Hate speech: Weaponisation of social media in Ukraine war should push UN into creating a body to fight the crime
Online hate speech and disinformation have long incited violence, and sometimes mass atrocities. When this has happened in the Global South, from Ethiopia to Myanmar, much of the world has looked away. But the war in Ukraine means no one can now ignore how social media is being weaponised in...
Legislators in Florida vote to ban abortion after 15 weeks, set eyes on sexual orientation and culture wars
Florida legislators have voted to ban most abortions after 15 weeks – four months – of pregnancy, a move that would severely restrict access to the procedure in a state that for decades has been a refuge for women from across the South. The bill – modelled after a similar...
Recent telephone intercepts show US ‘elected’ anti-Putin regime in Kiev, now Russian tanks are having difficult time in Ukraine
Russia has over centuries gone to war with its neighbours. The latest adventure follows a history that goes back more than 10 centuries ago with varying outcomes. The currents Ukraine Crisis is rooted in the long running ideological rifts between capitalist and communist ideologies. Looking back, although only the Swedish...
Alternative view: Unlike the US, Russia has for centuries been in the eye of storms, hence its jingoism
Events in Ukraine are moving faster and faster. Dangers of economic paralysis in Ukraine and of wider war with Russia are very real. This essay will argue that we all need to notice our historical biases in perceiving and misperceiving events. My own bias is anti-war. Now is not the...
Geopolitics: Ukraine crisis is stern warning to US from Russia and China on shifting technology, military power balance
Even with annual defence budgets that soared over $700 billion, coping with an urgent Russian-generated crisis while preparing for a Chinese threat whose peak is still years away presents an enormous challenge for the Pentagon. “The United States is particularly at risk of being overwhelmed should its military be forced...
How US used Germany’s Nord Stream gas project to bait Russia into attacking Ukraine; Putin swallowed it hook, line and sinker
“The primordial interest of the United States, over which for centuries we have fought wars – the First, the Second and Cold Wars – has been the relationship between Germany and Russia. Because united there, they’re the only force that could threaten us. make sure that that doesn’t...
Beneath Ukraine Crisis there’s real fear German-Russia alliance will hasten the decline of superpower status America currently enjoys
The Ukrainian crisis has nothing to do with Ukraine. It’s about Germany and, in particular, a pipeline that connects Germany to Russia called Nord Stream 2. Washington sees the pipeline as a threat to its primacy in Europe and has tried to sabotage the project at every turn. Even so,...
Recolonising Africa: Russia tightens grip on continent’s natural resources with increased military presence
Russia has drawn the world’s attention with its aggressive stance toward Ukraine. The former Soviet power has been rebuilding ties with Africa more quietly, strengthening economic and military cooperation, but also raising Western concerns about its tactics and goals there. Russian flags waved in Burkina Faso’s capital following January’s military...
Analysis: Successes and apparent popularity of recent coups in Africa have set a precedent that may inspire copycats
On the evening of February 15, 2022, reports emerged that key police and military officials in Djibouti were put under house arrest, reportedly amid fears of a coup d’état. This was the latest in the string of successful and attempted coups in Africa – from Mali to Madagascar and Guinea...
Survey points to new trends in Africa where political power is inherited, ‘winner’ answers to powerful overlords
West Africa’s latest successful coup, in Burkina Faso on January 24 2022, has renewed unease about coups “returning” and democracies “dying” in Africa. The recent attempt in Guinea-Bissau, too, recalled the first decades after independence, when coups were rampant. By 2012, there had been over 200 coups and attempted coups...
