The media isn’t conveying how serious the Taiwan situation is. China is willing to fight for the island — possibly with tactical nuclear weapons — and if war comes to the Taiwan Strait, the US has a high chance of losing.
Faced with the return of great power rivalry between the US and China and its own economic stagnation, the European Union seems as divided as ever.
In Russia, mounting authoritarianism and the wartime crackdown on dissent have hobbled trade unions. A five-day strike by food couriers showed that at least some workers are refusing to be muzzled.
In Germany, public discussion of Victory Day has mostly revolved around the ban on Russian officials attending commemorations. The dispute risks losing sight of the real history of World War II — and how relevant it remains in an era of growing far-right threats.
Almost a year into Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the state is cracking down ever harder on all signs of dissent. Today exiled or jailed, the Russians who spoke out against the war are key to rebuilding a peaceful, democratic society.
The anniversary of the Iraq War has led to widespread discussion of the US’s “mistaken” invasion. But the deeper problem is Washington’s continued claim to be judge, jury, and executioner for the rest of the world — bringing international law to its knees.
In the 1962 US-Soviet nuclear showdown over Cuba, there was no shortage of voices calling for escalation or decrying “appeasement.” But there was always broad support for the kind of talks that ended up saving the world — something frighteningly absent today.
In Russia, signs of opposition to the war in Ukraine haven’t developed into a mass movement. State repression has closed off the avenues of mass politics, forcing dissidents into mainly symbolic protests.
This past weekend’s attempted insurrection in Russia is a reminder of the self-defeating stupidity of Vladimir Putin’s invasion. It should also be a reminder of the profound dangers of attempting to carry out regime change.
Since Belarus’s disputed election, both President Alexander Lukashenko and the liberal opposition have recognized the importance of strike actions in deciding what happens next. But while there have been protests across Belarus’s major workplaces, a long-shackled labor movement faces an uphill struggle to advance a political agenda of its own.
After the Cold War, ideologues declared capitalism victorious. But war and far-right parties have once again returned to the continent. The root of this disorder lies in the neoliberalism of the 1990s and the defeat of the Left.
With all eyes on the war in Ukraine, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is planning a fresh invasion of northern Syria. For 70 years, Turkey has been a key NATO member — and NATO's backing for its aggression shows the alliance is no mere defense pact.
Vladimir Putin claims that he is “demilitarizing” Ukraine by invading it with tanks and bombs. In Moscow, ordinary Russians don’t understand what their government is planning — but they’re shocked by the assault on a neighboring country.
Figures like Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and US secretary of state Antony Blinken have tried to rewrite history to serve their own ends, often to equate Nazism and Communism. They exemplify the alarming trend of politically expedient distortions of history.
On Friday, Russia’s parliament passed a law threatening 15-year jail sentences for critics of the war on Ukraine — but on Sunday, thousands still took to the streets in protests. We spoke to Russian socialists about why they’re refusing to give in.
Israel has made no secret of it: it has embarked on a genocidal plan to “create conditions where life in Gaza becomes unsustainable.” And Joe Biden is its accomplice.
Most have never heard of Aleksandr Dugin or his obscure Traditionalist philosophy. But both have quietly become important influences on Russian politics over the past few decades.
Black Ribbon Day is also known as the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism. But this veneer of humanistic solicitude is a facade for historical distortion and antisemitic rhetoric, perpetuated by far-right movements across Eastern Europe.
Both US and Chinese leaders play down the prospects of a new Cold War — but they never sound convincing. Vast shifts in the world economy are driving a new imperialist rivalry, for which a series of regional wars are creating dangerous flash points.
The global economy is “efficient” alright: it efficiently funnels wealth to the top while leaving most of humanity behind.