By Andrea Robbett and Peter Hans Matthews | – Politics can divide even friends and families. When this happens, we like to tell ourselves that the explanation lies in honest differences in values and preferences. From this standpoint, friends from different political parties won’t really disagree, for example, about the number of workers displaced in […]
Trump could win again (without cheating)
By J.M. Opal | – Liberal pundits often say that Donald Trump is on the wrong side of history. From this perspective, he’s a relic and a reactionary, a living reminder of all the skeletons in America’s closet. A Democratic victory in November thus feels inevitable, especially given Trump’s objectively awful handling of the pandemic. […]
Before the CIA Coup in 1953, the US and Iran had been old Friends
By Daniel Thomas Potts | – The British- and American-backed plot to overthrow Iran’s prime minister in 1953 laid the groundwork for the 1979 Iran hostage crisis and decades of hostility with the U.S. A documentary about the plot released on Aug. 19 offers new details of what happened. I believe it is worth recalling […]
Electric car sales are on the rise – is coronavirus a turning point for the market?
By James Carroll | – Lockdowns across Europe to curb the coronavirus pandemic drastically changed how we move around the world. Work-from-home restrictions, furlough schemes and job losses left millions of cars gathering dust in driveways. It is not surprising that the demand for new cars plummeted. In Germany – Europe’s largest car market – […]
Turkey-Greece conflict in eastern Mediterranean is less about gas than vaccuum left by Trump
By Clemens Hoffmann | – The worsening stand-off in the eastern Mediterranean, frequently described as a gas conflict, has been gaining momentum. Yet it is a strange time to be fighting over gas when prices remain in a slump due to weak demand and investors withdrawing. So what explains the escalating conflict between Turkey, Greece, […]
Black Lives Mattering: HBO’s ‘Lovecraft Country’ demonstrates that Racism is the True Horror
By Guy Stephen Webster | – Lovecraft Country, a new series from HBO adapted from the 2016 novel by Matt Ruff, takes a critical look at the legacy of the controversial but classic horror writer, HP Lovecraft. By doing so it also sheds a light on the mode of literature he famously pioneered: weird fiction. […]
Marriage of convenience: what does the historic Israel-UAE agreement mean for Middle East peace?
By Tony Walker | – The normalisation of diplomatic ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates has variously been described as a “breakthrough” and an important staging moment towards a comprehensive Middle East peace. These conclusions are, at best, premature. Normalisation of relations between Israel and an important Gulf state is a highly significant […]
Why did Biden pick Kamala Harris?
By Bryan Cranston | – Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has announced Kamala Harris as his running mate for the 2020 election — the first woman of colour to appear on a major party ticket. On the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment of the US constitution, which granted women the right […]
After the Beirut blast, the international community must stop propping up Lebanon’s broken political system
By Tamirace Fakhoury and John Nagle | – The finger of blame for the Beirut explosion is pointing at Lebanon’s corrupt and criminally negligent political leadership. Amid continuing protests, the government of prime minister Hassan Diab resigned on August 10, though ministers will stay on in a caretaker role until a new cabinet is formed. […]