
Mark R. Jacobson, a foreign policy expert at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, served in Afghanistan as a reserve officer...
As Afghanistan falls, what does it mean for the Middle East?
By Tony Walker
In the 19th century, the phrase “The Great Game” was used to describe competition for power and influence in Afghanistan, and neighbouring...
COVID-19 Could Nudge Minds and Societies Towards Authoritarianism
By Leor Zmigrod
It is a little-known fact that humans have not one but two immune systems. The first, the biophysical immune system – the...
Yemen: Talks Between Saudi Arabia and Iran Offer Hopes for an End to Bitter...
By Simon Mabon
Recent statements from Iran and Saudi Arabia have provided hope that a pathway might be emerging to an end to the bitter...
Nobel for Obfuscation
By Dr. Dan Steinbock
Last weekend, Maria Ressa, CEO of Rappler, got a Nobel Peace prize for her “courageous fight for freedom of expression.” In...
Here are Some of the Political Events that Will Dominate Headlines in 2022
By Thomas Klassen
Last year started out hopeful with the emergence of COVID-19 vaccines, but quickly proved to be a challenging year for governments and...
Ukraine War: What Are The Risks That Russia Will Turn To Its Nuclear Arsenal?
By Mark Webber and Nicole Fasola
Is Russia now led by someone who would contemplate using nuclear weapons without any great concern? Over Ukraine, Vladimir Putin...
Help Ukraine Today – Save Europe’s Future!
On February 24, Russian troops invaded the territory of independent and free Ukraine and began bombing its cities. The attack took place in the...
Ukraine: Russian Opposition To The Invasion Is Giving Putin Cause For Alarm
By Ben Noble
Vladimir Putin’s military aggression against Ukraine is meeting more opposition from Ukrainians than he expected. The Russian president also saw widespread condemnation of his military’s...
Ukraine War: Evidence of Atrocities in Kyiv’s Suburbs Strengthens Case for a Harder Line...
orisbet
By Dr Anastasiia Kudlenko
When Ukraine learned on April 2 that the whole Kyiv region had been liberated from Russian troops, there was barely any...
Ukraine War: Sweden and Finland Eye the Nato Option, But It’s a Security Dilemma...
By Caroline Kennedy-Pipe and Afzal Ashraf
The Kremlin has issued an ominous warning to Nato about the consequences for the Baltic if it allows Sweden...
How Flawed Thinking Limits America’s National Industrial Strategy
By Robert D. Atkinson
The United States is one of the only developed nations without a national industry competitiveness strategy. Some of this failure stems...