Articles by: Vijay Prashad

How The U.S. War on Taiwanese Semiconductors Might Benefit Japan

How The U.S. War on Taiwanese Semiconductors Might Benefit Japan

On May 15, 2023, Berkshire Hathaway reported in a Form 13F filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it had completed the sale of its $4 billion stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). This sale completed a process that began in February 2023, when Berkshire Hathaway announced that it sold 86 percent of its holdings in TSMC. In April, Berkshire Hathaway’s[Read More…]

by 25/05/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Japan Signals an Attitude Shift to the Growing Power of the Global South

Japan Signals an Attitude Shift to the Growing Power of the Global South

In mid-April, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs released its Diplomatic Bluebook 2023, its most important guidebook on international affairs. Japan’s foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, wrote the foreword, which begins: “The world is now at a turning point in history.” This phrase is key to understanding the Japanese approach to the war in Ukraine. Hours after Russian forces entered Ukraine, the[Read More…]

by 19/04/2023 Comments are Disabled World
The Long Arm of Washington Extends Into Africa’s Sahel

The Long Arm of Washington Extends Into Africa’s Sahel

On March 16, 2023, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced—during his visit to Niger—that the United States government will provide $150 million in aid to the Sahel region of Africa. This money, Blinken said, “will help provide life-saving support to refugees, asylum seekers, and others impacted by conflict and food insecurity in the region.” The next day, UNICEF issued a press[Read More…]

by 25/03/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Frankfurt City Council Undermines Human Rights by Canceling a Concert by Roger Waters

Frankfurt City Council Undermines Human Rights by Canceling a Concert by Roger Waters

by Vijay Prashad and Katie Halper After a highly acclaimed run in North America, Roger Waters will take his “This Is Not a Drill” tour across Europe. The long journey includes shows in Germany, with the final concert in the country originally planned to take place in Frankfurt on May 28. On February 24, however, Frankfurt’s city council and the Hessian state government announced the[Read More…]

by 11/03/2023 Comments are Disabled World
The Global South Refuses Pressure to Side With the West on Russia

The Global South Refuses Pressure to Side With the West on Russia

At the G20 meeting in Bengaluru, India, the United States arrived with a simple brief. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said at the February 2023 summit that the G20 countries must condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and they must adhere to U.S. sanctions against Russia. However, it became clear that India, the chair of the G20, was not willing to[Read More…]

by 25/02/2023 Comments are Disabled World
The French Are Going, But the War in the Sahel Continues

The French Are Going, But the War in the Sahel Continues

On February 9, 2023, around 100 armed men drove to Dembo, Burkina Faso, on motorcycles and in pickup trucks. They opened fire on a militia group called Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), which works with the Burkinabé military to protect the areas of northwest Burkina Faso near its border with Mali. These men killed seven members of the VDP. Three days[Read More…]

by 22/02/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Burkina Faso Ejects French Troops

Burkina Faso Ejects French Troops

On January 18, 2023, the government of Burkina Faso made a decision to ask the French military forces to depart from the country within a month. This decision was made by the government of Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who staged the second coup of 2022 in Burkina Faso in September to remove Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who had seized power in a coup d’état[Read More…]

by 26/01/2023 Comments are Disabled World
The Brazilian Hard Right Are Already a Political Cliché

The Brazilian Hard Right Are Already a Political Cliché

On January 8, 2023, large crowds of people—dressed in colors of the Brazilian flag—descended on the country’s capital, Brasília. They invaded the federal building and Supreme Court and vandalized public property. This attack by the rioters had been widely expected since the invaders had been planning “weekend demonstrations” for days on social media. On January 1, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (known as[Read More…]

by 11/01/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Which Government Does the United States Recognize in Venezuela?

Which Government Does the United States Recognize in Venezuela?

On January 3, 2023, Shaun Tandon of Agence France-Presse asked U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price about Venezuela. In late December, the Venezuelan opposition after a fractious debate decided to dissolve the “interim government” led by Juan Guaidó. From 2019 onward, the U.S. government recognized Guaidó as the “interim president of Venezuela.” With the end of Guaidó’s administration, Tandon asked if “the United States still recognize[s] Juan Guaidó as legitimate[Read More…]

by 07/01/2023 Comments are Disabled World
South Africans Are Fighting for Crumbs: A Conversation With Trade Union Leader Irvin Jim

South Africans Are Fighting for Crumbs: A Conversation With Trade Union Leader Irvin Jim

by Vijay Prashad and Zoe Alexandra In mid-December, the African National Congress (ANC) held its national conference where South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa was reelected as leader of his party, which means that he will lead the ANC into the 2024 general elections. A few delegates at the Johannesburg Expo Center in Nasrec, Gauteng—where the party conference was held—shouted at Ramaphosa asking him[Read More…]

by 23/12/2022 Comments are Disabled World
The U.S. Egged on the Coup in Peru

The U.S. Egged on the Coup in Peru

by Vijay Prashad and José Carlos Llerena Robles On December 7, 2022, Pedro Castillo sat in his office on what would be the last day of his presidency of Peru. His lawyers went over spreadsheets that showed Castillo would triumph over a motion in Congress to remove him. This was going to be the third time that Castillo faced a challenge from[Read More…]

by 14/12/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Is Russia Really the Reason Why Mali Continues to Push France Away?

Is Russia Really the Reason Why Mali Continues to Push France Away?

On November 21, 2022, Mali’s interim Prime Minister Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga posted a statement on social media to say that Mali has decided “to ban, with immediate effect, all activities carried out by NGOs operating in Mali with funding or material or technical support from France.” A few days before this statement, the French government cut official development assistance (ODA)[Read More…]

by 30/11/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Lula Must Save Brazil From Savage Capitalism, Says Federal Deputy Juliana Cardoso

Lula Must Save Brazil From Savage Capitalism, Says Federal Deputy Juliana Cardoso

by Vijay Prashad and Zoe Alexandra Juliana Cardoso is sitting in her office in front of a lavender, orange, and yellow mandala that was made for her. She has been a member of São Paulo’s city council since 2008. On October 2, 2022, as a candidate for the Workers Party (PT), Cardoso won a seat in Brazil’s lower house, the[Read More…]

by 11/11/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Japan’s Discomfort in the New Cold War

Japan’s Discomfort in the New Cold War

In early December 2021, Japan’s Self-Defense Force joined the U.S. armed forces for Resolute Dragon 2021, which the U.S. Marines called the “largest bilateral training exercise of the year.” Major General Jay Bargeron of the U.S. 3rd Marine Division said at the start of the exercise that the United States is “ready to fight and win if called upon.” Resolute Dragon 2022 followed[Read More…]

by 08/11/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Guinea’s Plight Lays Bare the Greed of Foreign Mining Companies in the Sahel

Guinea’s Plight Lays Bare the Greed of Foreign Mining Companies in the Sahel

On October 20, 2022, in Guinea, a protest organized by the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC) took place. The protesters demanded the ruling military government (the National Committee of Reconciliation and Development, or CNRD) release political detainees and sought to establish a framework for a return to civilian rule. They were met with violent security forces, and in[Read More…]

by 29/10/2022 Comments are Disabled World
The West Must Stop Blocking Negotiations Between Ukraine and Russia

The West Must Stop Blocking Negotiations Between Ukraine and Russia

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. This war has been horrendous, though it does not compare with the terrible destruction wrought by the U.S. bombardment of Iraq (“shock and awe”) in 2003. In the Gomel region of Belarus that borders Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian diplomats met on February 28 to begin negotiations toward a ceasefire. These talks fell apart. Then, in early March, the two[Read More…]

by 25/10/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Charting the Rise of Anti-French Sentiment Across Northern Africa

Charting the Rise of Anti-French Sentiment Across Northern Africa

In November 2021, a French military convoy was making its way to Mali while passing through Burkina Faso and Niger. It did not get very far. It was stopped in Téra, Niger, and before that at several points in Burkina Faso (in Bobo-Dioulasso and Kaya as well as in Ouagadougou, the country’s capital). Two civilians were killed as a result of clashes[Read More…]

by 18/10/2022 Comments are Disabled World
How Cuba Is Dealing With the Devastation of Hurricane Ian

How Cuba Is Dealing With the Devastation of Hurricane Ian

by Vijay Prashad and Manolo De Los Santos On September 27, 2022, a tropical cyclone—Hurricane Ian—struck Cuba’s western province of Pinar del Río. Sustained winds of around 125 miles per hour lingered over Cuba for more than eight hours, bringing down trees and power lines, and causing damage not seen during previous tropical cyclones. The hurricane then lingered over the warm waters of[Read More…]

by 05/10/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Four Straight Years of Nonstop Street Protest in Haiti

Four Straight Years of Nonstop Street Protest in Haiti

A cycle of protests began in Haiti in July 2018, and—despite the pandemic—has carried on since then. The core reason for the protest in 2018 was that in March of that year the government of Venezuela—due to the illegal sanctions imposed by the United States—could no longer ship discounted oil to Haiti through the PetroCaribe scheme. Fuel prices soared by up to 50 percent. On August 14,[Read More…]

by 28/09/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Will the Samarkand Spirit Revive the Word ‘Mutual’ in World Affairs?

Will the Samarkand Spirit Revive the Word ‘Mutual’ in World Affairs?

In mid-September 2022, the nine-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) met in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, for its 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State. Because China, India, and Pakistan are members of the SCO, the organization represents about 40 percent of the world’s population; with the addition of Russia, the SCO countries make up 60 percent of the Eurasian territory (the other member states[Read More…]

by 21/09/2022 Comments are Disabled World
The Roar of a U.S. Warplane Over a Civilian Irish Airport

The Roar of a U.S. Warplane Over a Civilian Irish Airport

“This is not a regular airport,” Margaretta D’Arcy said to me as we heard a C-130T Hercules prepare to take off from Shannon Airport in Ireland after 3 p.m. on September 11, 2022. That enormous U.S. Navy aircraft (registration number 16-4762) had flown in from Sigonella, a U.S. Naval Air Station in Italy. A few minutes earlier, a U.S. Navy[Read More…]

by 17/09/2022 Comments are Disabled World
The Most Important Election in the Americas Is in Brazil

The Most Important Election in the Americas Is in Brazil

Former Brazilian President Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva (known as Lula) runs about on stage at the Latin America Memorial in São Paulo. He was there on August 22, 2022, speaking at a book launch featuring photographs by Ricardo Stuckert about Lula’s trips around the world when he was the president of Brazil from 2003 to 2010. Lula is a[Read More…]

by 01/09/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Why Lithium Power Politics Are Playing Out Very Differently in Chile and Bolivia

Why Lithium Power Politics Are Playing Out Very Differently in Chile and Bolivia

by Vijay Prashad and Taroa Zúñiga Silva In late July, a large sinkhole appeared near the town of Tierra Amarilla in Chile’s Copiapó province in the Atacama salt flat. The crater, which has a diameter of more than 100 feet, emerged in one of Chile’s most lucrative regions for copper and lithium extraction. The nearby Candelaria mining complex—80 percent of the property is owned by Canada’s Lundin Mining Corporation and[Read More…]

by 19/08/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Sanctions Fuel the Fire at Cuba’s Matanzas Oil Storage

Sanctions Fuel the Fire at Cuba’s Matanzas Oil Storage

by Vijay Prashad and Manolo De Los Santos On August 5, a major oil storage facility in Matanzas, Cuba, 65 miles east of Havana, was hit by lightning. A tank that contained 25,000 cubic meters of crude oil caught fire after being struck. Since then, an enormous fire has been raging in Matanzas. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Ávalos Jorge, deputy head of Cuba’s[Read More…]

by 11/08/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Chile’s Lithium Provides Profit to the Billionaires But Exhausts the Land and the People

Chile’s Lithium Provides Profit to the Billionaires But Exhausts the Land and the People

by Vijay Prashad and Taroa Zúñiga Silva The Atacama salt flat in northern Chile, which stretches 1,200 square miles, is the largest source of lithium in the world. We are standing on a bluff, looking over la gran fosa, the great pit that sits at the southern end of the flat, which is shielded from public view. It is where the[Read More…]

by 30/07/2022 Comments are Disabled World
How Cuba Is Eradicating Child Mortality and Banishing the Diseases of the Poor

How Cuba Is Eradicating Child Mortality and Banishing the Diseases of the Poor

by Vijay Prashad & Manolo De Los Santos To move from 59 infant deaths out of every 1,000 live births to no infant deaths in the matter of a few decades is an extraordinary feat. Palpite, Cuba, is just a few miles away from Playa Girón, along the Bay of Pigs, where the United States attempted to overthrow the Cuban[Read More…]

by 07/07/2022 1 comment World
The United States Contests the Chinese Belt and Road with a Private Corporation

The United States Contests the Chinese Belt and Road with a Private Corporation

At the G7 Summit in Germany, on June 26, 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden made a pledge to raise $200 billion within the United States for global infrastructure spending. It was made clear that this new G7 project—the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII)—was intended to counter the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Given Biden’s failure to pass the Build[Read More…]

by 02/07/2022 Comments are Disabled World
The United States Extends Its Military Reach Into Zambia

The United States Extends Its Military Reach Into Zambia

On April 26, 2022, the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) announced that they had set up an office in the U.S. Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia. According to AFRICOM Brigadier General Peter Bailey, Deputy Director for Strategy, Engagement and Programs, the Office of Security Cooperation would be based in the U.S. Embassy building. Social media in Zambia buzzed with rumors about the creation[Read More…]

by 30/06/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Why Does the United States Have a Military Base in Ghana?

Why Does the United States Have a Military Base in Ghana?

An interview with Kwesi Pratt Jr., a journalist and leader of the Socialist Movement of Ghana. In April 2018, the president of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, said that Ghana has “not offered a military base, and will not offer a military base to the United States of America.” His comments came after Ghana’s parliament had ratified a new defense cooperation agreement with the[Read More…]

by 16/06/2022 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
Colombia Needs Democracy, Plain and Simple: An Interview With María José Pizarro

Colombia Needs Democracy, Plain and Simple: An Interview With María José Pizarro

by Vijay Prashad & Taroa Zúñiga Silva  On May 29, 2022, a political earthquake struck Colombia: the left-leaning Historical Pact’s presidential candidate, Gustavo Petro, and vice-presidential candidate, Francia Márquez, won the first round of the presidential elections after getting 40.33 percent of the votes. The blocs representing the far-right and right-wing parties—which have dominated Colombian politics for most of its history—trailed far[Read More…]

by 08/06/2022 Comments are Disabled World
The Rise of NATO in Africa

The Rise of NATO in Africa

Anxiety about the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) toward the Russian border is one of the causes of the current war in Ukraine. But this is not the only attempt at expansion by NATO, a treaty organization created in 1949 by the United States to project its military and political power over Europe. In 2001, NATO conducted an “out[Read More…]

by 28/05/2022 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
Is This the End of the French Project in Africa’s Sahel?

Is This the End of the French Project in Africa’s Sahel?

On May 15, 2022, the military junta in Mali announced that it would no longer be part of the G5 Sahel platform. The G5 Sahel was created in Nouakchott, Mauritania, in 2014, and brought together the governments of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger to collaborate over the deteriorating security situation in the Sahel belt—the region just below the Sahara desert[Read More…]

by 25/05/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Mali’s Military Ejects France but Faces Serious Challenges

Mali’s Military Ejects France but Faces Serious Challenges

On May 2, 2022, a statement was made by Mali’s military spokesperson Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga on the country’s national television, where he said that Mali was ending the defense accords it had with France, effectively making the presence of French troops in Mali illegal. The statement was written by the military leadership of the country, which has been in power since May[Read More…]

by 12/05/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Joint US & Japan Naval Training

Will Japan and Russia Tensions Over Contested Pacific Islands Spill Over Into War?

Each year, Japan’s Foreign Ministry releases a Diplomatic Bluebook, a guide to the government’s views on the world. Kyodo News, a reputed Japanese wire service, reports that the 2022 Bluebook will have strong language against Russia. This Bluebook will be released to the public before the end of April, but Kyodo News’ reporters have seen a leaked text. The text that the news agency[Read More…]

by 05/04/2022 1 comment World
Hunger Stalks Central Asia as the Ukraine War Unfolds

Hunger Stalks Central Asia as the Ukraine War Unfolds

On March 16, 2022, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev delivered his State of the Nation address in Nur-Sultan. Most of Tokayev’s speech was about the political reforms in Kazakhstan he had either accomplished or planned to advance, after he had promised them as redress to January’s political unrest and protests against the Kazakh government. He also addressed the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on Kazakhstan during his[Read More…]

by 25/03/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Central Asia Struggles With the Consequences of Russia’s War

Central Asia Struggles With the Consequences of Russia’s War

During the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Antalya, Turkey, which took place from March 11 to March 13, 2022, the Kyrgyz Republic’s Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbaev told Helga Maria Schmid, the secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), that his country would be happy to host Russian-Ukrainian talks and serve as the “mediator for re-establishment of peace and mutual understanding” between[Read More…]

by 16/03/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Understanding the War in Ukraine

Understanding the War in Ukraine

The war between Russia and Ukraine began much before February 24, 2022—the date provided by the Ukrainian government, NATO and the United States for the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to Dmitry Kovalevich, a journalist and a member of a now-banned communist organization in Ukraine, the war actually started in the spring of 2014 and has never[Read More…]

by 09/03/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Ukraine: A Conflict Soaked in Contradictions and New Patterns in War and Media

Ukraine: A Conflict Soaked in Contradictions and New Patterns in War and Media

Surprise and horror have defined the reaction to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. That’s likely because although the intervention has followed the contours of a modern land war, it has also marked a break with the past in a number of ways. The world has become used to military interventions by the United States. This is, however, not a[Read More…]

by 03/03/2022 Comments are Disabled World
France Withdraws From Mali, But Continues to Devastate Africa’s Sahel

France Withdraws From Mali, But Continues to Devastate Africa’s Sahel

On February 17, 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron held a press conference in Paris just ahead of the sixth European Union-African Union summit in Brussels along with Senegal’s President Macky Sall and Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo as well as European Council President Charles Michel. At the conference, Macron announced that the French forces would be withdrawing from Mali. This means that France and its[Read More…]

by 25/02/2022 Comments are Disabled World
The Western Allied Nations Bully the World While Warning of Threats From China and Russia

The Western Allied Nations Bully the World While Warning of Threats From China and Russia

On January 21, 2022, Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schönbach attended a talk in New Delhi, India, organized by the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses. Schönbach was speaking as the chief of Germany’s navy during his visit to the institute. “What he really wants is respect,” Schönbach said, referring to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. “And my god, giving someone respect is low cost, even no[Read More…]

by 18/02/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Millions of Afghans have been displaced by the war. Photo: MikrofonNews

The Terrible Fate Facing the Afghan People

On February 8, 2022, UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund) Afghanistan sent out a bleak set of tweets. One of the tweets, which included a photograph of a child lying in a hospital bed with her mother seated beside her, said: “Having recently recovered from acute watery diarrhea, two years old Soria is back in hospital, this time suffering from edema and wasting.[Read More…]

by 12/02/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Can Israel Stop the World from Saying ‘Apartheid’? Concealing the Suffering in Palestine

Can Israel Stop the World from Saying ‘Apartheid’? Concealing the Suffering in Palestine

On January 27, 2022, the Hebrew-language news site Walla published part of the text from a telegram sent by Amir Weissbrod—who is part of the Israeli Foreign Ministry—to Israeli embassies around the world. The telegram warned the Israeli diplomats that in the upcoming 49th regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which is expected to begin on February 28, a report[Read More…]

by 03/02/2022 Comments are Disabled Palestine
Morocco Drives a War in Western Sahara for Its Phosphates

Morocco Drives a War in Western Sahara for Its Phosphates

In November 2020, the Moroccan government sent its military to the Guerguerat area, a buffer zone between the territory claimed by the Kingdom of Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). The Guerguerat border post is at the very southern edge of Western Sahara along the road that goes to Mauritania. The presence of Moroccan troops “in the Buffer Strip in the Guerguerat[Read More…]

by 21/01/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Are Western Wealthy Countries Determined to Starve the People of Afghanistan?

Are Western Wealthy Countries Determined to Starve the People of Afghanistan?

On January 11, 2022, the United Nations (UN) Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths appealed to the international community to help raise $4.4 billion for Afghanistan in humanitarian aid, calling this effort, “the largest ever appeal for a single country for humanitarian assistance.” This amount is required “in the hope of shoring up collapsing basic services there,” said the UN. If this appeal is not[Read More…]

by 15/01/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Right-Wing Hate Speech Runs Rampant in India’s Elections

Right-Wing Hate Speech Runs Rampant in India’s Elections

A bizarre event took place in northern India between December 17 and December 19, 2021. It was a “religious parliament” (Dharma Sansad) with the theme, “The Future of the Sanatan Dharma in Islamic India: Problem and Solutions.” The event took place in Haridwar, a city in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. The speakers—each of them dressed in saffron robes, which are usually[Read More…]

by 05/01/2022 Comments are Disabled India
Antonio Kast

Chile Is at the Political Crossroads: Social Renewal or Decades of Painful Neoliberal Policy

by Vijay Prashad & Taroa Zúñiga Silva “If [Augusto] Pinochet were alive, he would vote for me,” said José Antonio Kast in 2017, during the Chilean presidential election when he ran as an independent candidate. This was an especially provocative statement made by him out of the many he has made over the years—he had also said that “Chileans need God,” during his campaign[Read More…]

by 16/12/2021 Comments are Disabled World
The Indian Farmers Defend the Rights of Farmers Everywhere

The Indian Farmers Defend the Rights of Farmers Everywhere

On November 19, 2021, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “[W]e have decided to repeal all three agricultural laws.” The prime minister was referring to the three agriculture laws that were rushed through the parliament in 2020. During his speech to announce the rollback, Modi told the farmers that they “should return to [their] homes, fields and to [their] families. Let’s make a[Read More…]

by 25/11/2021 Comments are Disabled India
Why Our Climate Isn’t Jumping for Joy After COP26

Why Our Climate Isn’t Jumping for Joy After COP26

by Vijay Prashad and Zoe Alexandra Two major gains took place at the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP) in Glasgow, Scotland, which concluded on November 13: the first was that there would be another COP in 2022 in Egypt, and the second was that the world leaders expressed their aspiration to keep global temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius alive.[Read More…]

by 18/11/2021 Comments are Disabled Climate Change
As the Planet Wants to Go Green, France Has a Nuclear Habit It Just Cannot Kick

As the Planet Wants to Go Green, France Has a Nuclear Habit It Just Cannot Kick

On July 28, French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Tahiti and said that France owed a “debt” to French Polynesia. The debt was related to approximately 200 nuclear tests France conducted in the 118 islands and atolls that comprise this part of the central South Pacific, which France has controlled since 1842. These tests were conducted between 1966 and 1996. Macron did not apologize[Read More…]

by 04/11/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Ecuador’s Neoliberal Government Announces State Emergency to Impose Austerity

Ecuador’s Neoliberal Government Announces State Emergency to Impose Austerity

by Vijay Prashad and Taroa Zúñiga Silva On October 18, 2021, Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency for 60 days. This declaration led to the constitutional rights of Ecuadorian nationals being suspended and heavily armed troops flooding the streets in Ecuador. The immediate reason for the declaration was the murder of an 11-year-old boy named Sebastián Obando, who was killed in[Read More…]

by 03/11/2021 Comments are Disabled World
How U.S. Interference in Cuba Creates a False Picture of Its Society

How U.S. Interference in Cuba Creates a False Picture of Its Society

by Manolo De Los Santos and Vijay Prashad U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) appears to be obsessed with Cuba. Every few days he takes to social media or makes remarks to the press about his desire to overthrow the Cuban Revolution. In recent months, Rubio has played a key role in drumming up support for anti-government protests in Cuba. On September 23, 2021, for[Read More…]

by 27/10/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Chile Is at the Dawn of a New Political Era

Chile Is at the Dawn of a New Political Era

“It feels like we are at the end of an era,” Bárbara Sepúlveda tells me on October 12, 2021. Sepúlveda is a member of Chile’s Constitutional Convention and of the Communist Party of Chile. The era to which Sepúlveda refers is that of General Augusto Pinochet, who led the U.S.-backed coup in 1973 that overthrew the popularly elected government of[Read More…]

by 21/10/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Afghanistan Tackles the Islamic State

Afghanistan Tackles the Islamic State

On October 8, a terrible blast struck the worshippers attending Friday noon prayers at the Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque in the Khan Abad district of Bandar, the capital of Kunduz, one of Afghanistan’s largest cities in its northern belt. This is a mosque frequented by Shia Muslims, who were referred to as “our compatriots” by Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid. Forty-six people died immediately in the blast, and[Read More…]

by 13/10/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Why the World’s Eyes Are on the Afghanistan-Tajikistan Border

Why the World’s Eyes Are on the Afghanistan-Tajikistan Border

Afghanistan and Tajikistan share a 1,400-kilometer border. Recently, a war of words has erupted between Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon and the Taliban government in Kabul. Rahmon censures the Taliban for the destabilization of Central Asia by the export of militant groups, while the Taliban leadership has accused Tajikistan’s government of interference. Earlier this summer, Rahmon mobilized 20,000 troops to the border, and held military[Read More…]

by 05/10/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Millions of Afghans have been displaced by the war. Photo: MikrofonNews

Afghanistan’s Impoverished People Live Amid Enormous Riches

On September 25, 2021, Afghanistan’s Economy Minister Qari Din Mohammad Hanif said that his government does not want “help and cooperation from the world like the previous government. The old system was supported by the international community for 20 years but still failed.” It is fair to say that Hanif has no experience in running a complex economy, since he has spent[Read More…]

by 30/09/2021 Comments are Disabled World
US President Joe Biden, UK PM Boris Johnson, and Australia's high commissioner to the UK George Brandis, had met during the G7 meeting in Cornwall in June. The AUKUS which was announced on September 15, was deemed "a forever partnership" by Brandis. Photo: George Brandis/ Twitter

Clear away the hype: the US and Australia signed a nuclear arms deal, simple as that

The AUKUS despite being coined a security partnership, is a nuclear arms deal aimed at increasing pressure against China and should be cause for concern On September 15, 2021, the heads of government of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States announced the formation of AUKUS, “a new enhanced trilateral security partnership” between these three countries. Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison[Read More…]

by 24/09/2021 1 comment World
Rwanda’s Military is the French Proxy on African Soil

Rwanda’s Military is the French Proxy on African Soil

On July 9, 2021, the government of Rwanda said that it had deployed 1,000 troops to Mozambique to battle al-Shabaab fighters, who had seized the northern province of Cabo Delgado. A month later, on August 8, Rwandan troops captured the port city of Mocímboa da Praia, where just off the coast sits a massive natural gas concession held by the French energy company TotalEnergies[Read More…]

by 11/09/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Truth and Propaganda About Coronavirus

Truth and Propaganda About Coronavirus

Co-Written by Vijay Prashad, Weiyan Zhu, and Du Xiaojun This was dated March 31, 2020, by which time Anti-china tirade was already going on in a high pitch. Subsequently, it was further accentuated, with more and more lies, now shaping into anti-China measures, bordering on sanctions.  Globalization principles thrust by imperialists led by USA, are sought to be reversed or[Read More…]

by 19/05/2020 Comments are Disabled World
Kerala is a Beacon to the World for Taking on the Coronavirus

Kerala is a Beacon to the World for Taking on the Coronavirus

Co-Written by Vijay Prashad & Subin Dennis K.K. Shailaja is the health minister in the Left Democratic Front government in Kerala, the state in the southwest of India that has a population of 35 million people. On January 25, 2020, she convened a high-level meeting to discuss the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. What had particularly worried her is[Read More…]

by 27/03/2020 Comments are Disabled World
After Morales Ousted in Coup, the Lithium Question Looms Large in Bolivia

After Morales Ousted in Coup, the Lithium Question Looms Large in Bolivia

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales was overthrown in a military coup on November 10. He is now in Mexico. Before he left office, Morales had been involved in a long project to bring economic and social democracy to his long-exploited country. It is important to recall that Bolivia has suffered a series of coups, often conducted by the military and the[Read More…]

by 15/11/2019 1 comment World
Lula Is Free

Lula Is Free

Co-Written by Ana Paula Vargas and Vijay Prashad Just before 5pm on Friday the 8th of November, Brazil’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva walked out of his prison in Curitiba (Brazil). Lula went to prison in April last year on a 12-year sentence. Five-hundred and eighty days of prison are now over, as the Federal Supreme Court ruled that[Read More…]

by 09/11/2019 1 comment World
A mural of former Venezuela President Hugo Chavez (1954-2013). The U.S. government and the Venezuelan oligarchy first tried to overthrow Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution in 2002. Nearly twenty years later, they are still at it. (Photo: Univision)

The Plot to Kill Venezuela

And who is caught between an economy reliant on oil revenues and a sanctions regime designed to create suffering? The people caught in the squeeze of factors beyond their control. Hugo Chávez knew that Venezuela was very vulnerable. Its oil revenues account for 98 percent of its export earnings. Chávez was familiar with the thinking of Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo,[Read More…]

by 14/05/2019 Comments are Disabled World
Will the U.S. Start a War Against Iran?

Will the U.S. Start a War Against Iran?

On Sunday, May 5, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton announced that the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force had begun to make their way from the Mediterranean Sea toward the coastline of Iran. Iran, Bolton said, had made “a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings.” He was, characteristically, not specific. It was[Read More…]

by 08/05/2019 5 comments World
Protests broke out a week ago across Haiti. What motivated the streets to be on fire this time was the rise in prices of fuel and the position taken by Haiti against the government of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela. (Photo: Estailove St. Val/EPA-EFE)

How the U.S. Is Strangling Haiti as It Attempts Regime Change in Venezuela

Last year, in October, Haitians followed two Twitter hashtags that went viral—#PetrocaribeChallenge and #KotKobPetwoKaribea. If you are not Haitian and do not follow Haitian politics carefully, you can be forgiven for not noticing this development. The complaint on Twitter—and soon on the streets—was simple: what has happened to the billions of U.S. dollars that was in the Venezuelan-financed Petrocaribe program?[Read More…]

by 20/02/2019 Comments are Disabled World
Why Does the United States of America Want to Overthrow the Government of Venezuela?

Why Does the United States of America Want to Overthrow the Government of Venezuela?

Since 1998, the United States of America has tried to overthrow the government of Venezuela. What threatened the government of the United States since then was the Bolivarian dynamic set in motion by the election of Hugo Chávez as president of Venezuela that year. Chávez won the elections with a mandate from Venezuela’s workers and poor to overhaul the country[Read More…]

by 18/02/2019 1 comment World
Aerial view of rail bridge taken down by a mudslide after the collapse of a dam at an iron-ore mine belonging to Brazil’s giant mining company Vale near the town of Brumadinho, state of Minas Gerias, southeastern Brazil (Photo: BNN)

Disaster Capitalism in Brazil: Mining Greed Produces a Horrific Death Toll

On January 25, 2019, a dam burst in the town of Brumadinho, north of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The dam was built by the iron-ore company Vale to store residue after the iron ore had been extracted. Once the dam began to crumble, it did not take long for its 13 million cubic meters of iron waste to sweep down[Read More…]

by 06/02/2019 Comments are Disabled World
Vice President Mike Pence speaks at Iglesia Doral Jesus Worship Center after meeting with Venezuelan exiles and community leaders on February 01, 2019 in Doral, Florida. Vice President Pence met with families, political prisoners and former elected officials who were forced to flee their country due to political persecution. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The U.S. 12-Step Method to Conduct Regime Change

On September 15, 1970, U.S. President Richard Nixon and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger authorized the U.S. government to do everything possible to undermine the incoming government of the socialist president of Chile, Salvador Allende. Nixon and Kissinger, according to the notes kept by CIA Director Richard Helms, wanted to “make the economy scream” in Chile; they were “not concerned[Read More…]

by 02/02/2019 Comments are Disabled World
Reality Is Starting to Creep Into the Billionaire Oasis of Davos

Reality Is Starting to Creep Into the Billionaire Oasis of Davos

At this time of year, about 2,000 private jets fly into Zurich airport and to various smaller Swiss airports (including the Dübendorf military airbase). Hundreds of helicopter flights move from Zurich to Davos, where the hotel rooms go for as high as US$10,000 a night during the World Economic Forum (WEF). The WEF, which began in 1971, opened this Tuesday[Read More…]

by 23/01/2019 4 comments World
America Has Its Gunsights on Venezuela

America Has Its Gunsights on Venezuela

Last Thursday—on January 10—Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for his second term as president of Venezuela. “I tell the people,” Maduro said, “this presidential sash is yours. The power of this sash is yours. It does not belong to the oligarchy or to imperialism. It belongs to the sovereign people of Venezuela.” These two terms—oligarchy and imperialism—define the problems faced[Read More…]

by 18/01/2019 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
The war on Yemen has to end to prevent the near-death of the Yemeni people. (Photo: Felton Davis/flickr/cc)

Yemen Remains on the Precipice of a Large-Scale Famine

On December 14, Martin Griffiths—the UN Special Envoy for Yemen—briefed the UN Security Council about the talks that had just concluded in Sweden the previous day. Griffiths, sitting before a large UN logo from Jordan, spoke by video to a Council that had not been able to move an effective agenda to end the brutal war on this impoverished country.[Read More…]

by 19/12/2018 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
There’s at Least One More Ugly Battle Brewing in Syria

There’s at Least One More Ugly Battle Brewing in Syria

Already 30,000 people have fled their homes in northwestern Syria in anticipation of battles that are seen as inevitable. These people—according to the United Nations—have moved across the province of Idlib, which borders Turkey, many entering camps set up by humanitarian organizations. The United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs says that as many as 800,000 people might[Read More…]

by 13/09/2018 2 comments World
The Left Loses an Election in Tripura, but it Has Not Been Defeated

The Left Loses an Election in Tripura, but it Has Not Been Defeated

The BJP and its ally – the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) – have won the 2018 elections to the Tripura state legislature. The alliance of the BJP and the IPFT will now form a government. The Left It is the first time in twenty-five years that Tripura, a state of four million people in India’s northeast, will be[Read More…]

by 05/03/2018 4 comments India
Prakash Karat’s Critique Of BJP/RSS And The Question Of Left Unity

Prakash Karat’s Critique Of BJP/RSS And The Question Of Left Unity

One hundred and eighty million workers in India went out on strike on 2 September. It is the largest strike in human history. Workers came from all sectors – from the mines and crèches, from the rail yards and the banks. All trade unions – except the one backed by the RSS – backed the strike. Even workers in the[Read More…]

by 15/09/2016 1 comment India