Section: World

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The end of the American century?

Tom Scott

Tomorrow, Americans may elect a fascist president. Tom Scott explores the disastrous impacts this would have on the world beyond the US. Last month the astute American commentator and expert on authoritarian kleptocracies Sarah Kendzior posted a hauntingly brilliant essay to her Substack. It included this memorable passage, which may well  prove – like much […]

“The stakes could not be higher. The future could not be clearer. America, it’s time to wake up—before it’s too late.”

Carly Marburger

It starts with a flicker, almost imperceptible—a creeping shadow stretching across the soul of a nation. Books burned quietly at first, pages curling to ash in bonfires of so-called “unpatriotic” ideas, just as they did nearly a century ago, when German citizens watched words by Hemingway, Einstein, Freud—voices of the free mind—disintegrate into smoke. And […]

The Spanish festival that celebrates ‘in-comers’.

Mike Zollo

Our first parallel text…which only really works on a PC! Translation of Beatriz Cebreros Baeza’s text by Mike Zollo. Seems to us that we would do well to copy this initiative to build the bonds of friendship across the nations. Let us know if you live somewhere this already happens! In the 14 years we […]

US election could cause fireworks in November

Eric Gates

When you wake up on the morning of 5 November, you can reasonably expect fireworks during the evening. This year, they may arrive somewhat earlier, if it turns out that the United States has just elected Donald Trump for a second spell as president. Add to the mix that the UK may also be in […]

Northern Lights, reindeer antlers and Tesla Taxis – this is Norway!

Anthea Bareham

“Did you see them? Aurora Borealis? The Northern Lights?” I hesitate: “Yes, and no.” “How does that work?” I will explain, but first things first. We don’t ‘do’ cruises, but we made an exception for this holiday, on the basis that to see the Norwegian fjords up close, you probably need to be on a […]

Ending the monstrous dance of death in Gaza

Molly Scott Cato

Hamas are winning in this latest appalling round of conflict in Israel-Palestine, whilst innocent Palestinians are losing their lives. Yes, their monstrous attacks on innocent civilians in southern Israel have been condemned by almost every country in the world, but they have surely reinforced their standing amongst extremists and bolstered their recruiting. What does a Hamas commander care […]

War in Gaza – letter to the editor

Editor-in-chief

Dear Editor, All war is terrible. For me, it’s all the worse when, in the face of human suffering, we stand by silently. As Bob Dylan said long ago, “Pretend that we do not see”. But then in this case, we know only too well that Gaza is under siege, with the debris and casualties […]

The Polish election – a fabulous ad for proportional representation

Anthea Simmons

Proportional representation delivers the right kind of Donald! “Poland won! Democracy won! We removed them from power! […] This is the end of bad times.” Donald Tusk, 15 Oct 2023 When we put out Tomasz Oryński’s piece setting out the significance of Sunday’s vote outcome for his country, we shared his anxiety about a further […]

Twitter goes to the dogs

Tom Scott

The social media platform has become a fully weaponised promotional tool for far-right content, toxic conspiracy theories and cryptocurrency scams. And Putin’s regime is loving it, writes Tom Scott.  Like millions of other Twitter users, I logged on to my account a couple of days ago to find that the familiar blue bird logo on […]

Qatar 2022 – polemic, politicisation and possibilities

Lucy-Ann Pope
world cup opening ceremony

“It’s the most controversial World Cup in history and a ball hasn’t even been kicked.” Ever since FIFA chose Qatar back in 2010, the smallest nation to have hosted football’s greatest competition has faced some big questions. From accusations of corruption in the bidding process to the treatment of migrant workers who built the stadiums, […]

The US midterms – what they mean and why they matter

Prana Simon

As US midterm election results are still coming in overnight, a myriad of thoughts/feelings are cascading in my brain right now…Did the democracy-defending Democratic party pull a rabbit out of hat throughout the US? I was imagining a decisive landslide, unlike the US mainstream and Murdoch-funded media. So many purple (mixed red Republican and blue […]

US gun and abortion laws are topsy- turvy

Jon Danzig

This is controversial, I know. I may have to take cover for posting this. However, in my view, some USA ‘rights’ are topsy-turvy.  There is the right to bear arms, under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Citizens have the right carry a gun that only has one mechanical function: to kill or maim. Consequently, […]

America the Beautiful

Tom Scott

O beautiful for RemingtonFor Smith & Wesson, ColtFor rapid-fire assault weaponFor barrel, stock and bolt America! America!God gave thy guns to theeTo spill the blood that spreads its floodFrom sea to shining sea! O beautiful for massacreSo swiftly carried outBy terrorist or teenagerBy godless or devout America! America!God gave thy guns to theeTo spill the […]

Winter is here

Tomasz Oryński
Locals standing up to Russian soldiers in Mariupol

Tomasz is our ‘resident’ Polish writer. We preserve his unique voice in this challenging, thought-provoking piece on the reality of Putin’s Russia and the implacability of evil. In the first days of this war I was really hoping it’s true, that this is just a madness of one man, that those poor boys were lied […]

Ukraine diary: reports from Poland and Ukraine. Latest news!

Editor-in-chief
Ukrainian flag

The partner of one of our readers has gone to Poland to help with the effort to rescue refugees from Ukraine. He’s a field/trauma medic with extensive experience having served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He had intended to go straight into Ukraine to join extraction efforts, but the attack on the Ukraine military base has […]

Nationalism and neo-Nazism in Ukraine: debunking the Russian propaganda

Mariam Naiem
Ukrainian sunflowers

As a Russian-speaking person of colour who was born and raised in Ukraine, I believe that I am in a position to speak on the issue of nationalism and neo-Nazism in Ukraine. To talk about Ukrainian nationalism, we first have to establish the context of the relationship between Ukraine and Russia. These are not just […]

What the Putins of this world want

Andrew Levi
Putin as a young man and now.

If we continue to delude ourselves about Putin’s agenda, we will reap the whirlwind. Andrew Levi explains why we have to face up to what drives Putin in this hard-hitting article. Clueless in Europe’s Chancelleries You’ve probably never heard of Lars Klingbeil. If you have, you know more about German politics than most. He’s a […]

Ukraine diaries: Lollet (96) and Una (79) – their story

Gordon Dingwall
Bombed building Mariupol

Yesterday (Wednesday 30 March) was an incredibly emotionally difficult day for me. My work partner and I were tasked to go to Lviv and extract two elderly people. We arrived in good time, without having to go through as many military road blocks. We checked into the aid centre and awaited our passengers. They were […]

Putin’s chaos-master and the war on Ukraine

Tom Scott
Putin and Surkov

Two recent articles by the Kremlin’s ‘grey cardinal‘, Vladislav Surkov, give disturbing insights into the thinking behind Russia’s aggression. If Putin has a soul, then Surkov is the engineer of that infernal machine. Joseph Stalin was in the habit of referring to writers as “the engineers of human souls”. A vital role, in the view […]

The paradox at the heart of capitalist growth

Jason Hickel
stockmarket price screen

There is an extraordinary paradox at the heart of capitalist growth in rich economies, which is important to understand. Here’s how it works: First, capital seeks to privatise and enclose key goods that we need in order to live – healthcare, housing, energy, transport, etc – making these things increasingly expensive for us to access. […]

War diary: a personal account from southern Ukraine

Julia Savva
Mural in Ukraine from 2014 conflict

Usually in this notebook, my favourite one, with coffee on the cover, I write fairy tales. However, a new tale about adorable, winged cats has been paused uncompleted. Now I am writing about the war. To this day we all think it’s a dream. A nightmare that is about to pass, you just have to […]

What are Russians thinking about Putin’s war, and why?

Tom Scott
Putin's eyes

“They slaughter and maim tens of thousands of men, and then they say prayers of thanksgiving for having slaughtered so many people (inflating the numbers) and proclaim victory, supposing that the more people slaughtered, the greater the merit. How does God look down and listen to them!“Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace Almost exactly 33 years […]

Ten years of the Tories’ hostile environment: Windrush victims, abandoned Afghans and mistreated Ukrainians

Sadie Parker
Meme of Gove and Patel

Already unpopular due to Brexit chaos, colossally corrupt covid contracts, ‘Partygate’, the raw sewage scandal and the cost-of-living crisis, our government is taking flak from all sides for its Kafkaesque response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis. Criticism is coming from the public, from a usually compliant press and even from some of its own back-bench […]