Latin America

By Liberty Vittert | – This year, I was on the judging panel for the Royal Statistical Society’s International Statistic of the Decade. Much like Oxford English Dictionary’s “Word of the Year” competition, the international statistic is meant to capture the zeitgeist of this decade. The judging panel accepted nominations from the statistical community and […]

Brazil

Beef and Oil: Are Brazil’s Bolsonaro and Saudi’s MBS a Match Made in Heaven?

Tori Avila

By Vitoria Avila Fioravanti | – Sao Paulo (Special to Informed Comment) – Beef, oil and veiling and a murdered journalist have catapulted the burgeoning relationship between Brazil and the controversial Kingdom of Saudi Arabia into the headlines for the first time this fall, though the two countries have had formal diplomatic relations since 1968. […]

Displaced and Refugees

Trail of Tears: Refugees at Our Southern Border

H. Patricia Hynes

“There were many trails of tears all over North America of indigenous peoples who were forcibly removed by government forces. The indigenous peoples who are making their way up from the southern hemisphere are a continuation of the Trail of Tears.” – Joy Harjo (Informed Comment) – Children, families and caravans of brown-skinned people arriving […]

Climate Change

How climate change is driving emigration from Central America

The Conversation

By Miranda Cady Hallett | – Clouds of dust rose behind the wheels of the pickup truck as we hurtled over the back road in Palo Verde, El Salvador. When we got to the stone-paved part of the road, the driver slowed as the truck heaved up and down with the uneven terrain. Riding in […]

Brazil

Burning Down the House: Far Right Nihilism in US, UK & Brazil Menaces the Planet

John Feffer

By John Feffer | – (Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Far-right governments in the U.S., UK, and Brazil are laying bare their nihilistic roots and full destructive potential. Doesn’t idiocy ever take a vacation? As August wound down, the populist troika of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, and Jair Bolsonaro proved once again that the […]

Brazil

Climate Crisis: Panic as 74,000 Amazon Wildfires Plunge Sao Paulo into Darkness, Can be Seen from Space

Juan Cole

Rain forests aren’t supposed to be on fire

Brazil

We all Depend on the Amazon: Can the UN Stop Brazil’s Far-Right Bolsonaro from Completely Destroying It?

The Conversation

By Ash Murphy | – Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil is at its highest rate in a decade, according to new satellite data. This comes after president Jair Bolsonaro has loosened environmental regulations, cut enforcement budgets, and supported further development in the region. Tarcisio Schnaider / shutterstock Trees absorb carbon dioxide naturally, and […]

Israel/ Palestine

Resisting the Wall Industry, from Palestine to Mexico

Yes! Magazine

By Chung-Wha Hong | – (Yes! Magazine) – The institutions responsible for harming people operate across borders far more than most people realize, yet many groups are joining forces to gain strength. Embed from Getty ImagesGraffiti art on Seperation wall in West Bank: BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK – NOVEMBER 1 : Graffiti art is seen on […]

Colonialism

Great Powers in Latin America have Tried to Make Walls before: It didn’t End Well

The Conversation

By Alberto P. Marti | – Despite the US administration’s renewed interest in Cuba, including new travel restrictions, few have paid attention to a little-known, but telling, historical episode: the island’s 19th-century military “Trocha”. This massive fortified line was a Spanish attempt to contain the Cuban independence rebellion by splitting the island in half – […]