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...
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...
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...
“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....
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...
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...
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...
America’s Never-Ending War in the Middle East
By Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett
While President Obama continues – at least for now – to resist redeploying large numbers of U.S. soldiers...
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...
Ukraine Recap: Russia Targets Civilians as the World Argues about How to End the...
By Jonathan Este
Ever since Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops across the border into Ukraine, the role of the UN as global problem solver has...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Delivering Aid During War Is Tricky − Here’s What to Know About What Gaza...
By Topher L. McDougal
The 2.2 million people who live in Gaza are facing economic isolation and experiencing incessant bombardment. Their supplies of essential resources, including food and water,...
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...
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...
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,...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Amazonia in Flames – Brazil’s Bolsonaro is a World Criminal – Encouraging Jungle Burning...
By Peter Koenig
On 28 October 2018, Jair Bolsonaro was elected President of Brazil with 55.1% of the vote – and with a gigantic help from...
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)...
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...
How Russia Is Fighting for Allies Among the Brics Countries Using ‘Memory Diplomacy’
By Jose Caballero
Since the start of the Ukraine war, there have been numerous diplomatic visits by Russian officials to Africa and Latin America aiming...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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”...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Anarchy in the USA: Five Years On, the Legacy of Occupy Wall Street and...
By Ruth Kinna, Alex Prichard and Thomas Swann
It was a turning point in the story of a new kind of democracy – and how...
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...
“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...
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....
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...
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”,...
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...
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 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...
Russia has Mobilized for War Many Times Before – Sometimes it Unified the Nation,...
By Eric Lohr
Vladimir Putin’s mobilization of 300,000 additional Russian soldiers to fight in Ukraine has gotten off to a rocky start.
Nominally aimed at calling up reserve...
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”...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 2016 Elections: “The Bad Losers” and What They Fear Losing
By Diana Johnstone
If the 2016 presidential campaign was a national disgrace, the reaction of the losers is an even more disgraceful spectacle. It seems...
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...
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...
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...
What The War In Ukraine Means For Business
By Paul Bracken
The war in Ukraine has far reaching implications for business. Companies will face more complicated political and social issues than the stark,...
Disinformation is Often Blamed for Swaying Elections – The Research Says Something Else
By Magda Osman
Many countries face general elections this year. Political campaigning will include misleading and even false information. Just days ago, it was reported that a robocall impersonating...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
What Does High Immigration Mean for the Government’s Popularity? What Data on Voting Habits...
By Paul Whiteley
The news from the Office of National Statistics that net migration reached a record high of 606,000 in 2022 is likely to...
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...
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...
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...
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...
China’s Population is Shrinking and Ageing. What can the Government do?
By Xiujian Peng
China’s population is about to decline and is also ageing rapidly, which will have a profound impact on China’s economy. However, well-designed...
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...
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...
Look to the Mainstream to Explain the Rise of the Far Right
By Aurelien Mondon
Javier Milei in Argentina. Geert Wilders in the Netherlands. These are the two latest “populist shocks” – the tip of the “populist...