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    To Heal, America Must End Policing

    The protests and riots happening across the length and breadth of America are challenging systemic racism and police brutality with an intensity not seen in recent times. There were protests after the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin. There were riots after the shooting of Michael Brown and the beating of Rodney […] More

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    COVID-19 Brings an Epidemic of “Othering”

    As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, health-care systems around the world are left strained. The outbreak continues to throttle the efficiency of many health-care sectors, pushing some to the brink. While deficiencies within public health systems are exposed, other viral enemies have come to the fore — racism, bigotry and xenophobia. The spike in discrimination cases […] More

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    Switzerland Confronts Its Role in the Slave Trade

    In a country rich in peculiarities, the Swiss city of Neuchâtel is a particular oddity. Today, Neuchâtel is the capital city of the eponymous canton, located in Romandy — the French-speaking region of Switzerland. This in itself is quite odd, given the fact that since the early 18th century, Neuchâtel belonged to Prussia. The city’s […] More

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    COVID-19 Contact Tracing: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing?

    As the world continues to grapple with the implications of the COVID-19 crisis, including mass infection and death, a global economic downturn and the stigmatization of minority communities, the rush to reopen and “get back to work” weighs hard on world leaders. Along with vaccine development, contact tracing has been touted as a necessary tool […] More

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    America Faces Its Past With Eyes Wide Open

    There seemed to be a lot more bright stars in the sky in recent weeks, even over Washington, DC. Then suddenly, as national “leaders” slept wrapped in a bubble of delusion while disease was taking its ghastly toll, a black man in Minneapolis, Minnesota, pleaded for another breath to the unyielding knee of a police […] More

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    Turkey Secures a Reprieve in Libya

    The announcement on June 4 that forces of Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) had regained full control of the capital, Tripoli, could be viewed as an apparent victory for Turkish foreign policy in the eastern Mediterranean. Renegade General Khalifa Haftar is in retreat, Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries are allegedly evacuating and a new […] More

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    If the Pandemic Is a “War,” Then India Needs to Spend More

    Many world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have drawn parallels between war and the coronavirus pandemic. So, should the frontline workers leading the response be called “warriors”? Health care workers, farmers, grocery store clerks, police officers, journalists and others who are toiling hard in this time of crisis deserve our utmost respect. Our enemy, […] More

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    Stained by Racism, America Will Never Be a True Soft Power

    The horrific killing of an unarmed African American man, George Floyd, at the hands of Minneapolis police officers late last month and the ensuing demonstrations and riots across the country provide a stark and hardly compelling backdrop to the US administration’s attempt to employ America’s unique soft power by vigorously accusing Iran, China and other […] More