Authoritarianism

By John Feffer | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – War has been pretty much a constant in human affairs. If you’ve managed to avoid direct contact with war for your entire life, you are extraordinarily lucky in world-historical terms. The Cold War that kept the peace across most of the Global North […]

Authoritarianism

Iran Must Release Prominent Anthropologist Fariba Adelkhah (MESA)

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom, Middle East Studies Association | – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, Head of the Judiciary Your Excellencies, We write on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) to express our grave dismay over the […]

Authoritarianism

How Zelenskyy emerged as the antithesis of Putin and proved you don’t need to be a strongman to be a great leader

The Conversation

By Michael Blake, University of Washington | – Whatever happens in the coming weeks, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will go down as the face of Ukrainian resilience during the Russian invasion of his country. His response to the Russian invasion of his country has been widely praised, both at home and abroad. His speech to the […]

Authoritarianism

The River of Refugees becomes a Flood as 84 Million flee War, Violence and Tyranny

Nick Turse

( Tomdispatch.com ) – We live on a planet in motion, a world of collision and drift. This was once an Earth of super-continents — Gondwana, Rodinia, Pangea. The eastern seaboard of the United States sidled up against West Africa, while Antarctica cozied up to the opposite side of the African continent. But nothing in […]

Authoritarianism

Trump knew of Capitol Breach when he Tweeted against Pence; had Conspired Criminally with Eastman: Jan 6 Committee

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The January 6 Select Committee in the House of Representatives showed its hand for the first time on Wednesday, alleging in a court filing that Donald J. Trump and attorney John Eastman formed a criminal conspiracy for the purpose of overthrowing the elected government of the United States. The Committee […]

Authoritarianism

Chekhov’s Pistol: or, Putin’s All-Encompassing Security State

Richard Foltz

Montreal (Special to Informed Comment) – Anton Chekhov famously advised young playwrights that “If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired.” For the past twenty years Vladimir Putin—a deeply paranoid megalomaniac who has by now completely isolated himself from his own […]

Authoritarianism

The Disloyalty to the United States of Trump and the Republican National Committee

Scott Corey

Berkeley, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment) – On February 4, the Republican National Committee voted to censure two party members. The charge was that investigating the January 6 attack on Congress is, “persecuting individuals engaged in legitimate political discourse that had nothing to do with the attack.” RNC thereby asserts that only the rioters are […]

Authoritarianism

The Terrifying World of 2025: The Coming MAGA Cultural Revolution?

John Feffer

( Tomdispatch.com ) – I’ve just wrapped up my shift at BurgerBoy and I don’t have much time before the weekly self-criticism session at town hall. This hour with my diary is precious, especially when I have to make a big decision. Writing used to be my job, but it’s so much more difficult after […]

Authoritarianism

Why isn’t US Media Screaming that the Republican Party Is Now Openly Against Democracy?

Peter Certo

( Otherwords.org ) – If you’re the sort of person who follows the news, you’ve probably heard a good bit lately about podcaster Joe Rogan, Neil Young’s fight with Spotify, and maybe a little about Russia and Ukraine. All that’s good grist for the mill. But did you also hear former President Trump admit that […]