Asia

By Jessica Genauer, Flinders University | – (The Conversation) – Sadly, 2023 has been a violent one on the global stage. War broke out between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, leading to the deaths of thousands of Palestinians and hundreds of Israelis, including many children on both sides. And the bitter war between Russia and […]

Christianity

A Merry Muslim Christmas from India’s Hyderabad, c. 1630: Jesus, the Dutch, and Diamonds

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The nativity of the Christ child is not solely an occasion of Christian spirituality, but has been celebrated through the ages by Muslim writers and painters, as well. As I have pointed out, the story of the Annunciation and the birth of Jesus is told in the Qur’an: Verses 19:17-35: […]

China

The US and China at Year’s End: Still Treading on the Precipice

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com) – This hasn’t exactly been a year of good news when it comes to our war-torn, beleaguered planet, but on November 15th, U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping took one small step back from the precipice. Until they talked in a mansion near San Francisco, it seemed as if their […]

India

The Israel-India-U.S. Triangle: Its Human Toll Will Be Incalculable

Tomdispatch

By Priti Gulati Cox and Stan Cox ( Tomdispatch.com) – In 1981, India’s post office issued a stamp showing the flags of India and occupied Palestine flying side by side above the phrase “Solidarity with the Palestinian people.” That now seems like ancient history. Today, Hindu nationalists are flying the flags of India and Israel […]

Cambodia

How War Criminal Kissinger paved the Way for a Genocidal Total War on Gaza’s Civilians

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Henry Kissinger’s death at 100 is an opportunity to consider the ways in which his lawlessness helped undermine International Humanitarian Law, the laws of war that responsible leaders attempted to erect to prevent the horrors of WW II from recurring. In his single-minded calculation of supposed “national” interest, which he […]

Arab World

The Gaza Conflict Opens up New Opportunities for China in the Middle East, Global South

The Conversation

Shaun Narine, St. Thomas University (Canada) | – (The Conversation) – The western world’s support for Israel as it attacks Gaza has provoked fury across the Arab world and much of the Global South. This situation undermines the West’s international standing and offers opportunities for China to enhance its regional and global diplomatic influence. Whether […]

China

Israel-Hamas Conflict puts China’s Strategy of ‘Balanced Diplomacy’ in the Middle East at Risk

The Conversation

By Andrew Latham, Macalester College | – On Oct. 30, 2023, reports began to circulate that Israel was missing from from the mapping services provided by Chinese tech companies Baidu and Alibaba, effectively signaling – or so some believed – that Beijing was siding with Hamas over Israel in the ongoing war. Within hours, Chinese […]

Afghanistan

A Reflexive Act of Military Revenge Burdened the US – and May do the Same for Israel

The Conversation

By Peter Mansoor, The Ohio State University | – In the wake of the shocking invasion of southern Israel by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to destroy Hamas. “We are fighting a cruel enemy, worse than ISIS,” Netanyahu proclaimed four days after the invasion, comparing Hamas with the […]

Artificial Intelligence

Swarms vs. Swarms: How Intelligent, Artificial or Otherwise, is any of This?

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com) – A war with China may not be inevitable, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks observed recently, but it’s a genuine possibility and so this country must be prepared to fight and win. But victory in such a conflict will not, she suggested, come easily. China enjoys an advantage in certain measures of […]