A tragic incident at a budget hostel in Bali has raised concerns for backpackers worldwide. A young tourist lost her life, and at least ten others were hospitalized due to a suspected mass poisoning at Clandestino Hostel in Canggu. The victims fell severely ill after a communal dinner at the hostel. The deceased, a 25-year-old Chinese tourist named Deqing Zhuoga, was staying at the $9-a-night hostel when she began experiencing severe vomiting and chills. She ... Read more

Canadian actor Spencer Lofranco, known for his roles in films such as “Jamesy Boy” and “Gotti,” has passed away at the age of 33. The circumstances surrounding his death are currently under investigation by authorities in British Columbia, Canada. The cause of death has yet to be confirmed. Lofranco’s brother, Santino Lofranco, confirmed the news of his passing in a heartfelt tribute on Instagram. In his post, Santino expressed his love and admiration for his ... Read more

Executive Summary: Sudan’s civil war has opened the door to an emerging Rapid Support Forces (Arabic: قوات الدعم السريع, RSF)-controlled rival state in Darfur. The RSF originated as the direct descendants of the Janjaweed (Arabic: جنجويد, “militants on horseback” or “plunderers,” of uncertain etymology) militants responsible for crimes against humanity during the War in Darfur The post RSF Establishes Rival Government as Sudan’s War Spirals appeared first on Jamestown.

Executive Summary: The opening session of the 2025 Silk Road Forum in Tbilisi featured the Prime Ministers of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, reflecting the momentum of regional cooperation (Balcani Caucaso, November 3, 2023; Tbilisi Silk Road Forum, October 22). This marked the fifth Silk Road Forum since it began in 2015 and was only the The post Georgian Rhetoric Attempts Connectivity Without Political Change appeared first on Jamestown.

Executive Summary: The C5+1 summit, held on November 6 in Washington, D.C., marked a significant elevation of Central Asia’s profile on the world stage. Leaders from the region received enthusiastic receptions in the U.S. capital, where the summit—initiated by former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a decade earlier—was upgraded to a presidential-level meeting at The post C5+1 Summit Elevates U.S. Engagement With Central Asia appeared first on Jamestown.

Executive Summary: In most countries, employees either go on strike or quit when not paid on time. In the Russian Federation, however, workers often lack good alternatives to remaining in place. The Russian government strongly discourages firms from letting workers go lest unemployment surge and production decline. In the 1990s, this led to a dire The post Russian Firms Rapidly Falling Behind in Paying Workers appeared first on Jamestown.

When the twins revisited the ruins last week, they found the mezuzah intact despite the fire that consumed the rest of the house. The post Freed hostage twin brothers give Trump a mezuzah from Kfar Aza appeared first on World Israel News.

When the twins revisited the ruins last week, they found the mezuzah intact despite the fire that consumed the rest of the house. The post Freed hostage twin brothers give Trump a mezuzah from Kfar Aza appeared first on World Israel News.

In a sweeping overnight operation, the IDF arrested six terrorists plotting attacks and uncovered large stashes of weapons hidden in homes, vehicles, and even household appliances. The post WATCH: IDF arrests dozens in widespread raids in Judea and Samaria appeared first on World Israel News.

In a sweeping overnight operation, the IDF arrested six terrorists plotting attacks and uncovered large stashes of weapons hidden in homes, vehicles, and even household appliances. The post WATCH: IDF arrests dozens in widespread raids in Judea and Samaria appeared first on World Israel News.

Executive Summary: Cameroon’s presidential election has intensified long-standing security challenges in both its anglophone regions and near the country’s northern border. On October 27, the Cameroonian Constitutional Council declared 92-year-old President Paul Biya the victor of the presidential election. Having ruled Cameroon since 1982 and served seven consecutive terms thus far, Biya’s election to his eighth The post Cameroon Rattled by Twin Insurgencies Amid Presidential Elections appeared first on Jamestown.

CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad blasted Governor Abbott’s ban on his group and the Muslim Brotherhood, accusing him of pushing an Israeli agenda. The post WATCH: CAIR director claims Texas Gov. Abbott is advancing an Israeli agenda appeared first on World Israel News.

CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad blasted Governor Abbott’s ban on his group and the Muslim Brotherhood, accusing him of pushing an Israeli agenda. The post WATCH: CAIR director claims Texas Gov. Abbott is advancing an Israeli agenda appeared first on World Israel News.

U.S. law requires that Israel retain a measurable edge in advanced weapons systems. The post Rubio reassured Netanyahu Israel won’t lose military edge despite sale of F-35s to Saudi Arabia appeared first on World Israel News.

U.S. law requires that Israel retain a measurable edge in advanced weapons systems. The post Rubio reassured Netanyahu Israel won’t lose military edge despite sale of F-35s to Saudi Arabia appeared first on World Israel News.

Executive Summary: The release of kidnapped Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov (Hebrew: אליזבט צורקוב) has exposed the Iraqi government’s continuing weakness in the face of Iran-backed militias. Tsurkov, an Israeli researcher at Princeton University, was kidnapped in Baghdad in March 2023. Israel consistently accused Kataib Hezbollah (Arabic: كتائب حزب الله), a distant relative of the Lebanese Hezbollah and one of The post Iraqi Militia Releases Israeli Hostage Following U.S. Pressure appeared first on Jamestown.

Recently, the terror group's leaders said that they never agreed to the remaining phases of the plan, which require the armed groups to lay down their weapons. The post Palestinian terrorists threaten to target International Stabilization Force appeared first on World Israel News.

Recently, the terror group's leaders said that they never agreed to the remaining phases of the plan, which require the armed groups to lay down their weapons. The post Palestinian terrorists threaten to target International Stabilization Force appeared first on World Israel News.

Executive Summary: A possible relationship is being established between Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (Arabic: جماعة نصرة الإسلام والمسلمين, JNIM) and a Nigerian bandit group called Lakurawa (From French: les recrues via Hausa, “the recruits”). This comes as JNIM appears to be expanding operations into Nigeria. JNIM is believed to be in cahoots with Lakurawa, which killed 10 The post JNIM Edges into Nigeria Through Bandit Collusion appeared first on Jamestown.

Romania became the first European buyer of an Israeli Iron Dome with a €2 billion ($2.3 billion) deal signed in May. The post Israel boosts air defenses with $8.7 billion U.S.-backed Iron Dome expansion appeared first on World Israel News.

Romania became the first European buyer of an Israeli Iron Dome with a €2 billion ($2.3 billion) deal signed in May. The post Israel boosts air defenses with $8.7 billion U.S.-backed Iron Dome expansion appeared first on World Israel News.

The video exposes Hamas in Beit Hanoun using hospitals, schools, and a tunnel network to hide terror operations while exploiting civilians as human shields. The post WATCH: Inside the Hamas stronghold of Beit Hanoun appeared first on World Israel News.

The video exposes Hamas in Beit Hanoun using hospitals, schools, and a tunnel network to hide terror operations while exploiting civilians as human shields. The post WATCH: Inside the Hamas stronghold of Beit Hanoun appeared first on World Israel News.

Possessing the F-35 signals that the United States sees you as a key long-term partner, capable of responsible stewardship of world-class military technology. The post Why the F-35 matters so deeply to Saudi Arabia – opinion appeared first on World Israel News.

Possessing the F-35 signals that the United States sees you as a key long-term partner, capable of responsible stewardship of world-class military technology. The post Why the F-35 matters so deeply to Saudi Arabia – opinion appeared first on World Israel News.

Reuveni is accused of passing detailed information about his base, including personnel estimates and emergency procedures, and promising to report when it shifted to war footing. The post IDF soldier from Beersheba caught spying for Iran during his mandatory service appeared first on World Israel News.

Reuveni is accused of passing detailed information about his base, including personnel estimates and emergency procedures, and promising to report when it shifted to war footing. The post IDF soldier from Beersheba caught spying for Iran during his mandatory service appeared first on World Israel News.

Freed hostage Bar Kupershtein said his time in Hamas tunnels deepened his faith in God, whom he spoke to daily and credits with sending President Trump to secure their rescue. The post WATCH: Bar Kupershtein – ‘God sent Trump to rescue us from captivity’ appeared first on World Israel News.

Freed hostage Bar Kupershtein said his time in Hamas tunnels deepened his faith in God, whom he spoke to daily and credits with sending President Trump to secure their rescue. The post WATCH: Bar Kupershtein – ‘God sent Trump to rescue us from captivity’ appeared first on World Israel News.

There’s an ironclad truism in youth sports: every parent turns into an ESPN 30 for 30 documentarian as soon as they have a video recording device in hand and their kid is in the game. Some record the games and post them online so family members and friends who can’t attend in person can watch their

Hamas says it has failed to find the three bodies, but on the other hand, it is pleased it hasn’t found them. The post ‘Hamas views its survival as a victory’ appeared first on World Israel News.

Hamas says it has failed to find the three bodies, but on the other hand, it is pleased it hasn’t found them. The post ‘Hamas views its survival as a victory’ appeared first on World Israel News.

The vehicle’s armor is at Level 1, meaning it can withstand hits from 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm bullets, as well as improvised explosive devices. The post Peru to buy $23.8 million worth armored vehicles from Israeli firm appeared first on World Israel News.

The vehicle’s armor is at Level 1, meaning it can withstand hits from 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm bullets, as well as improvised explosive devices. The post Peru to buy $23.8 million worth armored vehicles from Israeli firm appeared first on World Israel News.

IDF forces exposed a 7‑kilometer tunnel in southern Rafah, buried 25 meters underground, where Hadar Goldin’s body was hidden. The post WATCH: IDF uncovers tunnel network that held Hadar Goldin’s body appeared first on World Israel News.

IDF forces exposed a 7‑kilometer tunnel in southern Rafah, buried 25 meters underground, where Hadar Goldin’s body was hidden. The post WATCH: IDF uncovers tunnel network that held Hadar Goldin’s body appeared first on World Israel News.

Venezuela vs. Washington – Trump to Talk to Maduro? By Peter Koenig and Press TV, November 20, 2025 As US President Donald Trump has suggested willingness for talks with his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro says Caracas is open to … The post Selected Articles: Venezuela vs. Washington – Trump to Talk to Maduro? appeared first on Global Research.

On November 18, the United Nations Security Council approved U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan for the Gaza Strip, endorsing a draft resolution submitted by Washington. Trump hailed the vote as a “historic moment”, while Palestinian factions—particularly Hamas—condemned the resolution as … The post UN Security Council Adopts Trump’s Gaza Plan Despite Being Vague appeared first on Global Research.

By all measures Zohran Mamdani’s victory was historic. Coming from virtually nowhere, the Queens assemblymember confronted the status quo and painted an inspiring image of what New York City can be. As an architect, I’m thrilled by the opportunities this presents for my industry — to build big for the public good. But current attitudes

A study found that alcohol raises dementia risk at every level of drinking, overturning decades of claims that moderate use protects your brain Even light drinking damages neurons, disrupts mitochondrial energy production, and accelerates brain aging, showing there is no … The post Alcohol Raises Dementia Risk at Every Level of Drinking appeared first on Global Research.

Apparently, European leaders are gradually recognizing the current process of multipolar transition – but, instead of simply adapting to it, they are reacting negatively, lamenting the end of the previous world order. In a recent statement, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz… The post German Chancellor Friedrich Merz: Liberal World Order Coming to an End appeared first on Global Research.

Background As US President Donald Trump has suggested willingness for talks with his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro says Caracas is open to face-to-face dialog while rejecting “threats or use of force.” Maduro added that Venezuela would engage with any nation … The post Venezuela vs. Washington – Trump to Talk to Maduro? appeared first on Global Research.

The legislation would also make it easier for Israel to seize UNRWA-owned buildings in Jerusalem over the UN agency’s ties to terror. The post Knesset backs bill to cut off water, electricity to UNRWA appeared first on World Israel News.

The legislation would also make it easier for Israel to seize UNRWA-owned buildings in Jerusalem over the UN agency’s ties to terror. The post Knesset backs bill to cut off water, electricity to UNRWA appeared first on World Israel News.

Ukraine’s LGBTQ+ soldiers are coming out and demanding change for their community, but progress remains slow

Russia is abusing and raping children in the occupied territories, warns centre dedicated to rescuing families

On the bombed roof of a college in Kharkiv, we saw how trade unions support their members in times of war

Citizens’ assemblies can help to bridge the mistrust gap. That’s why I believe that they could become COP30’s most enduring legacy

New study suggests experimental AI chatbot will make users less likely to believe antisemitic conspiracy theories and more likely to hold favorable views of Jews. The post AI chatbots can make users less antisemitic – study appeared first on World Israel News.

New study suggests experimental AI chatbot will make users less likely to believe antisemitic conspiracy theories and more likely to hold favorable views of Jews. The post AI chatbots can make users less antisemitic – study appeared first on World Israel News.

In March, Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP) will elect a new leader. This April, the federal party suffered its worst election showing ever, winning a mere seven seats. Leader Jagmeet Singh promptly resigned. Five candidates have registered in the race to replace him, including current member of parliament (MP) Heather McPherson, activist and filmmaker Avi

It was earlier assessed here that Ukraine’s $100 million energy graft scandal might only result in a cabinet reshuffle at most, the sentiment of which RT chief Margarita Simonyan shared when writing on X “But we all know it won’t” … The post Ukraine’s Corruption Scandal Might Pave the Way for Peace If It Takes Down Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andrey Yermak appeared first on Global Research.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is racing to contain the fallout from a high-level corruption scandal that could undermine his authority, just as his country’s soldiers and civilians face potentially their toughest winter of the war with Russia. A week after … The post Ukraine — Corruption, Refusal to Federalize and Why It Won’t Stop appeared first on Global Research.

On November 4, the electorate in several United States municipalities and gubernatorial races delivered a resounding rebuke to the current trajectory of the MAGA Republicans who control both Houses of Congress and the White House. The post In the Wake of the U.S. November Elections and the Reopening of Government? Food Insecurity, Worsening Economic and Social Crisis appeared first on Global Research.

The global systemic transition to multipolarity is increasingly characterized by the “19th-century Great Power chessboard” The post Why Did Russia Abstain from the Latest UN Security Council Resolution on Gaza? Decided Not to Exert The Veto appeared first on Global Research.

The nine rape crisis centers serving Jewish and Arab communities received 55,044 total contacts in 2023, including 17,484 new cases. The post Victims of sexual violence struggle for justice as most cases go uncharged, Israeli report finds appeared first on World Israel News.

The nine rape crisis centers serving Jewish and Arab communities received 55,044 total contacts in 2023, including 17,484 new cases. The post Victims of sexual violence struggle for justice as most cases go uncharged, Israeli report finds appeared first on World Israel News.

Kathryn Bigelow’s new nuclear thriller, A House of Dynamite, has been criticized by some experts for being unrealistic, most notably because it portrays an unlikely scenario in which an adversary chooses to attack the United States with just a single nuclear-armed missile. Such a move would, of course, leave the vast American nuclear arsenal largely intact and so invite a devastating

Fifty years ago, General Francisco Franco died in his bed at El Pardo Palace, outside Madrid, after more than a third of a century ruling Spain with an iron fist. Much has been made of his burial near El Escorial — a symbolic seat of imperial power in Spain’s so-called Golden Age of the sixteenth

We believe that part of the fight for a better future is remembering and building upon the struggles of the past. That is why the editors and designers at Jacobin have put together a special calendar for 2026 to commemorate some of the most important historical anniversaries of socialist and working-class movements across the world.

A woman from Tennessee is facing serious charges after allegedly admitting to the brutal torture and murder of her boyfriend’s 3-year-old son. According to law enforcement officials, the woman confessed to extinguishing a cigarette in the child’s ear, burning his genitals with a lighter, and subsequently beating him to death. The woman, whose identity has not been disclosed, is currently in police custody. The shocking revelations came to light during her interrogation, where she reportedly ... Read more

Disney World, the famed Florida resort, has been the site of a string of tragic incidents, with five people reported dead within a month. The most recent fatality occurred on November 8 at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, located in Lake Buena Vista, near Disney Springs. The Orange County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the death but transferred the case to the deceased’s personal physician. The news of the incident first came to light through ... Read more

There is a consensus among scholars and practitioners of Caribbean development that there is a significant need for proactive, innovative, and decisive action to foment development pathways The post A Reckoning on Alternatives to Caribbean Development and Their Discontents: A Reflexive Essay on Caribbean-Oriented Scholarship in a New, Multi-Polar Global Order appeared first on Global Research.

The sudden passing of an 18-year-old cheerleader from a Florida high school on a Carnival Cruise ship has left her loved ones and community in a state of disbelief. Anna Kepner was discovered lifeless in her cabin on the Carnival Horizon on November 7 while on a six-day Caribbean cruise with her family. The details surrounding her death are still vague, with minimal information made available to the public or her family. According to two ... Read more

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals held by the Allied powers after World War II to prosecute senior Nazi leaders for horrific crimes committed during the war. They kicked off 80 years ago today. In the wake of the war’s staggering examples of man’s inhumanity to man, the trials were a desperately needed and morally honorable exercise of justice. In several regards, the trials broke new ground. The first international military tribunal in which judges and prosecutors from allied nations—here the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union—jointly tried a defeated aggressor’s war criminals, the trials established the principle that individuals—including, or especially, high-ranking officials, can be held accountable for violating not just international law, but human dignity as well. To ground the latter, new legal concepts like “crimes against peace” and “crimes against humanity” formally codified basic moral sense. The excuse that “I was just following orders” would no longer fly. Ultimately, twenty-two were tried, one in absentia. Another two were charged, but before proceedings could begin one committed suicide and the other was deemed medically unfit to stand trial. In addition to the evident restraint in the numbers charged, other elements make clear these trials were no sham. This was not a victor’s parody of justice. Each of the defendants was given due process and legal counsel. The prosecution used the Nazis’ own records as evidence—including legal documents, reports, orders, diaries, transcriptions, bookkeeping, published material, and film and photographic footage. Each of the accused was arraigned on one or a combination of four primary charges: criminal conspiracy, crimes against peace—planning and waging a war of aggression; war crimes—violations of the laws of war, including mistreatment of civilians or prisoners of war; and crimes against humanity—inhumane acts against civilians, including persecution, murder, extermination, and genocide. It seems clear that this latter charge—aimed at things that shocked the conscience—were a primary focus. Only those whose charges included crimes against humanity were executed, and of the seventeen who were so-charged, only five were spared death. Three of these were ultimately to be little more than petty subordinates whose crimes didn’t warrant a capital sentence. A fourth, Albert Speer was the only one to have shown—at least seemingly—genuine contrition. His remorse likely saved his life. The last, Hans Fritzsche, was acquitted entirely. In sum, three defendants were acquitted, four were given limited prison sentences of from fifteen to twenty years, three were handed life sentences, and twelve were condemned to death by hanging (although Herman Goring—may his name be blotted from the book of life—somehow managed to acquire cyanide salt and off himself before he could be strung up). Beyond those mentioned above, none of the condemned, save one, were repentant. Hans Frank, the Governor-General of Poland whose actions earned him the moniker the “Butcher of Poland” is the only one to have showed any remorse during his trial. In the midst of it, he converted to Catholicism and offered his personal diaries as evidence against himself. In his final statement he said: “I am thankful for the kind treatment during my captivity, and I ask God to accept me with mercy.” He admitted on the witness stand that a “thousand years would not suffice to erase the shame” of Germany’s actions. He hoped his execution would be sufficient atonement and that God would grant him forgiveness. On the opposite side of the spectrum, one defendant, Julius Streicher was—somehow—a particularly repugnant case. Streicher was one of only two arraigned on a single charge—crimes against humanity. He was the Nazi party’s chief propagandist and publisher of the virulently anti-Semitic newspaper Der Stürmer—which consistently called for the extermination and annihilation of the Jewish race. He was also author of the morally abhorrent Der Giftpilz (The Poison Mushroom) a piece of propaganda containing seventeen short stories of Jewish caricatures designed to indoctrinate German youths in Jew hatred. It’s important to stress that Streicher’s charges were grounded not in his direct actions—he was never accused of directly harming even a single Jew. A vile antisemite, he was executed because of his words. Indeed, this was his defense. He insisted that he was merely a journalist and political writer and that his words carried no authority, directed no actions, issued no orders, and generated no law. In some sense, the judges seemed to largely agree. Instead, his accusation was aimed in the other direction. He was condemned, in the words of one judge, for systematically creating a climate of hate and poisoning the minds of a generation of German youths. Streicher was defiant to the end, insisting that regret “was something for little children.” He was the only defendant to salute the Fuhrer at his execution. On the gallows he shouted, “Heil Hitler!” and “Purim fest!”—a foul reference to Haman’s attempted extermination of Jews as recorded in Esther. Proving the old adage that the pen can be mightier than the sword, the moral clarity that grounded Streicher’s conviction and execution is both apt and profound.   As I see it, the Nuremberg trials played an essential role in helping—forcing even—Germany to confront itself. Having made a concerted effort to publicize the trials within Germany, the evidence presented—including concentration camp footage—made it impossible for Germans to deny the atrocities carried out by their political leaders and fellow citizens. By trying individuals—and denying claims of “just following orders”—the trials made it impossible for Germans—individually or collectively—to blame it all on Hitler and a few rogue monsters. Nuremberg provided a basis for both the present and future generations of Germans to question the silence and complicity of too many Germans in the war years who did little or nothing in the face of its nation’s crimes. While collective guilt does not exist, collective responsibility does, and Germany’s deep self-reflection following Nuremberg has made believable the intent behind its claims of “never again.” There are lessons here, of course. I’ve argued elsewhere (including here) that decisive victories are an implication of just war doctrine. Decisive victories occur when you’ve not only knocked out your adversary’s ability to fight but their will to fight as well. This is vital. It’s really only after the fight has truly been knocked out of the enemy that they will have any real interest in redirecting their ambitions away from aggression and taking steps toward reconciliation and responsible behavior. So, one take away from Nuremberg is that fights that are right to fight are right to win—and to win decisively enough that we are granted the authority to establish the necessary conditions for a durable peace. Another lesson is that while the trial and execution of twelve Nazis and the imprisonment of a handful of others in no way substantively retributes the annihilation of 6,000,000 Jews and the millions of other victims of Nazi aggression, it did do the critical work of declaring, however modest, that the harms the victims suffered would not go unrequited. This remains essential. The vindication of victims is a primary focus of justice. Their innocence must be declared. Also essential is giving the victimizers their due. The swinging of a dozen men who it was right to execute can only ever do so much to atone for the unspeakable crimes that some men did to their fellow men. But twelve was better than eleven or none, and all in all it was a decent start.

Russia marks National Unity Day every 4 November in remembrance of the national uprising that expelled Polish troops from Moscow, the only time that the Russian capital was ever occupied by a foreign power (the Mongols vassalized “Old [Kievan] Rus”). … The post The Polish Origins of Russia’s National Unity Day Are Still Relevant appeared first on Global Research.

The USA appears increasingly to move from one war to another. The disengagement from Afghanistan was only to get more entangled in Ukraine and then Gaza and Iran, and now there have been increasing signs of aggression against Venezuela and … The post US Wars Coupled with Internal Violence within USA. The Role of the Peace Movement appeared first on Global Research.

The so-called “fifth generation” of fighter jets is all the rage nowadays, as it has become a matter of national prestige to field such advanced weapon systems. However, there aren’t that many such jets in operational service and even fewer … The post Competitive International Market for Fighter Jets: Russia’s Apparent Su-57’s Export Success? appeared first on Global Research.

Endotoxin, a toxic molecule released by bacteria in your gut, enters your bloodstream and directly triggers blood clot formation — even in people with no signs of infection or heart disease Researchers have shown that certain bacterial types, such as … The post Endotoxin/LPS Is a Major Driver of Blood Clotting, Sepsis, Heart Attacks, and Strokes appeared first on Global Research.

The evidence that institutions invariably betray the principles upon which they are founded is everywhere around us. Where shall I start? The post The Temptations of Jesus appeared first on Global Research.

On November 17, Bloomberg reported that Peter Thiel’s hedge fund sold its 537,742 shares of Nvidia during the third quarter. This month SoftBank sold its stake in Nvidia reportedly worth $5.8 billion. Bloomberg sees the sales as a retreat from … The post Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) Overheating? appeared first on Global Research.

Executive Summary: Armenia is reportedly nearing a $3 billion deal to purchase Su-30MKI fighter jets from India. Built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the Su-30MKI is a multirole fighter jet with advanced avionics, dual-engine thrust-vectoring, and significant weapons-carrying capacity. Under the deal, India will begin delivery of the first batch of eight to twelve aircraft to The post Armenia to Purchase Indian Fighter Jets appeared first on Jamestown.

Executive Summary: On October 24, Uzbekistan and the European Union signed an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA). The agreement is far more expansive than what governed the Brussels–Tashkent relations since bilateral cooperation was officially established in 1999 (European Council, October 24). The previous engagement framework no longer addressed today’s challenges, and both sides urgently The post Uzbekistan and European Union Sign Cooperation Agreement appeared first on Jamestown.

Executive Summary: At the end of October, Russian military analysts made a surprising admission. Writers at the website Military Review (Военное Обозрение, Voennoe Obozrenie), which is close to the Russian Ministry of Defense, noted that the Ukrainian economy is coping with the war better than expected. In particular, they point to Ukraine’s economic growth in The post Pro-Kremlin Analysts Acknowledge Previously Hushed-up Problems appeared first on Jamestown.

“If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood/Come gurgling from the froth-corrupted lungs . . . . My friend, you would not tell with such high zest / To children ardent for some desperate glory, / The old lie: … The post Mechanical Mikey and the Theater of War appeared first on Global Research.

[This article by Carla Stea was first published by GR in September 2019.] “My whole life in politics was marked by a political version, on a small scale, of the epic global contest that is now under way between inclusive … The post Is the United Nations Becoming a Public Relations Asset for Wall Street? appeared first on Global Research.

A carefully planned US intelligence operation revealed... The post Origins of the 2011 War on Syria. It Was a Conspiracy appeared first on Global Research.

… The post Unknown American history: Adele Brise and the Our Lady of Champion (Wisconsin) Apparition of the Virgin Mary, 1859 appeared first on Global Research.

O desespero do regime de Kiev para recrutar novos soldados está levando-o a considerar uma nova redução da idade de alistamento militar obrigatório. Recentemente, o prefeito de Kiev, Vitaly Klitschko, defendeu uma nova redução na idade de alistamento – uma … The post Prefeito de Kiev quer reduzir idade de alistamento militar na Ucrânia. appeared first on Global Research.

A Geórgia continua sendo constantemente pressionada por seus “parceiros” ocidentais a adotar uma postura pró-UE em sua política externa. O país é visto pelos falcões europeus como um território estratégico para lançar ações contra a Rússia, possivelmente abrindo uma nova … The post UE está tratando Geórgia injustamente – diz prefeito de Tbilisi. appeared first on Global Research.

BREAKING STUDY: Anomalous Amyloid Microclots Found in 100% of the COVID-19 Vaccinated By Nicolas Hulscher, Dr. Charles Hoffe, and Prof Michel Chossudovsky, November 18, 2025 A new peer-reviewed study has quietly revealed one of the most consequential … The post Selected Articles: BREAKING STUDY: Anomalous Amyloid Microclots Found in 100% of the COVID-19 Vaccinated appeared first on Global Research.

Amid Moscow’s strategic and operational counteroffensive, the Russian military is moving forward, creating cauldrons and meticulously neutralizing the Ukrainian Military (largely dominated by 2 Nazi parties) fighting potential. October and November have been an unmitigated disaster for the Kiev … The post Moscow’s Strategic Counter-Offensive: ‘Iskander’ Obliterates another U.S. HIMARS, ‘Neptune’ Launchers. Kiev Regime’s Suicidal Policy of “Fighting to the Last Ukrainian” appeared first on Global Research.

The ruling establishment fears that the AfD’s continued rise in spite of all prior smears could lead to the party one day breaking the “firewall” to participate in a governing coalition, possibly with the US’ behind-the-scenes support, which contextualizes their … The post Germany’s AfD Opposition Party Confronts the Government: CDU Bundestag “Control Committee” Accuses AfD of “Being Led by the Kremlin on a Leash” appeared first on Global Research.

A Wisconsin woman, aged 34, has been apprehended in relation to the death of her 3-year-old son. The child’s injuries were so severe that they indicated a “total lack of regard for human life,” according to authorities. Zaquitta Joiner-Murphy was charged with one count of child neglect resulting in death following the brutal death of her son, Da’Quarius Berry, as per court documents. Joiner-Murphy dialed 911 for medical help for her son at her residence ... Read more

For months, Zohran Mamdani’s critics have gnashed their teeth over his self-identification as a democratic socialist, an ideology they consider beyond the pale. Their attacks didn’t work; Mamdani won the New York City mayoral race without backing down, even reiterating his socialist affiliation in his victory speech. So now, his critics are upping the ante.

When President Donald Trump brokered a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas in late September, the American president was heralded, even by some leading Democrats, for his peacemaking. Speaker Mike Johnson and Israeli Knesset speaker Amir Ohana said they would jointly nominate Trump for his coveted Nobel Peace Prize. The unveiling of Trump’s relatively sober

“Power concedes nothing without a demand,” Brooklyn state senator Jabari Brisport thundered on Sunday, quoting Frederick Douglass. “And our demand is — ?” The crowd yelled back, “Tax! the! Rich!” Twelve days after democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s historic election as New York City mayor, several hundred supporters gathered for a rally in Union Square kicking

“Now you can understand why Trump wakes up in the middle of the night sweating when he hears you and I are friends.” That’s one of the sensational, damning Jeffrey Epstein messages that has been roundly quoted since being extracted from the more than 20,000 documents released by the House Oversight Committee last week, a

When Benjamin Estrello started working at Starbucks four years ago, he knew he wanted to unionize his store. The then-nineteen-year-old had grown up in what he describes as a “very conservative” household in North Texas. When a friend of his came out as transgender in high school, “that experience made me think very deeply about

Zygmunt Bauman is globally recognized as a theorist of “liquid modernity.” The term, which suggests that the main feature of the current stage of the modern era is increasing individual and collective uncertainty, gained widespread popularity due to his book of the same title published in 2000. Few remember that he began his academic career

Anti-trafficking has always been the handmaiden of Global North power, never its rebellious daughter. Let’s change that

The animated television series “The Simpsons” has once again bid farewell to a beloved character, causing a stir among its dedicated fan base. Alice Glick, the organist at Springfield’s First Church, met her untimely end during a sermon in the episode “Sashes to Sashes” from the show’s 37th season. The episode aired on November 16, 2025. Alice Glick, a character who has been part of the series for 35 years and 34 seasons, was initially ... Read more

A 26-year-old woman, believed to be an undocumented immigrant, has been accused of sending explicit photos and messages to a 12-year-old boy in an attempt to lure him sexually, according to law enforcement officials in Jasper County, Texas. The woman, identified as Susanna Mendoza, allegedly engaged in this inappropriate behavior, which was discovered by the boy’s parents who promptly alerted the police. Sheriff Chuck Havard of Jasper County expressed concerns that Mendoza might attempt to ... Read more

A 32-year-old man was fatally stabbed on Monday evening at a group home on the 21000 block of Tuscany Avenue. The incident, which occurred during a dispute, led to the apprehension of a 57-year-old resident at the scene. The police also recovered a folding knife, suspected to be the weapon used in the crime. The case is currently being investigated and is expected to be reviewed by the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office. Charges could be ... Read more

In a tragic turn of events, a 14-year-old girl from Illinois, identified as Kylie Toberman, was found dead in an RV parked behind her home, just hours after she was reported missing last Friday. Arnold B. Rivera, a 43-year-old man with a history of legal issues, has been arrested and charged with her murder. Toberman, a promising young wrestler, was reported missing from her Vandalia home around 6:30 a.m. on Friday. Her lifeless body was ... Read more

Film maker Leni Riefenstahl outlived the Third Reich by 56 years, but she never escaped complicity with it. She notoriously produced Triumph of the Will, a celebration of a Hitler 1934 Nuremburg rally, and Olympia, her ode to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. She was personal friends to Hitler, and some alleged something more. Likewise for Joseph Goebbels. Riefenstahl lived actively until 2003, to the age of 101, never expressing regret. A magnetic personality across her entire century-long life, Riefenstahl became a star in 1932 with The Blue Light, which she produced and in which she starred as a mountain nymph. Hitler admired her as the ideal Teutonic woman and invited her into his circle, which led to Triumph of the Will. Marching Nazi columns festooned with banners parade with choreographed magic, with Hitler, flying into Nuremburg through the clouds like the messiah, as the object of adoration. One million rally participants made the film a propaganda extravaganza. Hitler and Goebbels were permanently grateful. Riefenstahl, after that triumph, was the natural pick for filming the 1936 Olympics, another Nazi propaganda opportunity with a global audience. Riefenstahl masterfully focused on the physical beauty of the triumphant athletes, including black American runner Jesse Owens. Her camera techniques for filming athletes on the move were groundbreaking at the time. Olympia gained international including American acclaim. Now a global star, she gushingly credited Hitler for energizing Germany. In 1939 Riefenstahl was obligingly on hand to film Germany’s invasion of Poland. She evidently was distressed by some of what she witnessed. A photo of her with German soldiers shows her horrified face. She may have been witnessing the execution of Jewish laborers, whose removal at her behest from a camera shot inadvertently led to their immediate murders. Riefenstahl stopped making Nazi propaganda movies but did not end her friendship with Hitler. During the war Riefenstahl filmed, with Nazi funding, another movie Tiefland, in which she used gypsies loaned from a local concentration camp, many if not most of whom were later murdered at Auschwitz. The movie did not release until 1954, to critical acclaim. She always denied any knowledge of the origins or fate of her involuntary gypsy extras, just as she would always deny any memory of the executed Jewish laborers on her Polish film shoot. After the war, Riefenstahl was arrested but cleared by Allied authorities of any egregious Nazi links, deemed merely a “fellow traveler.” Thereafter for decades she excelled at photography, including the 1972 Olympics in Munich, celebrities like Mick Jagger, and most famously the Nuba people in Sudan, whose athleticism and physical beauty bewitched her. She lived among the Nuba people for months at a time, and Sudan appreciatively made her a citizen. She took up scuba diving and underwater photography. At age 98 she survived a helicopter crash in Sudan. In 1966 she began her romance with a man 40 years her junior, who stayed with her until her death in 2003. She was routinely interviewed by media, like Sixty Minutes, and never failed to be captivating. She talked endlessly but never uninterestingly. Some journalists were more aggressive than others about her Nazi ties. She was never a party member, won all her 50 defamation suits, and candidly admitted she was captivated by Hitler starting with her first exposure to him in 1932, like much of Germany, she stressed. But she never had knowledge of Nazi crimes, she always claimed. Riefenstahl the new German-made documentary makes her claims look absurd. She almost certainly eye witnessed the execution of Jewish laborers cleared at her request and knew the origins and fate of the gypsy film extras. Beyond those incidents, her access to high level Nazis, including Hitler and Goebbels, not to mention just living for 12 years in Nazi Germany, made ignorance impossible. Most interestingly, the documentary shows her fifty-year friendship with Albert Speer, Hitler’s favorite architect who became Hitler’s armaments minister, churning out weapons like a wizard even as Allied bombs fell. Speer at his Nuremburg trial accepted some responsibility for Nazi crimes while denying he knew details. He left Spandau Prison after twenty years, resuming his ties to fellow artist Riefenstahl. who recorded some of their calls. She asks him how much he charges for interviews, which turns out to be much less than she does. And he shares his home address with her, which he does only with his most “intimate” friends. They strolled through the countryside together, no doubt sharing many memories. Later historians found that Speer almost certainly had firsthand knowledge of the Holocaust. Riefenstahl likely knew fewer specifics than Speer, but she knew more than she ever admitted. When asked by one interviewer if she had not noticed the disappearance of Jewish neighbors, Riefenstahl adamantly insisted the Jews she knew, like her doctor, escaped to America and never “disappeared.” And she asked, with no sense of self-awareness, who could believe gypsies, who claimed she knew of their dire fate, over a film star like herself? She pronounced that she was nonpolitical and would have obligingly made films for Stalin and Roosevelt, no less than for Hitler. She was devoted to her craft above all politics, without acknowledging the amorality. Many post-war Germans who lived through the Third Reich applauded Riefenstahl’s insistence of ignorance and lack of apology. They too wanted to pretend not to have known. If anything, they were victims too. To the extent that had supported Hitler, they had been seduced, like everybody else, which at least partly absolved them of responsibility. Riefenstahl’s anguished face in the photo from Poland indicates she saw horrors and she had some conscience, at least more so than the soldiers with her who look stoic or indifferent. Perhaps her denials are directly inverse to the level of her guilt. Her example is instructive now. This week is the 80th anniversary of the start of Nuremburg trials, where her friend Speer and other Third Reich chieftains faced judgement. We also are living amid a new era of minimization of Nazi crimes. Commentator Nick Fuentes, with millions of followers, identifies with “Team Hitler,” with Tucker Carlson interviewing him uncritically. Podcaster Darryl Cooper, whom Carlson has already interviewed uncritically, also minimizes Nazi crimes and villainizes Churchill. Patrick Buchanan, who villainizes Churchill and is a WWII revisionist, is also now in vogue among many. Some trumpet Buchanan as the ideological victor over William Buckley, who faulted Buchanan for animus against Jews. Airbrushing history can be appealing but also sinister. Riefenstahl the documentary is a needed warning against airbrushing, minimizing, or forgetting terrible atrocities and the ideologies that enable them. To airbrush is to open windows to justification and potential repetition.  

At a COP30 fringe summit, women who’ve protected the rainforests for centuries demand access to UN climate funding

A Republican-led bill in the House of Representatives could fast-track the next financial crisis by lowering regulatory barriers, including minimum capital requirements, for new and some existing community banks. The financial-industry-backed legislation will make it easier for banks to form with fewer assets, even though new banks typically fail at higher rates than more established

At the beginning of November, after a tour spent collecting tributes and flattery across East Asia, Donald Trump left behind a region that has been further destabilized by his ignorance and impulsive behavior. The one-year trade truce between the United States and China dominated media coverage of the last leg of his itinerary, which took

Economic insecurity is rampant and devastating. In Canada, a minimum-wage worker working full-time cannot afford a one-bedroom apartment in fifty-three of the country’s sixty-two urban regions. In the UK, 74 percent of parents find it difficult to meet childcare costs, and 10 percent are food insecure. In the United States, things are even worse: 770,000

In Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson argue that administrative bloat is strangling America’s ability to build homes, clean energy, and public goods. Klein spoke with Jacobin’s Bhaskar Sunkara about what this means for the Left — and for any politics serious about governing.

NGO said it could lose EU cash after we revealed it won reproductive health grant despite abortion disinformation

November 2025 marks the three-year anniversary of Massachusetts voters approving a 4 percent surtax on annual incomes above $1 million. What this means is that if you live in Massachusetts, you pay 5 percent of your annual income up to $1 million. If you make any more than that, you pay 9 percent on income

Israel’s killing of at least 225 Palestinian journalists since October 7, 2023, briefly attracted international attention after it was calculated that more journalists have died in Gaza than died in the US Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and 2000s, and

Days after U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan was announced, senior Hamas member Zaher Jabarin directed attention to the West Bank, where Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades operate. Jabarin described the territory as key in the terror group’s campaign against Israel, and warned that continued Israeli policy, including attempts to “Judaize” Jerusalem, would set off a powder keg in the West Bank. The threat was not mere bluster; it was a warning to Israel’s security establishment that Hamas envisions a violent future for the West Bank.  Currently, Hamas’s future is in limbo. The group agreed to the first phase of Trump’s plan, which entailed the release of all remaining Israeli hostages, both living and deceased, in exchange for a partial IDF withdrawal from Gaza and the release of Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons, including other stipulations. Subsequent phases of the ceasefire dictate that Hamas must disarm and step back from governance in the war-torn enclave.    This disarmament is hypothetical since Hamas has not agreed to anything beyond the first phase of the ceasefire. Some may even label the prospects of a Hamas disarmament in Gaza as a pipe dream. Still, it illuminates another question: Should the United States stipulate that Hamas be disarmed in the West Bank, not just Gaza?  Fundamentally, the answer is yes.   Hamas is a terrorist organization whose leaders and members are principally split between Gaza and Qatar. And while Gaza has always served as the organization’s nerve center, the West Bank has been its second home for decades, and a key territory in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s “unification of arenas” doctrine.   Disarming Hamas in Gaza would effectively hobble the group’s activities in the coastal enclave. But without applying similar stipulations to Hamas in the West Bank, the Islamist organization and its allies will renew their efforts to foment terrorism on Israel’s doorstep.   The Jewish state cannot have a “de-radicalized terror-free zone” in Gaza while the same enemy operates miles from the capital and other major cities without the same constraints.  President Trump has demonstrated that the United States has the political clout to compel some of Hamas’s allies to pressure the Islamist group into accepting political deals that it may initially oppose. While Hamas is an independent entity, it relies heavily on allies like Qatar and Turkey that also seek Trump’s favor.   Hamas’s significantly diminished state in Gaza, coupled with months of sustained Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations in the West Bank, has created an opportunity for the United States to impose the Gaza ceasefire’s stipulations on Hamas in the West Bank.   After all, the White House has signaled it has an ambitious goal: to bring “lasting peace to the Middle East.” Why not seize the opportunity to take a step closer to achieving that goal while Hamas is weakened? The opportunity will not last forever.  While Hamas’s actions in Gaza have received the lion’s share of media attention since the atrocities of October 7, 2023, terrorist activity by the Islamist group and other Palestinian factions in the West Bank has been less visible.   It has been almost eleven months since the beginning of Operation “Iron Wall,” an IDF initiative in the West Bank to root out a campaign of terrorism waged by Palestinian armed groups and their backers. Since then, the IDF has stymied the export of terrorism that plagued Israeli communities on both sides of the Green Line. The results of the IDF’s operation paid off in April 2025, a month that recorded the lowest number of West Bank attacks in five years.   Since then, however, Hamas and its allies have continued to operate in the West Bank. In June, Israel’s internal security service, the Shabak, hailed the arrest of some 60 Hamas members across the West Bank as the “largest and most complex investigation” in the West Bank in a decade.    The Islamist group’s allied Palestinian extremist organizations also showed signs of resurgence in the territory, creating an environment ripe for Hamas to reestablish itself should diplomatic or military pressure weaken its Gaza branch.   PIJ exemplified this trend when it announced in October that it had launched a campaign that targeted IDF drones and other reconnaissance assets in the West Bank. “All our military formations continue to inflict pain on the enemy through new field tactics according to the realities and conditions of the battlefield,” the group stated.   Complicating matters, Tehran demonstrated that its 12-day war with Israel in June had not deterred it from pursuing its long-standing policy of supporting Palestinian terrorist groups. Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, accused Iran in early October of smuggling advanced arms to terrorist groups in the West Bank. The agency revealed that it had confiscated a shipment of 29 claymore-type explosives, four drones, of which two were explosive, 15 anti-tank missiles, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, 20 hand grenades, 53 pistols, seven rifles, nine machine guns, and 750 rounds of pistol ammunition.   If Iran’s attempts to smuggle heavy weaponry into the West Bank were not troubling enough for Israel, they were far from the only threat emanating from Tehran.  The IDF’s discovery of a homemade rocket in the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem on September 24, just days after dismantling a terror cell near Ramallah, which produced dozens of crude projectiles, was a significant development. Following the two incidents, Israeli security officials reportedly assessed that “foreign elements, led by Iran,” were working to establish rocket launching capabilities in the West Bank — akin to those possessed by pre-war Hamas in Gaza — that could target central Israeli cities like Tel Aviv, Kfar Saba, Ra’anana, Netanya, Afula, and Beit She’an.   These recent activities by armed Palestinian terror groups, statements from their leaders, Israeli counterterrorism operations, Iranian efforts to foment chaos in the West Bank, and the release of hundreds of terrorists to the contested region during recent Gaza ceasefires not only demonstrates that terrorism is on the rise in the territory but that Hamas and its allies are carrying out a deliberate campaign to destabilize the West Bank once again.   In the optimistic scenario that sees Hamas in Gaza voluntarily comply with disarmament (or being militarily compelled into doing so), a counterterrorism plan will be needed to combat West Bank branches of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations to prevent their reconstitution right on Israel’s doorstep, a threat that would loom even closer than Gaza.  This can be accomplished by demanding that the same stipulations that apply to Hamas, for example, in Gaza, be applied to branches of Hamas in the West Bank. Otherwise, the threat is simply being shifted from being contained in Gaza to being dispersed around Israeli communities in the West Bank, presenting a future decentralized terrorism threat that could see Israel’s major population centers become the target of future attacks in a post-ceasefire paradigm. 

We formed a union to resist the violence of mainstream treatment. Collaboration will be the key to our success

This year, thousands of New Yorkers clawed political power out from establishment Democrats and brought it back home. When we elected Zohran Mamdani as mayor, we proved that the future of the city belongs to its people, not billionaire donors. Despite running against a campaign made up of fear, craven racism, and millions of dollars,

With the latest Jeffrey Epstein revelations, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds. There’s so much interesting and scandalous stuff in the tranche of more than 20,000 emails released by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform last week that you can find yourself thinking: “Wait, why does this all matter again?” Most

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We have every reason to mistrust police, but the case against Joey the Player briefly showed us something different

What is the agenda of the political left? The American political philosopher Jean Bethke Elshtain affirmed that it seeks “a thoroughly secularized society, one stripped of any and all public markers and reminders of religion.”1 Chief Justice William Rehnquist once observed that the Supreme Court “bristles with hostility to all things religious in public life.”2 Radical secularists and atheists reflecting confusion regarding the meaning of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause have repeatedly attempted to remove “In God We Trust” from United States currency. A secular undertow ever pulls Americans away from a founding principle of the American republic affirmed in the Pledge of Allegiance: the United States of America is one nation under God.  George Washington and Our Foundational Laws  The pre-eminence of God over the political community was assumed in the founding legal documents of the new American nation and in the first public address delivered by the first American head of state. The position that the American people are dependent upon God for His blessing was included as the final sentence of the Declaration of Independence: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”3 A reference to the God of Christianity was included in Article VII of the United States Constitution: “Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven.”4 The conception that the new government would be under God appeared in the First Inaugural Address of George Washington. He publicly acknowledged God, stating that his “first official Act” as president would be the “tendering” of “homage to the great Author of every public and private good” and the offering of his “fervent supplications” that the “Almighty Being who rules over the Universe” would give his “benediction” and would “consecrate” the new “Government.”5 Abraham Lincoln and Divine Providence  The perspective that governments conduct their business and that nations live under the watchful eye of God continued to show itself on the national stage in the speeches of Abraham Lincoln. The president concluded the Gettysburg Address by acknowledging that the American political tradition entailed a commitment to the idea of a virtuous people deliberating under God.6 Lincoln affirmed this hope: “That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”7 Lincoln likewise manifested a providentialist view of history in his Second Inaugural Address as he contemplated the Civil War and the judgment of God upon the sins of the American people. Lincoln declared, “If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him?” Even if the “mighty scourge of war” should continue indefinitely, Lincoln professed this faith: “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”8 Jonathan Edwards  The perspectives imbedded in our founding documents and articulated by our renowned statesmen had been forcefully stated by the eminent New England theologian, Jonathan Edwards, who reinforced the longstanding providentialist view of history that had existed in the American colonies. He too believed that adverse events in the political community should be directly traced to divine judgment. We see this in his sermon delivered on the occasion of the death of the New England statesman John Stoddard. Edwards asserted, “The removal of such rulers from a people by death is to be looked upon as an awful judgment of God on that people, and is to be greatly lamented.”9 Edwards applied this doctrinal position to the event at hand, the death of New England’s statesman: “The awful voice of God in this providence is worthy to be attended to by this whole province, and especially the people of this country, but in a more peculiar manner by us of this town.” The death of Stoddard led to a sobering, but nevertheless inescapable conclusion: “We have now this testimony of the divine displeasure, added to all the other dark clouds God has lately brought over us, and his awful frowns upon us.” Stoddard’s passing, Edwards affirmed, was not an accident. It was a reminder of the governing authority of the Most High, “an awful manifestation of his supreme, universal and absolute dominion, calling us to adore the divine sovereignty.”10 A Prosperous and Happy Nation  It should be noted that there was an Augustinian orientation to Edwards’ political theory. In other words, his political thought went beyond the American political tradition, which valued life within a happy and prosperous political community characterized by self-government, a condition that can only exist on the basis of the embrace of the true religion and the practice of private and public virtue. He stood in continuity with the Augustinian theological trajectory, rooted in Scripture, affirming that the ultimate commitment of the Christian is to the City of God.   Augustine of Hippo had expounded upon Christianity and politics in the early fifth century. He taught that when God is pleased to place Christians in positions of political power such occurrences cause much happiness in the Christian community. Augustine asserted, “As far as those who are endowed with true piety and who lead a good life, if they are skilled in the art of government, then there is no happier situation for mankind than that they, by God’s mercy, should wield power.”11 Furthermore, national greatness and blessing in Augustinian thought is directly related to the embrace of true religion and the practice of moral behavior. What would have happened, Augustine asked, if the Romans “had recognized the one God, and given him the worship of sincere faith and pure lives?” He then answered his own question, “They would have had a better dominion—whatever its size—here on earth, and would have received hereafter an eternal kingdom.”12 He further stated concerning Rome, “If the teachings of Christianity on justice and morality had been listened to and practiced,” the “Roman commonwealth would now enrich all the present world with its own happiness.”13 Ultimate Beatitude in the Heavenly Country  Augustine desired a well-ordered political community. He was devoted to the prosperity of the state. He wanted to have the temporal blessings of God showered upon the earthly commonwealth as a result of its commitment to virtue and decency.14At the same time, however, he never set his ultimate hope upon the political orders that can be achieved by man here in this world. “True justice,” he maintained, “is found only in that commonwealth whose founder and builder is Christ.”15Thus, “the Heavenly City outshines Rome, beyond comparison.”16 Augustine’s deepest longing was for the City of God. He said, “We sigh for her beauty while on our pilgrimage.”17  Abraham Lincoln also understood that ultimate happiness is not to be found in the political communities of this world. He would not have disputed the statement that “human life is compelled to be wretched by all the grievous ills of this world.”18 “In this sad world,” said Lincoln, “sorrow comes to all.”19 He stood with those who “desire a better, that is, a heavenly country.”20 He had spoken of heaven as the place in which there would be “a joyous meeting with the many loved ones gone before.” “Through the help of God” he expressed his desire to join them before long.”21 On that fateful Good Friday of his assassination, Lincoln displayed a cheerfulness that amazed his wife Mary. That afternoon, he told her, “We must both, be more cheerful in the future.”22That evening the president accompanied his wife and two guests to Ford’s Theatre where Lincoln referred to, as Augustine put it, “the name of the City” which has a mystic significance.23 The president told Mary in a suggestive and loaded statement that he would like to “visit the Holy Land and see those places hallowed by the steps of the Savior” and that “there was no city on earth he so much desired to see as Jerusalem.”24 The yearning of Jonathan Edwards for the heavenly country was no less than that of Augustine or Lincoln. The death of John Stoddard, he said, was “a loud and solemn warning to all sorts to prepare for their departure hence.”25 He ever proclaimed that we need to be ready so that we may inherit the kingdom of heaven. This was the ultimate political community which held his deepest allegiance. Edwards’ son, Jonathan Edwards, Jr., echoed the thinking of his father regarding the primacy of the world above in this declaration: “How happy that people is, whose God is the Lord, not only as this circumstance lays a foundation for their political good, but especially as it lays a foundation for true virtue and piety, for peace and comfort here and eternal happiness in the favour of God hereafter.”26  Jean Bethke Elshtain, “The Bright Line: Liberalism and Religion,” New Criterion 17 (March 1999): 8.  ↩︎Terry Eastland, “A Court Tilting Against Religious Liberty,” in “A Country I Do Not Recognize”: The Legal Assault on American Values, ed. Robert H. Bork (Stanford: Hoover Institution, 2005), 97.  ↩︎“Declaration of Independence,” in The American Republic: Primary Sources, ed. Bruce Frohen (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2002), 191.   ↩︎ “The Constitution of the United States of America,” in The American Republic: Primary Sources, ed. Bruce Frohen (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2002), 239. ↩︎George Washington, “First Inaugural Address,” in An American Primer, ed. Daniel J. Boorstin (New York: Mentor, 1966), 192. ↩︎Willmoore Kendall and George Cary, The Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University Press, 1995), ix.  ↩︎Abraham Lincoln, “Gettysburg Address,” in Classics of American Political and Constitutional Thought, ed. Scott J. Hammond (Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett, 2007), 1113.  ↩︎Abraham Lincoln, “Second Inaugural Address,” in Classics of American Political and Constitutional Thought, vol. 1, ed. Scott J. Hammond (Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett, 2007), 1117–18. ↩︎Jonathan Edwards, “A Strong Rod Broken and Withered,” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 25, ed. Wilson H. Kimnach (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), 316. ↩︎Edwards, “A Strong Rod Broken and Withered,” 330. ↩︎Augustine, City of God, trans. Henry Bettenson (London: Penguin, 1972), 213–14.  ↩︎Augustine, City of God, 170.   ↩︎Augustine, City of God, 70. ↩︎Augustine, City of God, 70, 170. ↩︎Augustine, City of God, 75. ↩︎Augustine, City of God, 87. ↩︎Augustine, City of God, 205. ↩︎Augustine, Concerning the City of God against the Pagans, trans. Henry Bettenson (London: Penguin, 1984), 857. ↩︎Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life, vol. 1 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 25. ↩︎Hebrews 11:16. ↩︎William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik, Herndon’s Lincoln, ed. Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2006), 21. ↩︎Richard Carwardine, Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006), 315.  ↩︎Augustine, Concerning the City of God against the Pagans, 865. ↩︎Recollected Words of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Don E. Fehrenbacher and Virginia Fehrenbacher (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996), 297. ↩︎Edwards, “A Strong Rod Broken and Withered,” 329. ↩︎Jonathan Edwards, Jr., “The Necessity of the Belief of Christianity,” in Political Sermons of the Founding Era, 1730–1805, ed. Ellis Sandoz (Indianapolis: Liberty Press, 1991), 1211 ↩︎

British Army is putting 16- and 17-year-olds at risk of abuse in desperate drive to increase troops. That must change

An 11-month investigation reveals culture of violence, criminality and sexual abuse at army training centre for teens

Amy Coney Barrett’s new book, Listening to the Law, is, prima facie, about her understanding of law, the Constitution, and the Supreme Court. As such, it is worthwhile reading for anyone seeking a better understanding of the judicial branch of government. And yet, learning more about the American legal process was not the primary reason I trekked to New York City to attend a live interview with Barrett. Instead, I was more interested in Barrett as a person, and particularly as a woman. The hysteria on both the right and left over Barrett’s nomination to the Court and subsequent decisions betrays a deeper cultural crisis over the meaning of American womanhood. While Barrett’s very existence as a stereotype-defying conservative, Catholic, professionally successful mother of seven has provoked the ire of many, I also believe her example can lead America toward a better understanding of the role of women in America—past, present, and future.   Barrett first came to my attention in 2017, when Sen. Dianne Feinstein memorably remarked that “the dogma lives loudly within you, and that is of concern” during Barrett’s confirmation hearing for the 7th Circuit.  Along with many other Americans, I was impressed by Barrett’s performance in the face of such criticism, and I began to perceive her as a role model for conservative Christian women determined to combine traditional family life with professional success.   In her book, Barrett does not present herself as a political symbol, and she admits to preferring a quieter, less public life. And yet, like it or not, she has become an American icon. There is no better proof of this than the hostility she has provoked from both the progressive left and the reactionary right.   With the potential to cast a deciding vote in overturning Roe v. Wade, any Trump nominee to the Supreme Court in 2020 would inevitably agitate the left. And yet, her vilification specifically as a conservative, Christian woman was highly revealing. Much was made of her membership in the ecumenical Christian organization People of Praise, which used to refer to its female leaders (including Barrett) as handmaids. (In the interview I attended, Barrett ruefully acknowledged that she has received plenty of “handmaid” costumes in the mail from detractors). She was portrayed in popular media as a subjugated, passive wife and mother who somehow was also poised to wield power that could strip her fellow American women of their hard-earned rights. The left treated her as a threat because she was: her life exposed the falsity of the core progressive narrative that traditional Christian values and women’s progress must be at odds.  Barrett has also drawn the ire of some on the political right as well for failing to toe the MAGA line on cases like Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition. Any Trump-appointed justice would have faced criticism, and yet I suspect that the response to Barrett was particularly vitriolic because the modern political right never coalesced around a vision of American womanhood amenable to both motherhood and public, professional success. On the contrary, reactionary tendencies such as the “tradwife” aesthetic and calls to “repeal the 19th (Amendment)” have become worryingly commonplace. Barrett never fit neatly into any conservative model for womanhood. Getting in the way of Trump’s agenda, even slightly, has gotten her labeled a “DEI hire“—a woman where she doesn’t belong.  Barrett, perhaps more than any other contemporary figure, has revealed the deep fissures in American society over what it means to be a woman. In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville observed that the strength of America lies in its women. Is it therefore any wonder that upheaval in and disagreement about the role of women would contribute to a broader crisis of American identity? Much of the culture wars can be explained by Americans’ failure to create a cultural model for womanhood that encompasses both their equality with men in terms of innate dignity, rights, and intellectual capacity in conjunction with their distinctive ability to bear and mother children, what legal scholar Erika Bachiochi has termed “sexual asymmetry.”   While Barrett’s rise to the highest court in the land has exposed contradictions in our approach to “the woman question,” she also offers insights to help craft a realistic and positive vision of American womanhood.  She does so primarily through her treatment of two remarkable women: her own great-grandmother, and American founding mother Abigail Adams.  Listening to the Law opens and closes with Barrett’s reflections on a photo of her great-grandmother’s house that she keeps on her desk. She recounts that, despite the house’s small size, her widowed great-grandmother managed to raise a large family while also lodging multiple relatives and allowing homeless men to take shelter under the porch or stop for dinner. Reflecting on her own jam-packed family and work life, Barrett writes:  “Somehow, she always managed to find the resources, space, and time. With much less than I have, she took on much more. Looking at the photo reminds me of a woman who stretched herself beyond all reasonable capacity…(S)he motivates me to keep trying.”  Midway through the book, Barrett describes another picture displayed in her office: a portrait of Abigail Adams. In Adams, Barrett finds a role model and kindred spirit. She notes Adams’ “confidence and grit”—words that would aptly describe Barrett herself—and her busy home life as the mother of many children. Although barred from holding public office or even voting, she nonetheless “kept a hand in two worlds, attending to both the needs of her family and the concerns of government. Sometimes, she felt torn between them.” In one of the book’s most introspective passages, Barrett writes:  “Abigail reminds me of the sacrifices made to get our nation off the ground. And if she could look down from her portrait, I hope she would be proud…I can do something Abigail could not: work simultaneously as a mother and a justice of the Supreme Court. Her life, like the Constitution itself, evokes both history and hope.”  By drawing connections between her own life and those of her great-grandmother and Abigail Adams, Barrett shows us that remarkable American women were “stretch(ing)” themselves “beyond all reasonable capacity” long before the concept of having it all took hold.   And yet, for Barrett and the women she models herself on, it was never about having it all; it was about giving it all. This, I suspect, is the key to understanding Barrett’s ability to gracefully manage career and family. It is also essential to understanding what has gone wrong in today’s discourse on women. When the conversation centers on having it all (or not), self-sacrificial love, the most powerful force in the universe, goes unacknowledged.   Barrett, as much as anyone, embodies American women’s long tradition of selfless dedication to family, community, and country. Embracing this tradition can not only propel a mother of seven to the SCOTUS, but can also help resolve the identity crisis over what it means to be an American woman, and, by extension, what it means to be American . We need not reinvent American womanhood; we need only reclaim the attitude of so many women who helped build our nation and repurpose it for the 21st century. With her dedication to family, faith, and public service, Barrett offers a powerful example of how this can be done. 

OPINION: The idea that developing countries are merely at earlier stages of a universal path to prosperity is misleading

It’s a cliché at this point to remark on the level of division and polarization facing the United States today. Despite our current cultural and political climate, it’s also true that we have faced significant division before and emerged intact on the other side. Without oversimplifying our unique challenges in the present, we can learn a great deal from the man who led our nation through the turbulent events of the Civil War. In his many speeches, Abraham Lincoln was deliberate, thoughtful, and noticeably void of triumphalism. In the conclusion of his Second Inaugural Address, Lincoln encouraged “malice toward none” and “charity for all.” These are certainly sentiments we would do well to live by in our politically charged age.  As historian Allen Guelzo notes in Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President, while the opening of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, “Four score and seven years ago…” remains widely known, its biblical context can seldom be recalled: “The days of our years are threescore years and ten;and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years,yet is their strength labour and sorrow…” (Psalm 90:10) One of the most powerful characteristics of Lincoln’s oratory was his ability to invoke and allude to unifying cultural touchstones, especially sources that Americans commonly held in high regard. The opening words to the Gettysburg Address highlight this perfectly by drawing the audience’s attention to both the Bible and the Declaration of Independence, each of which nearly all Americans looked upon as authoritative. Through such allusions, Abraham Lincoln cultivated unity in a deeply divided nation. Perhaps eight score and two years after its delivery, we can cultivate national unity around texts like the Gettysburg Address. After all, that is what Lincoln was attempting to do in the first place.  None of Lincoln’s speeches was so brief yet so beloved as the Gettysburg Address. Even so, on November 19, 1863, his audience was reportedly unimpressed. While the keynote speech preceding Lincoln lasted for two and a half hours, Lincoln’s address was so short that the attendees barely registered when it had ended, his sublime oratory receiving barely any applause. His delivery lacked flare. Lincoln even failed to use hand gestures, opting to hold both sides of the paper as he read. Lincoln’s carefully chosen words, nevertheless, continue to inspire Americans one hundred and sixty-two years later.  Earlier that year, the costliest battle of the Civil War was waged on the sprawling hills and open fields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Approximately seven thousand men died, and another thirty-seven thousand were either wounded or missing. The striking irony of the battle was its transpiring on July 1-3 of 1863; the very eve of America’s Independence Day. Rather than celebrating their united victory over the British, America was rending itself asunder.  Lincoln’s oratory was frequently peppered with biblical language. While he was far from unique in this regard, his use of scripture proved so effective that many modern Americans assume a phrase like “a house divided against itself shall not stand” originated with Lincoln, rather than Christ (Matthew 12:25). We also tend to miss biblical allusions in the great texts of American history because past Americans almost uniformly referenced the King James Version of the Bible, a translation with which even religious Americans are less and less familiar. Historian Mark Noll outlines this narrative of the loss of a shared American moral vocabulary in his tome America’s Book: The Rise and Decline of a Bible Civilization, 1794-1911. Noll contends that Lincoln borrowed the phrase “Four score and seven years…” not only from Psalm 90, but also from Rabbi Sabato Morais of the Mikveh Israel Synagogue in Philadelphia. While little known today, Morais used the now-famous phrase, “Four score and seven years ago…” in a sermon on July 4, 1863. Whether Lincoln drew only upon Rabbi Morais’ sermon, or whether each directly drew upon Psalm 90, it is indeed noteworthy that Lincoln’s decision represented a clear effort to invoke an Old Testament passage that both Jews and Christians of varying stripes could look to as a common authority.  Scripture was not the only common source of authority to which Lincoln alluded. While the phrasing of “Four score and seven years…” was King Jamesian, Lincoln was alluding to a distinctively American event: the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Lincoln revered the Declaration of Independence and invoked it often throughout his political career. At the outset of the war, Lincoln emphasized that Americans needed to “re-adopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it, the practices, and policy, which harmonize with it.” (Allen Guelzo, Our Ancient Faith, 33) For Lincoln, the Declaration of Independence was the ultimate unifying document for Americans. Regardless of their religious or ethnic differences, Lincoln argued that when Americans “look through that old Declaration of Independence they find that those old men say that ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,’ and that gives them a right to claim it….” (Allen Guelzo, Our Ancient Faith, 89) In his book What I Saw in America, G.K. Chesterton described the Declaration of Independence as America’s founding creed. Lincoln certainly treated it as such. From the outset of his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln harkened back to the Declaration with a plea that Americans might “long endure” with a common commitment to “the proposition that all men are created equal.”  In the midst of immense division, Abraham Lincoln aimed for unity by invoking America’s widely revered texts. Nineteenth-century Americans looked to the Bible and to their founding documents as sources of common authority. As Americans today silo into disparate corners of the internet, struggling to identify common causes with those across the aisle, we should learn from Lincoln how to cultivate a respect, reverence, and national identity around the texts that have both shaped and held our nation together. If we can all lay claim to this common heritage and identify with the truths of our nation’s most sacred documents, perhaps we can recover a shared sense of national purpose as we approach our nation’s two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary. 

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From calling for Tony Blair to be tried, to defending Gaza, Geoffrey always fought for everyone to have the rights they deserved

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As we approach one year since the overthrow of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, the possibility of a US-aligned Syria seems ever more likely. Former militant and now-President of Syria, Ahmad al-Sharaa, has positioned himself as a non-ideological pragmatist seeking to rebuild Syria by partnering with the West and the Gulf Arab monarchies, a sharp contrast with Assad’s close ties to Russia and Iran. Even so, many have been critical over the Trump administration’s rehabilitation of al-Sharaa given his past membership in al-Qaeda. While these concerns are completely understandable, they also miss al-Sharaa’s recent record, his incentives, and the substantial opening for American foreign policy in the Middle East. A realist foreign policy would acknowledge that, while al-Sharaa’s past crimes are detestable, the possibility of adding Syria to a Western-aligned coalition of Middle Eastern states is too strategically significant to discount. Beginning with the elephant in the room, the current President of Syria, Ahmad al-Sharaa, was a wanted terrorist who fought for al-Qaeda in Iraq and later served as the al-Nusra Front’s Emir in Syria. In 2017, he parted ways with al-Nusra and helped to create Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Sunni Islamist group that governed the Idlib region of Syria from 2017 to 2025. Al-Sharaa’s choices in ruling Idlib during that time betray his ideological departure from al-Qaeda and al-Nusra. Instead of prioritizing the implementation of a strict Salafi-Jihadist interpretation of Islam, his rule focused on institution-building, economic development, and expanding educational opportunities. That his Idlib-based government was engaged in intense fighting against al-Qaeda and ISIS attests to the fact that, at the very least, those groups long ago ceased to perceive him as an ideologically committed Salafi-Jihadi militant. To the surprise of many Western analysts, instead of ruling as an authoritarian, al-Sharaa began his rule as a moderate. He explicitly instructed his forces to respect minority places of worship, especially churches. He met with delegations of different religious groups, including Christians, Druze, and Shia. Beginning in January of this year, his government began cracking down on Islamic State, thwarting an attack on the Shia Sayyida Zainab Shrine in Damascus and retaliating against the terror group after the Mar Elias Church attack in June. Following al-Sharaa’s November 10th meeting with President Trump in Washington, DC, it was announced that Syria would officially join the United States’ anti-ISIS coalition.  Furthermore, he has declined to implement compulsory hijab for women, has trimmed his beard to appear more Western, has begun wearing Western-style suits, and has appeared in public with his wife to display a more moderate and friendly image. While some critics believe al-Sharaa’s performance is purely for the sake of PR, it’s important to note that truly committed Islamist militants generally don’t abandon their entire ideology once power is attained. We saw that with the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, where strict restrictions were placed on women and minority groups as soon as Kabul was conquered.  Al-Sharaa has proven to be a complex and contradictory figure whose past and present don’t necessarily align. During his teenage years, he fell deeply in love with an Alawite girl, but both families rejected the relationship. His later role as a dyed in the wool Sunni Islamist militant has also come into question, having long been viewed as two-faced and untrustworthy by some in Islamic State. Since his split with al-Nusra in 2017, he’s often been described as a moderate pragmatist. It begs the question of whether al-Sharaa is truly motivated by a desire to create an Islamic emirate or to rebuild Syria into an economically prosperous and internationally connected nation. So far, the latter seems to be the case. On the international stage, al-Sharaa has worked to establish new relations with the West and Gulf States. The Trump administration has reacted positively to his efforts, recently endorsing a repeal of the Caesar Act, a major sanctions bill levied against Assad’s Syria. Following their November 10th meeting at the White House, Donald Trump has now met with al-Sharaa twice. After their May meeting in Saudi Arabia, Trump described him as “young” and “attractive.” Aside from their warm personal relationship, al-Sharaa’s Syria plays a crucial role in the United States’ regional strategy. An allied Syria gives the United States a major advantage: a counterweight against Iran. First, a stable Syria would showcase the positive benefits of transitioning from an Iranian satellite to an America-aligned hub of prosperity. Syria’s neighbors, Iraq and Lebanon, are increasingly penetrated by destabilizing Iran-backed terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). These groups serve only to advance Iran’s disruptive imperial agenda and to keep their respective states weak and fragmented. Instead of seeking to emulate the wreckage seen in Lebanon and Iraq, under al-Sharaa Syria looks to emulate the wealthy Gulf Arab states in their approach to development and alignment with the United States. Second, Syrian economic development and institution-building would be the first step in fulfilling the Trump administration’s vision of a peaceful Middle East. In his October speech to the Israeli Knesset on the proposed peace plan in Gaza, President Trump optimistically said, “This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East.” Syria would set the precedent for technocratic development of war-torn areas like Gaza and Iraq, reorienting much of the Middle East towards economic development and prosperity rather than continued bloodshed over centuries-old religious and tribal feuds.  But al-Sharaa’s rule has certainly not been without its problems. More radical elements of his army and allied militias have perpetrated horrific war crimes and massacres against Alawite, Christian, and Druze minorities, the latter of which prompted an extended Israeli air campaign against al-Sharaa’s army. However, these crimes have been falsely attributed to al-Sharaa and his central government, rather than the lack of institutional unity that plagues his new Syria. Currently, the Syrian military is composed of various militias, many of which are not on board with al-Sharaa’s pragmatism. While the disunity currently endemic to al-Sharaa’s regime is certainly a cause for concern, the wrong approach would be to label al-Sharaa’s Syria as an enemy state, which would serve only to prolong the suffering and isolation of the Syrian people. Instead, the US should leverage its influence over Syria in order to prevent future persecution while simultaneously supporting economic development and international integration. Washington’s new man in Damascus not only serves to provide a counterweight against a destabilizing Iran and establish a new ally in the region, but also brings hope to the Syrian people who have yearned for the light of freedom and prosperity.

A decade after the Paris Agreement, a new global race has begun

The last whispers of the Greatest Generation are fading into permanent silence. This Veterans Day, out of the more than 16 million Americans who served in World War II, fewer than 50,000 are still alive. In only a few years, none will be here to give us their firsthand accounts. Only faded pictures, tarnished medals, and yellowing letters will remain to tell us of the cataclysmic story that reshaped the world. With each passing, we not only lose a life, but also a visceral link to the sacrifices that forged the free and prosperous world we inherited. We likewise take one step closer to forgetting their valor altogether, drifting towards the complacency they would warn us of. The result will inevitably be an America perilously blind to history’s hard-won lessons and too afraid or ill-prepared to confront the tyrants gathering anew.  The victory of the Greatest Generation is more than a timeless epic. It serves as the foundational narrative of modern civilization and American hegemony. The Greatest Generation is as much the author of the American story as George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton. Mobilized from a Depression-ridden country, these young men, many barely out of their teens, confronted the Axis with conviction and resolve. As Admiral Nimitz said, “uncommon valor was a common virtue.” America fought for freedom, democracy, and human dignity. But what better defines their collective mission is what they fought against – tyranny, oppression, and genocide. The victories they fought for were not abstract but were paid for in lives, suffering, and immense personal sacrifice. More than 400,000 Americans died across blood-soaked beaches and flak-filled skies. My grandfather, a soldier in the 86th Infantry Division, handed the flailing German Army its final defeat in 1945, liberated a concentration camp, and received a Bronze Star for valor. He passed away a few years ago and his stories exist only now in the fading memories I have of his voice. But these profiles in courage extended beyond the battlefield.  In place of the vanquished totalitarian regimes, new principles and institutions were constructed to etch this victory into international law and prevent the recurrence of another global conflict.  Instead of resting in the excess of conquest, America rebuilt ravaged economies and guaranteed free peoples security from tyrants. Our forebears led a nation that was safe, prosperous, and driven. It was deliberate stewardship, ensuring the peace they bled for endured. The dividends of this effort were eight decades of unprecedented global stability and prosperity. The U.S.-led order curbed totalitarian tendencies, lifted billions out of poverty, and enshrined human rights as international gospel. Without it, the world we live in today would be fractured by authoritarian enclaves and imperial spheres of influence rather than the flawed but functional free world that flourished under the Pax Americana.  We owe them not just gratitude, but the vigilance to preserve what they built. As these guardians of freedom pass away, so does the raw urgency of their truth. Subsequent generations view World War II as distant lore, rather than an ever-relevant cautionary tale. Foreign tyrants are emboldened by this amnesia. Russia invaded Ukraine because Vladimir Putin sensed we had forgotten the 1938 Munich appeasement, with its promises of peace that weren’t worth the paper they were written on. President Biden even suggested the U.S. would permit a “minor incursion” of Ukraine. China’s shadow looms even larger. Under Xi Jinping, the communist regime has sent millions to concentration camps and threatens to conquer its neighbors by force, mirroring both Nazi Germany’s genocidal rage and Imperial Japan’s expansionism, both of which only met their end when American indifference gave way to courage and determination.  Today, rather than responding with decisive force, America delivers a collective shrug, largely because the heroes of World War II are no longer here to embody the lessons of history. As the veterans of the deadliest conflict in human history depart from this world, so does the moral clarity that once rallied us to confront such evil. It’s a scathing indictment of our own inward-looking self-interest. We have become a nation that has forgotten that, absent our willingness to defend what is good and righteous, totalitarians don’t reform but rather metastasize. With it, our national purpose withers and is replaced by a vapid pride untethered from good deeds. An America unmoored from the story of its Greatest Generation will breed a less secure military, frayed alliances, and dulled national motivation, rather than the power and resolve necessary to keep despots in check. The stakes are existential.  On every possible occasion, the heroic stories of the Americans who saved the world must be told, their sacrifices detailed, and their memory honored. Most importantly, the world they fought for must be preserved, even at great cost. In policy, we must let the legacy of our World War II veterans be our guide, not as a eulogy, but as a solemn call to arms. In the quiet of their passing, the Greatest Generation is entrusting us with a sacred charge; remember history, or repeat it.

The 1970s movement paved the way for queer, Black, trans and sex working feminist organising across the world today

‘When your environment is polluted, it’s destroyed, and you no longer have the right to live’ – Ken Saro Wiwa

The past two years have made one truth unmistakable: international politics remains a contest of power. Israelis, Palestinians, and Iranians stand where they do at the end of the war because of asymmetries of strength and skill. International courts and NGOs roared from the sidelines, but the game was decided on the field. Yet there is also a second truth: power alone is not enough.  The Christian realist practices a limited realism—one bounded by awareness of the unseen realm and God’s hidden purposes in history. Unlike the pacifist, he respects the use of power to restrain evil. But unlike other realists, he remembers that invisible forces are always shaping history and driving it toward an appointed end. In an age obsessed with winning and losing, he knows that political victories often coexist with spiritual defeats, and that the sons of Adam are never simply winning or losing—they are always doing both at once. The recent war offers no shortage of paradoxes. Under President Trump’s mediation, the fighting has apparently ended. Optimists await a new dawn of peace; pessimists warn of renewed conflict. Both are right. The war is over for now but will reappear in new forms, and perhaps soon. Every solution contains the seeds of the next conflict. The war’s outcomes remain mixed across the board. Twenty hostages returned home amid joy and tears, yet Hamas refuses to disarm and still holds the bodies of several captives in defiance of the deal. The motives of at least two of the deal’s four guarantors—Turkey and Qatar—are suspect to say the least, and would-be members of the International Stabilizing Force are less than forthcoming. The Palestinian Authority, which hopes to govern Gaza, remains illegitimate and unpopular. Meanwhile, 90 percent of Palestinians believe the atrocities of October 7 were fabricated to make them look bad. Or consider the Abraham Accords, poised for renewal. Trump officials insist several Arab and Muslim states are ready to normalize ties with Israel. Yet public opinion in those countries is more hostile to Israel than ever, and the dam restraining that hostility may not hold forever.  The United States’ role is equally complex. American weapons and intelligence helped turn the tide in Israel’s favor. In brokering a ceasefire, Trump accomplished what no other leader could do. But what if Kamala Harris had won the presidency, or Trump had heeded the restrainers in his party rather than the hawks? America is still the world’s dominant power, but its internal fractures are more apparent than ever. Power without unity breeds unpredictability and distrust; and distrust breeds instability. Israel, for its part, transformed a near-catastrophe into a stunning victory. It defeated its enemies on multiple fronts with audacity and innovation—yet it could not have done so alone. Without the United States, Israel might have drowned beneath the flood. More troubling still are the long-term effects of the war on Israeli society—divided before October 7, 2023, and perhaps more so now. Military triumph does not equal civic strength. Beyond the battlefield, Israel’s adversaries are more numerous and emboldened than ever. In the UN, in international courts, in the parliaments of Europe and the streets of Western capitals, the chorus of hostility grows louder. And yet Israel’s allies, though fewer, are more committed and fervent than before. Such contradictions are to be expected. The philosopher Jacques Maritain called it the “double movement of history”—the simultaneous advance of good and evil, progress and decay. He took the idea from Augustine, who in turn took it from the prophet Daniel, who was the first to describe history as a story of rising and falling empires under the ever-moving hand of God. Christian realism is not a foreign-policy doctrine but a way of seeing the world. The Christian realist honors the prudence of the statesman and the courage of the soldier, yet never forgets that both serve within a drama directed by unseen hands. He knows that the world’s conflicts are neither final defeats nor final victories, only new turns in the same long story.  The Christian realist acts decisively, but never absolutizes his cause. He wields power responsibly, but remembers that spiritual realities—not just material ones—determine whether nations stand or fall. He welcomes peace agreement, but does not mistake them for peace itself. The Christian realist’s response to the Gaza deal is both gratitude and grief—gratitude for a fragile peace, and grief for the invisible wounds it leaves behind. Americans, Israelis, and Palestinians are now wrestling with painful questions that politics alone cannot answer. And now we have to answer them.

Last week, we found ourselves opponents in the World Series, but allies where it matters most: Keeping the people of our cities safe. While the Dodgers and Blue Jays competed in the World Series, our police departments came together, uniting over something more lasting than the Commissioner’s Cup: our commitment to public safety.  As the World Series was being played at Dodger Stadium, the Los Angeles Police Department hosted the International Leadership in Mass Events course, a program designed in the “Spirit of the LA Olympics” to bring together law enforcement leaders from around the world to share lessons learned and best practices in managing mass public events. Our goal is to ensure that cities like Los Angeles are fully prepared to host upcoming global events, including the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games.   Among the participants were representatives from the Toronto Police Service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and counterparts from Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Spain, and Australia, alongside local partners from across Los Angeles County. Each brought the after-action reviews and insights from their national experience, such as their Olympics, F1 races, and events at the Vatican. What we covered was how to keep crowds safe while maintaining open, welcoming cities; how to manage real-time information sharing; how to coordinate between police, emergency responders, and elected officials when every second counts. This exchange wasn’t just about tactics and procedure; it was about trust. In today’s world, where the safety of our communities depends as much on relationships as it does on resources, this represents a broader strategy of subnational diplomacy. Cities and local governments often find themselves at the forefront of encounters that transcend borders: public safety, crowd management, cybersecurity, and misinformation, among them. While national governments work (or don’t) to address these issues at scale, it’s local government that can move quickly, share intelligence directly, and implement practical solutions where people actually exist. The bond between Los Angeles and Toronto is a perfect example. Despite being separated by nearly a continent and policing under different governments, our two cities face remarkably similar challenges: managing large sporting events, hosting major demonstrations, and maintaining the safety of millions of residents and tourists. Through programs like this, we’re not simply learning from each other; we’re building a shared foundation of readiness that benefits both our nations. As we look ahead to the coming years of constant mass events, the lessons of this course will help make people’s experiences around the globe focused on the events themselves and not that which goes wrong. They’ll also ensure that when the world’s attention turns to our cities, what stands out isn’t just the spectacle of the games, but the quiet professionalism and coordination that make them possible. While some raise concerns that political polarization has created inaction in our national capitals, the future of diplomacy may be increasingly “sub-national.” Cities have to step into the vacuum and form partnerships that deliver results where national governments cannot. This kind of cooperation doesn’t just strengthen public safety; it restores faith that government can still serve its most fundamental purpose: improving the lives of its citizens. So while the Blue Jays may have fallen short this season, Toronto can claim a different kind of win, one that will echo in the safety and resilience of our cities for years to come. Because when our departments collaborate, everyone wins.