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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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    Cubans Feel the Blow of US Sanctions

    In Havana, Cuba, the effects of sanctions imposed by the Trump administration have seeped their way into daily life: the long lines of cars outside gas stations, the dwindling stock on store shelves, the increasingly common apagones, or power outages. In early September 2019, Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel appeared on live television to address 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

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    Donald Trump and Elon Musk Invent the Wheel

    No one can claim that US president Donald Trump lacks empathy for at least some of the downtrodden. Interviewed by CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump responded to a question about Elon Musk. Given all that Musk has been through in recent times, Trump acknowledges that the poor fellow deserves the pity […] More

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    Putin Proposes, Trump Disposes

    In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin is proposing a new constitution. Meanwhile, in Washington, US President Donald Trump is disposing of the old constitution. The first is a demonstration of power meant to showcase the unity of the Russian political system behind a strong leader. The second is an act of desperation that reveals the […] More

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    How to Debate Confederate Symbols

    In a recent interview, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley talked about her decision to call for the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House after Dylann Roof killed nine black parishioners at Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June 2015. While the Confederate flag was not the only one […] More

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    The New York Times Sees Double

    The New York Times’ daring innovation of endorsing two candidates in the Democratic presidential primary has provoked a flurry of comments in the media. The verdict on The NYT’s verdict has been resoundingly negative. For many, it confirms that The New York Times has abandoned its presumed position of leadership. Some see it as a […] More

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    Evangelical Blues, or How Supporting Trump Discredits Christianity

    Now in the final year of his first — or only? — presidential term, Donald Trump is in trouble. Haunted time and again by new revelations of shady, if not criminal, behavior, and ridiculed by his political peers, even including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Trump is universally loathed — with few exceptions, Israel’s increasingly […] More