Trump escalates tensions with Europe
Trump’s explosive interventions during his visit to Europe in mid-July – which included insulting German chancellor Angela Merkel during the NATO summit in Brussels and humiliating British prime minister Theresa May in an interview with Murdoch’s Sun newspaper – only confirm the widespread...CONTINUE READING
David Broder on Italy’s crisis
Can you give an overview of the current political situation in Italy? Two parties were the rising stars in this election. Firstly, the Five Star Movement, who claim to represent the ordinary citizen, not class interests, and to be neither left nor right. They rose from 25 to 32 percent. Th...CONTINUE READING
Trump and the system that built him
Life with Trump at the reins of the world’s biggest superpower feels like a series of nightmares; we jolt from one to another, but never wake. Last year he handed an enormous tax cut to big businesses and their owners. Now he wants to slash more than half of the funding from the food stamp...CONTINUE READING
US establishment rattled by socialist’s primary win
The victory of socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the Democratic Party primary in New York’s 14th Congressional District on 26 June has put the US political establishment in a spin. It is one of the biggest political upsets in recent US history. Her opponent was Joe Crowley, a 10-term c...CONTINUE READING
Australia is a master at peddling foreign influence
New “foreign influence” laws were passed by federal parliament on 28 June, along with increased police powers relating to espionage and sabotage of infrastructure. The laws purport to counter the pernicious effect of overseas countries, specifically China, on Australian democracy. “Media r...CONTINUE READING
Losing Santhia. The death of a Tiger and the fate of a nation, part one
Half a dozen young men, ex-cadres dedicated to national defence, sit on plastic chairs beneath the seven-storey Marian Shrine of Graha Maria Annai Velangkanni (Our Lady of Good Health), an imposing Indo-Mughal-styled Catholic temple in Medan, northern Sumatra. In turn, each bares his wound...CONTINUE READING
The $600 billion multinational tax scam
The big picture is easy to see. The world’s richest few are expanding their fortunes at the cost of the vast majority. The combined wealth of the world’s 2,754 billionaires increased by US$1.8 trillion – or 24 percent – in 2017, to US$9.2 trillion. The richest 1 percent now own as much as...CONTINUE READING
Global displacement at record highs
The number of the world’s forcibly displaced people reached a record 68.5 million at the end of 2017, according to a recent UNHCR report. That’s more than the total population of the United Kingdom. The rise is greater than global population growth, meaning that the persecution, war and vi...CONTINUE READING
Trump’s ‘fake order’ exposed as protests grow
In response to a massive public outcry against his policy of separating asylum seekers from their children, president Trump issued an executive order on 20 June to stop the practice. A victory? Not so fast. Trump’s order reaffirmed his “zero tolerance” policy requiring asylum seekers cross...CONTINUE READING