With its latest steps, America runs the risk of being branded as a nation genetically predisposed to harming the homeland of 165 million Bengalis, many of whom still vividly remember how President Richard Nixon aided their enemy, Pakistan, in pursuit of his secret ping pong diplomacy via Islamabad. The United States has stepped up efforts to push Bangladesh to join[Read More...]
York is a cathedral city in northern England, located at the junction of the Ouse and Foss rivers. It is home to two universities as well as a burgeoning ethnic population. In 2021, the city council adopted an anonymous motion expressing the City’s intention of being an anti-racist city. There is much to say about the motion’s process, procedure, and[Read More...]
by Walden Bello & Isabel Ortiz In recent years, the world has been shaken by protests. From the Arab Spring to the social uprisings in Chile and Latin America, the world has seen a dramatic rise in protests. In a polarized world, the COVID-19 pandemic has only accentuated feelings of outrage and discontent. New research brings evidence of this by analyzing nearly three[Read More...]
Donald Trump still struts on the American political scene. It seems probable that he will stand again for president in 2024. Here I consider one important aspect of his popular appeal – his ‘blue-collar’ image. In 2018 a book appeared entitled Trump, The Blue-Collar President. The author, financier Anthony Scaramucci, who served as the White House Director of Communications[Read More...]
Two important aspects of present-day world are increasingly clear. Firstly, while the need for closer unity of sincere social movements has always been there, but in the middle of increasing and to some extent unprecedented difficulties, the need for such unity has certainly increased further in recent times. Secondly, ironically, while this need for more unity has increased, at[Read More...]
Long banned, Christmas has finally, at least tacitly, arrived in Saudi Arabia; just don’t use the name in marketing or be ostentatious about your tree. Coffeeshops serving beverages in red cups with snowflakes on them are ok. So is the sale of soap bars named ‘Tis the Season and Vanilla Bean Noel. Christmas trees that sell at up to US$3,000[Read More...]
The 2021 presidential election in Chile has resulted in the victory of the Left candidate Gabriel Boric. With nearly 56% of the vote, he has won by a margin of more than 10 percentage points – most presidents had hitherto secured only four or five point leads. In absolute terms, this is a record majority, with some 4.6 million votes cast for[Read More...]
On Saturday, millions of people across the world will celebrate Christmas. Even with COVID-19 still plaguing the world, families will gather; bells will ring; music will be in the air. Each year, I use this column to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas has become a holiday, a time to exchange presents and cards, to see friends and[Read More...]
This is a different December. This December is far, far different from the Decembers of 1990 and 1991 and 1992. The difference is stark, as one goes through the statements and observations made by Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader. In a recent press meet Putin covered a lot of issues – from Ukraine to NATO to China. There’re messages in[Read More...]
A Japanese former politician who campaigned to bring billions of dollars of investment from some of Japan’s top companies to Myanmar has urged Japan to endorse its military regime, saying the nation’s coup leader has “grown fantastically as a human being,” while praising his “democratization efforts.” A Reuters report said: The 87-year-old former cabinet minister, Hideo Watanabe, is also pursuing[Read More...]
