By Laurie Macfarlane | – ( OpenDemocracy.net ) – Last year will be remembered for many things, and let’s be honest: most of them will be bad. But amidst the hardship and suffering, there is a positive story to be told. 2020 was perhaps the first time in living memory when governments around the world […]
Republican Food: French President Macron nails his colours to the Mast of Islamophobia
By Chris Myant ( OpenDemocracy.net) – In the small Provençal town of Aups, where the local Catholic church declares République française: Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité [The French Republic: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity], above its main entrance, there is a plain and nondescript monument put up in 1881. Its plaque announces that it is there: A la memoire […]
Lebanon’s deadly blast: when corruption turned into carnage
By Walid el Houri | – ( OpenDemocracy) – On 4 August 2020, at 6pm the explosion at the Beirut port sent a destructive shockwave across a radius of more than 7 kilometres. The explosion was heard as far away as Cyprus, but it was felt across the whole world. It is hard to measure […]
Only one way out: a unitary state with equal rights in Palestine-Israel
By Ghada Karmi | – ( OpenDemocracy.net ) – Everyone who values democracy, justice and human decency should assist the Palestinians in achieving this goal. The Zionist project that established Israel in 1948 always had at its centre the aim of acquiring Palestine’s land without its native population. In the 72 years of Israel’s existence […]
Iran? N. Korea? If Trump needs a war to win in November, which enemy will he choose to wag the dog?
By Paul Rogers | – ( OpenDemocracy.net) – With the US presidential election less than four months away, Donald Trump trails Joe Biden in the polls by a substantial margin. His strategy as his ratings decline has been to concentrate on his core vote, which amounts to a little more than 30% of the population […]
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Palestinian Farmers Struggle against Annexation and the Pandemic
By Salena Fay Tramel | – ( Opendemocracy.net ) – It has not been an easy year for Palestinians, if there ever was such a thing. With the turn of a new decade in January, the U.S. administration unveiled the paradoxically branded “deal of the century” plan—calling for Israel to unilaterally annex about a third […]
Locked up with no escape: refugees and migrants in Libya face bombs,virus and everything in between
By Marwa Mohamed | – (openDemocracy.net) – Libya today is facing its greatest challenge to date. In spite of years of internal conflict, the country must gear up to fight a virus with a depleted healthcare system and a fractured state. While the situation is overall bleak, it remains exceptionally desperate for refugees and migrants […]
Assad and Putin have Waged Total Air War on Idlib’s Civilians, Learning from US Bombing of Iraq
Paul Rogers | – ( OpenDemocracy.net) – The tactics of Syrian and Russian forces are unforgiveable – but scarcely different to what the US and its allies were doing just a few years ago. Around the world, people are watching the suffering of the people of Idlib with pity; their governments are alarmed at the […]
Will Saudi Arabia ever End its Catastrophic War on Yemen?
By Helen Lackner | – ( OpenDemocracy.net ) – While Saudi Arabia seeks an exit from the Yemen war, it is deepening its involvement in the South instead. Last year saw some significant changes in Saudi strategy in Yemen. Following on the UAE departure, the new Deputy Defence Minister, Khalid bin Salman, the crown prince’s […]
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