In The News

Political Prisoners in Turkey: Al-Monitor

Diego Cupolo June 21, 2019
Since a 2016 coup attempt, the Erdogan regime in Turkey has been sensitive about any opposition, viewing valid criticism as a challenge to its policies and control. “Sixteen people are facing life imprisonment without parole for allegedly organizing and financing the 2013 Istanbul Gezi Park protests,” reports Diego Cupolo for Al-Monitor. “A 657-page indictment issued on Feb. 20 charged the...

Taking on Tehran: Project Syndicate

Richard N. Haass June 18, 2019
Iran has been public enemy number one for the Trump administration, with the United States withdrawing from the nuclear deal brokered by former President Barack Obama and imposing harsh sanctions. Iran’s oil exports and the economy as a whole is experiencing a harsh slowdown. Other nations abide by US policy, but the Iranian regime may outlast the US pressure due to its inimitable institutional...

Modi and India’s Muslims? Al Jazeera

Sudipto Mondal June 9, 2019
In the aftermath of his party’s convincing election victory, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tried to push the issue of decreasing inclusion and representation by the substantial Muslim minority to the spotlight. History shows that the rise of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, has led to increasing violence against Muslims in recent years. Muslim leaders do not trust Modi’s...

Protests in Hong Kong Over Extradition Bill: Vox

Eric Kleefeld June 9, 2019
Citizens of Hong Kong express alarm about the erosion of freedoms since the United Kingdom handed control of the city to the People’s Republic of China in 1997. Hundreds of thousands of people, as many as a million, wore white and marched to protest a bill allowing criminal extradition to China. The protesters called for resignation of the city’s chief executive who supports the bill. The march...

Sudan’s Protesters Expect Civilian Rule: Economist

June 3, 2019
Sudanese protestors have railed against internal turnover in government power, as in Awad Ibn Auf, former vice president and defense chief who briefly replaced the recently ousted Omar al-Bashir following his official resignation. Like his predecessor, Auf has long been the subject of international scrutiny for complicity in the genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region underway since 2003. “Faced with a...

The Mueller Statement

May 30, 2019
After release of the Mueller report in April, Donald Trump and his supporters insisted that the 400+ pages cleared him of collusion. Both branches of Congress continue investigations, while the White House resists subpoenas and interviews, maintaining the “case is closed.” So representatives are conflicted about whether to launch impeachment proceedings. Special Counsel Robert Mueller presented...

No Revolution in the EU: Deutsche Welle

Bernd Riegert May 28, 2019
The European Union is a mix of diverse nations, languages and political systems that integrated for trade, economic, social and security policies and remains fragmented, as shown by the 2019 European Parliament elections. More than 50 percent of the electorate voted and two thirds chose pro-European parties. Some of the far-right populist parties did well in individual nations like France, Italy...