Africa

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Reuters reports that at least nine US State Department officials had their smartphones hacked by Pegasus spyware, produced by the Israeli-government-backed NSO company. The officials were informed of the hacking of their iPhones by Apple, which is suing NSO, essentially for tortious interference. The State Department personnel were all either […]

Democracy

In Sudan’s new Revolt, Women and Youth will not settle for less than true Democracy

Open Democracy

By Nazik Awad | (OpenDemocracy.net) – Sudan’s coup on 25 October was both highly anticipated and inevitable. For three months, tension between the civilian and military partners that had ruled Sudan since the 2019 powersharing deal had been intensifying. After the 2019 revolution and the fall of former president Omar al-Bashir, political parties and civil […]

Africa

Dune – a prophetic tale about the environmental destruction wrought by the colonisation of Africa

The Conversation

By Oli Mould | – Director Denis Villeneuve’s most recent sci-fi epic is the latest attempt to tell the story of Frank Herbert’s acclaimed 1965 novel, Dune. The film is set millennia in the future when the galaxy is ruled by a class of family Houses. Each house battles for control over the most valuable […]

Democracy

The Sudanese people overthrew dictatorship in 2019; Can the Generals undo the Revolution?

The Conversation

By David E Kiwuwa | – This week the head of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, General Abdel Fattah El Burhan, declared the dissolution of the transitional council, which has been in place since the overthrow of former president Omar el-Bashir in 2019. He also disbanded all the structures that had been set up as part of […]

Africa

Abdulrazak Gurnah: what you need to know about the Nobel Prize winner for Literature

The Conversation

By Melanie Otto | – Abdulrazak Gurnah has been awarded the 2021 Nobel prize for literature. The Tanzanian novelist, who is based in the UK, was awarded the prize for his “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents”. Migration and […]

Authoritarianism

South Africa ‘Ungovernable’ after a former President was Jailed; Do Trump and Trumpism pose a similar danger to U.S.?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – After former South African President Jacob Zuma went to jail over corruption and contempt of court charges last week, his followers began a concerted attempt to disrupt the country. His lieutenants had threatened to make the country ungovernable if he was sent to jail, according to the BBC. Zuma refused […]

Africa

The Wealthy Countries are getting Past the Pandemic, but the Poor are in Catastrophe, which is a looming Catastrophe for the Wealthy

Tomdispatch

By Rajan Menon | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Fifteen months ago, the SARS-CoV-2 virus unleashed Covid-19. Since then, it’s killed more than 3.8 million people worldwide (and possibly many more). Finally, a return to normalcy seems likely for a distinct minority of the world’s people, those living mainly in the United States, Canada, the […]

Apartheid

Stop comparing Israel to Apartheid South Africa; it is worse

Thembisa Fakude

( Middle East Monitor ) – It is common these days to compare the institutional racism in Israel, and its occupation of Palestine, to Apartheid South Africa. Up to a point, it’s a reasonable comparison. Up to a point. For all its horrors and brutality, the apartheid regime in South Africa never used fighter jets […]

Joe Biden

Trump Admin was OK with Russia Expansion in Mideast, but Biden just Blocked a Putin Base in Sudan/Red Sea

Nikola Mikovic

Belgrade (Special to Informed Comment) – United States and Russia are fighting for influence in the northeast African country of Sudan. Although Moscow planned to open a naval base in Port Sudan – the main Sudanese trading port on the Red Sea—there are indications that Khartoum changed its decision to host a Russian military facility […]