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    The Countries Addicted to Coal

    Scott Morrison is the prime minister of Australia. Over the past few months, parts of his country have gone up in flames. Hundreds of homes have been lost in widespread bushfires, and a number of Australians have lost their lives in the inferno. Apparently, the catastrophe at home did not trouble the prime minister. He spent his vacation […] More

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    Was Qassem Soleimani a Bad Guy or a Martyr?

    When people live (and die) with a binary vision of the world, the same object may end up with two opposite meanings. This tends to be the norm in wartime, but the trend toward reducing everything to a binary opposition has increased radically in recent years, even in times of peace. The instinct to label […] More

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    What Next for Tehran and Trump?

    In the days since the January 3 assassination of Major General Qassem Suleimani, commander of Iran’s Quds Force, on the orders of US President Donald Trump, the world has anxiously waited to see whether, where and how Tehran would fulfill its pledge to wreak vengeance on the Americans. Thus far, Iran’s strategic response has been […] More

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    Who Is Targeting Journalists and Activists in Iraq?

    On December 22, 2019, the Independent High Commission for Human Rights of Iraq announced the assassination of 26 activists who participated in anti-government demonstrations that began on October 1. Half of the assassinations took place in the capital, Baghdad, and the rest in the country’s southern provinces. On December 10, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced that three […] More

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    America vs. China: An Ideological Choice

    China’s incredible rise as a global power over the past 30 years has really only been possible because of the liberal world order that America helped create, which Beijing used to its maximum advantage. China has embedded itself into the world order economically, diplomatically, technologically, in business and in so many other ways as a […] More

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    When Presence Becomes Absence in the Middle East

    History is constructed out of symbolic moments. As the year 2020 and a new decade begin, US President Donald Trump has provided the iconic gesture destined to ensure that future memories of both the year and the decade will be focused on his towering personality. How Will Iran Respond to the Assassination of Qassem Soleimani? […] More

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    Will the West Lose Guyana to the Chinese?

    Guyana, home to just 750,000 people, is about to leap from one of the poorest to one of the richest countries in the world. The financial predators are circling, led by the Chinese. Guyana‘s inexperience, incompetence and lack of Western interest will hand the Chinese a valuable prey. Oil discoveries off the coast of Guyana are […] More

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    India’s Citizenship Act Is About Vote Banks

    On December 15, 2019, the police of India’s capital state, Delhi, forcefully entered the campus of Jamia Millia Islamia, a premier university of higher education, to dispel peaceful protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). What happened next sent shockwaves throughout the nation. The police beat up protesters and innocent students, sparing none, including those […] More