Democracy

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Whatever postures our country has projected to the world – shining city on a hill; leader of the free world; model of democracy; the indispensable nation; a rules-based order–all have crumbled like a house of cards. Our country’s failures, however, are deeper and older than the recent […]

Democracy

No Extermination without Representation: Election 2024

Farhang Jahanpour

Oxford (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – On Tuesday, the American people go to the polls in one of the most consequential elections for the United States and the world. Normally, outsiders should not interfere in other countries’ elections, although the United States has a habit of interfering in other countries’ elections, often overtly and […]

Democracy

Pennsylvania’s Undecideds: The 2024 Election Will Likely Turn on the Democrats’ Ground Game

Bob Dreyfuss

( Tomdispatch.com ) – If you’re like many of my friends, I know what you’re thinking: OMG, how is it even possible that half the country is going to vote for that guy? And there’s a slightly less common corollary to that: I mean, really, who are these people who say that they’re undecided? Who […]

Democracy

What’s at Stake in our Political Storm?

Andrea Mazzarino

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Images of homes that collapsed under mudslides or falling trees, waterlogged farms, and debris-filled roads drove home (yes, home!) to me recently the impact of Hurricane Helene on rural areas in the southeastern United States. That hurricane and the no-less-devastating Hurricane Milton that followed it only exacerbated already existing underlying problems […]

Donald Trump

Just how Traumatizing will Election 2024 Be?

Karen J. Greenberg

( Tomdispatch.com) – Imagine my surprise when, nearly eight months ago, commenting on the state of the country as it approached the 2024 presidential election, New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg noted that “Biden has set himself the task of trying to jolt the country out of its learned helplessness in the face of Trump’s […]

Democracy

Britain’s Labour beat the Right, but Must hasten to Win Public Trust and heal Rift with own Left

Farhang Jahanpour

Oxford (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Britain’s latest General Election held on 4th July was nothing short of a major political earthquake that put an end to 14 years of often tumultuous and chaotic Conservative rule. The Labor Party, led by Sir Keir Starmer, overturned a big Conservative majority of 80 seats in the […]

Elections

Amid Astonishing low Turnout, Iranians Mull Continuing Presidential Election Boycott in 2nd Round

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Kian Sharifi | – ( RFE/RL ) – More than 60 percent of Iran’s electorate did not vote in the June 28 presidential election, despite it being billed as an important poll given the role that the next president could play in the succession to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. With no candidate managing […]

Democracy

With Biden’s Bear Hug of Israeli Atrocities, World’s View of American Democracy Craters

Ramzy Baroud

( Middle East Monitor ) – The Democracy Perception Index (DPI) issued its 2024 report on 8 May, revealing important and interesting shifts in global perceptions about democracy, geopolitics and international relations. The conclusions in the report were based on the views of over 62,000 respondents from 53 countries, representing roughly 75 per cent of […]

Democracy

Secular Opposition Crushes pro-Islam AKP in Turkey’s Local Elections

Arzu Geybullayeva

( Globalvoices.org ) – Turkey’s local elections which took place on March 31, will go down in history as one of its most surprising. Turkey’s demoralized opposition, namely the [secular] Republican People’s Party (CHP), dominated in what many pundits described as the ruling [center-right] Justice and Development Party’s worst defeat of its 22-year existence. For […]