Hajar Yazdiha, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences | – U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas is just the latest conservative lawmaker to misuse the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to judge a person on character and not race. In the protracted battle to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker […]
Top 6 Ways 2023 could be a Pivotal Year for Climate Action
By Wesley Morgan, Griffith University | – (The Conversation) – Many people think of the annual UN climate talks as talkfests which achieve only incremental change, at best. Activist Greta Thunberg has described them as “blah blah blah” moments – grossly inadequate and too often hijacked by fossil fuel producers who would like the world […]
Mad World: Global Flashpoints to watch in 2023 in the Era of ‘Polycrisis’
By Susan Harris Rimmer, Griffith University | – (The Conversation) – When 2022 began, there was trepidation about what might happen in at least ten regions. Topping most lists were concerns about tensions in Ukraine, Afghanistan and Ethiopia. What actually transpired in 2022 were some of the most shocking humanitarian scenes in modern history – […]
Iran Executions: the Role of the ‘Revolutionary Courts’ in breaching Human Rights
By Simon Rice, University of Sydney | – (The Conversation) – The Iranian government has attempted to brutally suppress the widespread protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022. Central to Iran’s response have been the country’s “revolutionary courts”. They have conducted heavily-criticised trials resulting in at least […]
Climate Crisis: We’re Seeing Alarming Changes in the entire Global Water Cycle
By Albert Van Dijk, Australian National University | – (The Conversation) – In 2022, a third La Niña year brought much rain to Australia and Southeast Asia and dry conditions to the other side of the Pacific. These patterns were expected, but behind these variations there are troubling signs the entire global water cycle is […]
Islamic paintings of the Prophet Muhammad are an important Piece of History – here’s why Art Historians teach them
By Christiane Gruber, University of Michigan | – Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, recently dismissed Erika López Prater, an adjunct faculty member, for showing two historical Islamic paintings of the Prophet Muhammad in her global survey of art history. Following complaints from some Muslim students, university administrators described such images as disrespectful and Islamophobic. […]
Christian Nationalism is downplayed in the Jan. 6 report and Collective Memory
By Joyce Dalsheim, University of North Carolina – Charlotte; and Gregory Starret, University of North Carolina – Charlotte | – (The Conversation) – When they entered the Senate chamber on Jan. 6, 2021, a group of insurgents stopped and bowed their heads in prayer to consecrate the building and their cause to Jesus. When the […]
Who will Help Rohingya Women and Demonstrate Global Leadership?
By Deeplina Banerjee, Western University | – The UN Security Council recently adopted its first resolution on Myanmar in more than seven decades. The resolution demanded an end to the violence and called on Myamnar’s military junta to release all political prisoners. In 2021, the military seized power in the country in a violent coup […]
Just How Big Can Wind Turbines get, as Some already Rival Skyscrapers?
By Simon Hogg, Durham University | – In 2023, some 100 miles off the coast of north-east England, the world’s largest wind turbines will start generating electricity. This first phase of the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm development uses General Electric’s Haliade X, a turbine that stands more than a quarter of a kilometre high […]