By Harriet Mercer, University of Cambridge | – The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)‘s sixth and latest report on the impact of global warming on our planet, published earlier this month, reiterates many of its predecessors’ warnings: chiefly that climate change threatens global disaster if we do not act to avert it. Yet it […]
Contemporary Muslim Artists continue to adapt Islamic Patterns to challenge Ideas about fixed Culture
By Soheila Kolahdouz Esfahani, Western University | – What is culture? In today’s globalized world, we are familiar with seeing various cultural objects and ornamentation outside of their original location or context. If culture is not fixed and bound to a particular location, how does culture move and transform? Ornamentation in Islamic art — patterned […]
Putin and Le Pen: The History of an Alliance between Russia and France’s far Right
By Marlene Laruelle, George Washington University | – Days before the second round of the French presidential elections, far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen (Rassemblement National, RN) spelled out some of her foreign policy priorities: limit military support to Ukraine and steer clear from voting new sanctions against Russia; leave NATO’s integrated command; and relaunch […]
Climate change triggering global Collapse in Insect Numbers: stressed Farmland shows 63% Decline
By Tim Newbold, UCL; and Charlie Outhwaite, UCL | – Insects are critical to the future of our planet. They help to keep pest species under control and break down dead material to release nutrients into the soil. Flying insects are also key pollinators of many major food crops, including fruits, spices and – importantly […]
Is it possible to heal the damage we have already done to the Earth?
Scott Denning | – Sometimes it may seem that humans have altered the Earth beyond repair. But our planet is an incredible system in which energy, water, carbon and so much else flows and nurtures life. It is about 4.5 billion years old and has been through enormous changes. Is it possible to heal the […]
The Rise of Russian Grievance Culture
By Gregory Carleton, Tufts University | – The range of anti-Russian measures taken by countries around the world since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is virtually unprecedented and hearkens back to the darkest days of the Cold War. They’ve assumed many forms but broadly include economic sanctions, military support for Ukraine and boycotts […]
Can President Biden Wage Economic war against Russian Aggression without Hurting US Economy?
By Gorana Grgić, University of Sydney | – Any sort of analysis that tries to draw lessons from an evolving event such as an ongoing major war is a potentially futile task. On the one hand, there is a fog of war that prevents us from understanding the tactical developments. On the other hand, the […]
Ukraine: Why Russian assault on Donbas will be Protracted and Bloody
By Frank Ledwidge, University of Portsmouth | – There will be no peace deals, no ceasefires and no surrenders in Ukraine. The next two months will bring what US defence officials have called “a knife fight” in the area the Ukrainian army call “The Joint Forces Operation” (JFO). We know this region better as Donbas. […]
How misreadings of the Christian Gospels fuel anti-Judaism and Ignore Jesus’ Jewishness
By Matthew Thiessen, McMaster University | – This year, Easter and Passover, holidays central to Christianity and Judaism, respectively, begin on the same weekend. This timing provides an ideal opportunity to address faulty and often dangerous misconceptions that have been part of Christian communities for nearly 2,000 years. The harmful belief that Christianity ‘replaced’ Judaism […]