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    The Tragedy of Joe Biden: The Power Behind the Power

    Expected to be the leading Democratic candidate for president, it has now been confirmed that, according to the nearly complete reported results, former Vice President Joe Biden has landed with a thud in a “distant fourth place.” For the past year, he had been cast in the role of the candidate pre-ordained by the party […] More

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    Testing America’s National Character

    I hope that Americans who want to believe in the promise of their nation have paid attention to the presidential impeachment trial. I hope that those in the international community still clinging to the hope that America will finally live up to its promise have paid attention to the presidential impeachment trial. We all know the […] More

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    With the Collapse of a Right-Wing Coalition, Has Norway Turned Its Populist Tide?

    The radical-right Progress Party (FRP) withdrew from Norway’s coalition government on January 20. This is a big defeat for FRP leader Siv Jensen, whose big ambition was to prove his party was koalitionsfähig, or “coalition capable.” After six years in government, the conflict between the populist radicals and the more moderate wing of the party […] More

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    Iowa Caucus: The Democratic Party’s Fine Art of Losing

    The world of presidential electoral politics in the US has, for some time, become the Superbowl of hyperreality. The day after the NFL Superbowl, without the slightest pause, the physical sport of American football yielded the spotlight to the political sport of the presidential primaries, which will be marked by a slow build-up to the […] More

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    Will 2020 Be Another Victory Year for Trump and Brexit?

    In early 2017, Europe’s far-right parliamentary bloc met in Koblenz, Germany, to plot its political future. The meeting of the bloc’s leaders — which included Marine le Pen from France, Matteo Salvini from Italy and Geert Wilders from the Netherlands — took place shortly after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump. The group was […] More

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    With Trump’s Peace Plan on the Table, Palestinians Face an Existential Decision

    Following President Donald Trump’s long-awaited unveiling of his “deal of the century” Middle East peace plan on January 28, the Palestinians now confront an existential moment: find a way to make it work or begin wrestling with how to accommodate a single state. The optics of Trump’s announcement ceremony said it all. A beaming Israeli […] More

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    Salvini May Have Lost Emilia Romagna, But the League Is Still on the Rise

    The regional election held in Emilia Romagna on January 26 was not simply a local affair. The election saw the incumbent governor, Stefano Bonaccini, of the center-left coalition’s Democratic Party (PD), take 51,4% of the vote — a win that will have far-reaching consequences in Italy and Europe. In the last weeks, Emilia Romagna was the […] More

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    Trump’s Farcical “Vision for Peace” in the Middle East

    The long-awaited “deal of the century” crafted by Jared Kushner and presented by his father-in-law, US President Donald Trump, finally saw the light of day on January 28. Playing the role of the most brazenly dishonest of “honest brokers,” Trump, accompanied by legally (and morally) troubled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, triumphantly announced his “win-win” […] More