International Politics and Economy

Russia announces its suspension from last Nuclear Arms Agreement with the US, escalating Nuclear Tension

By Nina Srinivasan Rathbun, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences | – (The Conversation) – After decades of progress on limiting the buildup of nuclear weapons, Russia’s war on Ukraine has prompted renewed nuclear tensions between Russia and the United States. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his annual State of the Nation […]

Displaced and Refugees

Amid Massive Natural Disaster, Turkey’s Erdogan Wields Censorship and Prepares for Dicey Polls

Global Voices

Written byCivic Media Observatory This story is part of Undertones, Global Voices’ Civic Media Observatory‘s newsletter. It features a summary of a year-long research on media ecosystems from Turkey and what we can expect in 2023. Whenever you click on a hyperlink in the text, you will see the narrative and media posts upholding it. […]

European Union

Ukraine war has exposed the Folly – and unintended Consequences – of ‘Armed Missionaries’

Ronald Suny

By Ronald Suny, University of Michigan | – ( The Conversation) – The evening before Russia invaded Ukraine, it seemed to many observers – me included – nearly unimaginable that Putin would carry through with weeks of a threatened military attack. As I wrote at the time, Putin is not as erratic or rash as […]

Far Right

Saudi-owned LIV Golf “Sportswashes” Rights Abuses

Human Rights Watch

By Leila Saad, Research Assistant | – ( Human Rights Watch ) – Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is attempting to “sportswash” the country’s egregious record of human rights violations through a new global golf tournament that begins later this month. The Saudi-funded LIV Golf’s 2023 tournament will kick off on February 24 in Mexico […]

Displaced and Refugees

Turkish President Erdoğan’s grip on Power threatened by devastating Earthquake

The Conversation

By Ahmet T. Kuru, San Diego State University | – The earthquake that struck Turkey on Feb. 6, 2023, is first and foremost a human tragedy, one that has taken the lives of at least 45,000 people to date. The disaster also has major implications for the country’s economy – the financial loss from the […]

Dissent

‘Radical Change Will Come’: Iranians Propose New Political System After Months Of Anti-Regime Protests

Golnaz Esfandiari

( RFE/ RL) – For months, antiestablishment protesters have called for the overthrow of Iran’s clerical regime and demanded greater social and political freedoms. Now, opposition figures and civil society groups inside Iran have shared proposals that would transform or even replace the current theocratic system with a democracy. The proposals for a post-Islamic-republic system […]

censorship

Keeping Resistance Alive during McCarthyism: Chandler Davis and Academic Freedom at the University of Michigan

Alan M. Wald

Alan Wald, Steve Batterson and Peggie Hollingsworth | University of Michigan | – Making Michigan lecture series – Keeping Resistance Alive “In 1954, Chandler Davis was called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. His fellows on the stand were his colleagues Mark Nickerson and Clement L. Markert, and his student friends Edward […]

African-Americans

Was Charles Austin Beard a Racist Historian?

Richard Drake

( Counterpunch ) – Controversy about Charles Austin Beard began in 1913 when he published An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. He turned thirty-nine that year. Until then, his books had appeared to widespread praise within the profession and to the benign neglect of the general reading public. A highly successful […]

Arms Sales

Merger Mania in the Military-Industrial Complex: Tackling Pentagon Waste Means Battling the Big Weapons Makers and Asking More of Congress

Tomdispatch

By Julia Gledhill and William D. Hartung | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – It’s early in the new Congress, but lawmakers are already hotly debating spending and debt levels. As they do so, they risk losing track of an important issue hiding in plain sight: massive Pentagon waste. At least in theory, combating such excess […]