Subterms
A lot of attention is being paid to the profound impacts COVID-19 is having on the Chinese and global economy, steering us into uncharted waters with uncertain long-term consequences. Supply chain, trade, investment, lending and GDP impacts are readily measurable, but less attention is being paid to the political impacts the virus is having around […] More
After echoing a report leaked by The Washington Post a day before the Nevada caucuses claiming that an intelligence briefing a month earlier had informed members of Congress that Russia was once again interfering in US elections to get President Donald Trump reelected, CNN made an effort to find out what was behind the story. […] More
Recent developments in Turkish politics have left many baffled. More and more Kurdish parents in southeast Turkey are now rising up against the secessionist the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its political wing, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), to reclaim their children the PKK forcibly enlisted. At the same time, the main opposition, the secular […] More
After a week-long reduction in violence to test the Taliban’s ability to control their fighters on the ground in Afghanistan, the US and the Taliban signed their long-awaited peace agreement on February 29 in Qatar’s capital, Doha. The deal, officially titled the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan, was signed by the US envoy, Zalmay […] More
The New York Times editorial board weighs in with its ethical take on the news of the agreement with Taliban leaders to end the US military presence in Afghanistan. The newspaper’s editorial describes the peace deal as “a ticket out of Afghanistan for American troops who’ve been there far too long.” If the title wasn’t […] More
The bubonic plague pandemic — the Black Death — was arguably the greatest catastrophe to hit Western Europe in the Middle Ages, killing tens of millions of people or around a third of the continent’s population. The disease originated in the vast plains of central and eastern Asia, from where it was carried to the […] More
Donald Trump is all about boundaries. At a personal level, he doesn’t like touching strangers for fear of infection. Politically, he makes no long-lasting close alliances. And geopolitically, he obsesses over strong borders: big walls, more stringent immigration requirements, tariffs on foreign imports. But Trump is nothing if not a walking contradiction. For a guy who shies […] More
The spectacle of a televised presidential debate in the US throws little light on politics and does nothing to clarify issues of governance. Debates exist as specific moments of entertainment in a serial drama abusively called a “democratic election.” When candidates go slightly off script, they do, however, manage to reveal unexpected clues about the […] More
