War

By Najmedin Meshkati, University of Southern California | – Russian forces occupy Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar. Russian and Ukrainian forces are fighting nearby, and shelling has damaged power and communication lines to the plant, prompting fears for the plant’s safety and evoking painful […]

slavery

Slavery and War are tightly Connected – but we had no Idea just how Much until we crunched the Data

The Conversation

By Monti Datta, University of Richmond; Angharad Smith, United Nations University and Kevin Bales, University of Nottingham | – Some 40 million people are enslaved around the world today, though estimates vary. Modern slavery takes many different forms, including child soldiers, sex trafficking and forced labor, and no country is immune. From cases of family […]

Natural Disasters

Shelling of Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant exposes multiple risks – a nuclear expert tells us what they are

The Conversation

By Ross Peel, King’s College London | – Shelling has recently intensified at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, raising international safety concerns. Ukrainian staff continue to operate the massive plant under strict control and stressful conditions. Both Russia and Ukraine are blaming one another for the continued attacks, and damage. Disinformation and fake news […]

Mass Extinction

Even a ‘limited’ Nuclear War would starve Hundreds of Millions of People, new Study Reveals

The Conversation

By Ryan Heneghan, Queensland University of Technology | – Even a relatively small nuclear war would create a worldwide food crisis lasting at least a decade in which hundreds of millions would starve, according to our new modelling published in Nature Food. In a nuclear war, bombs dropped on cities and industrial areas would start […]

Corruption

Trump may have Stolen Classified Nuclear Weapons Documents, but tried to Destroy Iran over its Civilian Program

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – According to the Washington Post, former president Donald Trump is suspected of having kept classified nuclear secrets at his Mar-a-Lago resort, provoking the dramatic FBI execution of a search warrant on Monday. So report the intrepid Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey, Perry Stein, and Shane Harris. Former government officials are not […]

Japan

The Unbearable Weight of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Where We Stand on August 6 and 9, 2022

H. Patricia Hynes

August 6 and 9 mark the 77th year since the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, annihilating instantly an estimated 170,000 women, men and children and sentencing tens of thousands more to eventual death from radiation poisoning and injuries. Article continues after bonus IC video United Nations Institute […]

Climate Crisis

The Enduring Tyranny of Oil: War, Inflation, and Soaring World Temperatures

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com ) – It may seem hard to believe, but only 15 years ago many of us were talking confidently about “peak oil” — the moment of maximum global oil output after which, with world reserves dwindling, its use would begin an irreversible decline. Then along came hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and the very […]

Displaced and Refugees

Starving Civilians is an ancient military Tactic, but today it’s a War Crime in Ukraine, Yemen, Tigray and elsewhere

The Conversation

By Tom Dannenbaum, Tufts University; Alex De Waal, Tufts University; and Daniel Maxwell, Tufts University | – A hideous contradiction is playing out in war-torn Ukraine. Thousands of Ukrainians are starving in cities besieged by Russian forces. Meanwhile, the country’s grain stores are bursting with food, and the government is begging for international assistance to […]