Europe

Italy Coronavirus Deaths Pass 10,000: How Austerity and Anti-Immigrant Politics Created Europe’s Worst Crisis

( Foreign Policy in Focus) As the viral blitzkrieg rolls across one European border after another, it seems to have a particular enmity for Italy. The country’s death toll has passed China’s, and scenes from its hospitals look like something out of Dante’s imagination. Why? Italy has the fourth largest economy in the European Union, […]

Archaeology

In Ancient Greek Thought, Plagues Follow on Bad Leadership

Juan Cole

By Joel Christensen | – In the fifth century B.C., the playwright Sophocles begins “Oedipus Tyrannos” with the title character struggling to identify the cause of a plague striking his city, Thebes. (Spoiler alert: It’s his own bad leadership.) As someone who writes about early Greek poetry, I spend a lot of time thinking about […]

Bashar al-Assad

Millions of Homeless Syrian Refugees are Suffering Because of Russo-Turkish Rivalry

The Conversation

Juline Beaujouan, University of Edinburgh and Amjed Rasheed, Durham University The Syrian province of Idlib, the remaining holdout of rebels fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad, has experienced fierce fighting in recent months as the Syrian army, supported by Russia, has pushed to reclaim the territory. Meanwhile, the expansionist impulses of Turkish President Recep Tayyip […]

Featured

Behind the Turmoil: Russia Provoked Oil Price Fall to Protect its Markets from US Frackers, which could now Collapse

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Last weekend, OPEC Plus, an expanded cartel of petroleum exporters, considered a plan for members to cut back on their oil production so as to support prices in the face of a slowing world economy owing to the novel coronavirus. The Russian Federation rejected the plan put forward by OPEC, […]

Bashar al-Assad

Are Syria’s Social Media Meme Wars the Face of Modern Warfare?

Omar Ahmed

( Middle East Monitor) – Social media continues to influence our perception of conflicts around the world, though rapid updates around the clock on developments on the battlefield often hours before mainstream news picks it up, disseminating propaganda or spreading misinformation and fake news to the sharing of graphic content and the ugly brutality of […]

Pentagon

Assad and Putin have Waged Total Air War on Idlib’s Civilians, Learning from US Bombing of Iraq

Open Democracy

Paul Rogers | – ( OpenDemocracy.net) – The tactics of Syrian and Russian forces are unforgiveable – but scarcely different to what the US and its allies were doing just a few years ago. Around the world, people are watching the suffering of the people of Idlib with pity; their governments are alarmed at the […]

Featured

Russia backs Damascus as it closes Syrian Airspace, Threatens to down Turkish Jets

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Turkey shot down two Syrian fighter jets over Idlib province this weekend and Turkish drones and artillery took out armor on the ground, allegedly killing over a hundred Syrian troops, along with Lebanese Hizbullah fighters and Iran-supplied Shiite forces. Syria on Sunday announced that it was closing its air space […]

Russia

Turkey and Russia lock horns in Syria as fear of outright war escalates

The Conversation

By Mehmet Ozalp | – As the nine-year Syrian civil war enters its final turn, Turkey and Russia, long-time allies in Syria, are on the brink of war over the Syrian province of Idlib. Both sides are sending stern messages of warning as diplomacy to end the conflict has so far failed to de-escalate the […]

China

Maybe Try Friendship? Hatred and Enmity are bad Politics for America and a World in Crisis

Richard Penaskovic

We live in an era where animosity and even rage are the norm in the political arena. Both Democrats and Republicans are deeply divided in Congress so that little can be done legislatively. Correspondingly, millions of families are often split down the middle in terms of their political views with relatives divided among Democrats, Republicans […]