By Michael Petterson | – Everyone is going on about reducing our carbon footprint, zero emissions, planting sustainable crops for biodiesel etc. Is it true what the internet posts say that a volcano eruption for a few weeks will make all our efforts null and void? The pretext to this question is understandable. The forces […]
Climate Crisis Stress is already Killing Us: this Chaos Map shows Where
By Aled Jones, Davide Natalini,Anglia Ruskin, and Imelda Phadtare | – Over 12 days at the start of October 2019 eight people were killed, more than 1,300 injured and nearly 1,200 arrested after demonstrations became violent in Ecuador. The demonstrations focused on reversing the ending of fuel subsidies, which had been brought in as part […]
No, Erdogan can’t send most of Turkey’s 3.7 mn Syrian Refugees into Kurdish Regions
By Shelley Inglis | – Turkey’s recent military incursion into northern Syria is aimed at weakening Syrian Kurdish forces along its border. Turkey believes those forces are linked to the insurgent Kurdish militia inside Turkey, whom Turkey and the U.S. have labeled terrorists. But that’s not the only goal. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s long-term […]
Given tensions with Erdogan, is it really Wise for the U.S. to Keep 50 Nuclear Bombs in Turkey?
By Miles A. Pomper | – As the Syrian crisis pits Turkish troops against former U.S.-allied Kurdish forces, Pentagon officials have been reviewing plans to remove 50 nuclear bombs stored at a U.S air base in Turkey. A congressional directive to the Pentagon to quickly assess alternative homes for U.S. “personnel and assets” currently stationed […]
Deportation to Syria could mean death for women, children and LGBTQ refugees in Turkey
Deina Abdelkader | – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan isn’t limiting his assault on neighboring Syria to attacking Kurdish troops that run the country’s northern region. He says the 3.6 million Syrians now living as war refugees in Turkey may also be returned “to their own homes” once northern Syria is wrenched from Kurdish control. […]
Will Tunisia’s Populist “Robocop” new President bring “Freedom and Dignity” or . . .?
By Mohamed Kerrou | – Kaïs Saïed has won Tunisia’s presidential election. This triumph came at the expense of the two forces that have dominated Tunisia’s political landscape since the 2011 revolution: Islamism and nationalist secular parties. Over the past eight years, these two movements failed to meet the urgent demands of the people, expressed […]
Tunisia Had Successful Democratic Elections, but can the New President face down the Political Elites
By Omar Safi | – The election of Kais Saied, a 61-year-old former law professor and political outsider, to the Tunisian presidency was not surprising: he represents the Tunisian ideal of how the ruling class should be. The size of the vote in his favour was impressive. He won 73% of the vote in the […]
By rejecting stereotypes, Slam and Ramy show us authentic Arab Muslim men on screen
By Sherene Idriss | – There is a long history of damaging stereotypes of Arab and Muslim men on screen. Because of this, audiences from culturally diverse migrant backgrounds understandably crave more positive representations of their ethnic and cultural communities. Two new screen productions – Ramy and Slam – tell stories embracing the complexity of […]
Syria: why the Kurds had little option but to do a deal with Bashar al-Assad
By Cengiz Gunes | – When the Syrian military withdrew from the Kurdish populated regions of Syria in July 2012, they left the Kurds in charge of their homeland, what they call Rojava. Without a backer and surrounded by many hostile states and militia, few people gave the Kurds any chance of survival. Despite the […]