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    America Needed Something to Smash

    In ordinary times, for the bulk of the American population, presidential election years resemble a period of deep moral sleep whose fitful dreams are stimulated by a media that plays a role not unlike that of the Freudian unconscious. It proposes various devices that include the tracing of candidates’ gaffes, the unveiling of reported scandals […] More

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    Three Scenarios for a Post-Coronavirus World

    As the COVID-19 crisis is gradually slowing down, the world is bracing itself for a very likely second wave of the pandemic. While the shortcomings of the global response and the preparedness of individual countries will be open for debate and analysis for a long time to come, attempting to forecast what architecture the international […] More

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    Joe Biden as the New Messiah

    In the guise of political reporting, Newsweek has produced a quasi-evangelical account of the new Democratic messiah, a man named Joseph, descended from the tribe of the Bidens. The author, Steve Friess, narrates the story of a man with an inspired vocation. The story begins as the soon-to-be-anointed prophet labors at bringing together his 12 […] More

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    How the Radical Right Is Appropriating Feminism

    In the United States, common narratives circulated by the radical right and right-wing extremists about the coronavirus pandemic include racist, anti-Asian stories of the virus’ origination, xenophobic calls to close all borders as well as “liberation” protests that argue that government shutdowns are meant to strip people of their rights and freedoms. Gender, a common […] More

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    Why America Should Vote by Mail This November

    Some 600,000 Wisconsinites, five polling stations. Do the math. For as long as I can remember, I eagerly watched my parents connect arrows, mark their votes and mail off their ballots. It seems seamless, but in many states, only once you request a ballot by mail can the at-home voting process proceed. Imagine thousands filing […] More

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    Trump’s Numbers Game Stops at One

    As the revolt was beginning to brew on streets across the nation on May 30, US President Donald Trump was celebrating the success of SpaceX’s launch of a manned mission to the international space station, the first time a private company has put human beings in space. Although it increasingly appears that Trump may come […] More

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    Can the US Help Central Asia Reclaim the Silk Road?

    Everyone likes a snappy pop-cultural title with which to approach international politics and strategy because it makes relatable what is often viewed as an opaque process of the elites. Rudyard Kipling’s “Great Game” was a chessboard and originally referred to the various schemes and posturing of the British and Russian empires throughout Central Asia, with […] More