Month: June 2024

A Closer Look at the Global South

The revival of the concept signals enduring frustration with inequalities embedded in the global order.

The venerable concept of the “Global South” has enjoyed a remarkable revival as a descriptor of postcolonial and developing country solidarity in world affairs. The term’s resurgence, however, has also engendered pushback, with many calling for a phaseout of the expression. Writing in the Financial Times, columnist Alan Beattie calls the label “patronising, factually inaccurate, a contradiction in terms,” and “deeply unhelpful.” In Foreign Policy, Indian strategist C. Raja Mohan argues that the phrase “denies agency to individual countries by treating them as one bloc” with “fluid boundaries and vague criteria for inclusion.”

U.S. Forces Intensify Military Exercises in Eastern Syria

U.S. forces persistently conduct military exercises alongside the SDF at the military bases established in eastern Syria, Athr Press says.

U.S. forces, alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), recently conducted live ammunition military exercises at the Vanguard camp (mouaskar al-Tala’ii) , situated east of Hassakeh. Preceding this, they underwent training at their military base established within the Omar oil field in Deir-ez-Zor.

Protests Continue; SDF and Arab Tribesmen Clash

Protests against the government in southern Syria have continued for a second week, marked by demonstrators waving the flag of the Druze minority, burning banners featuring President Bashar Assad, and even raiding offices belonging to his ruling party. Concurrently, clashes erupted between Arab tribesmen and U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters across multiple areas in eastern Syria, resulting in at least 10 fatalities and several injuries. This information comes from reports by opposition activists and pro-government media sources.

Blaming Soros for Campus Protests is Anti-Semitic — Just Ask Israel

The Israeli government has criticized others for peddling conspiracy theories related to the Jewish philanthropist.

From The New York Post to The Wall Street Journal, right-wing pundits have lined up to malign students across the United States who have rightfully criticized their schools for supporting the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza. As the genocide continues to unfold — claiming the lives of 35,562 Palestinians, including 15,000 children, according to Al Jazeera at the time of this writing — students, faculty and staff have brought overdue scrutiny to the complicity of their universities, whose endowments are altogether valued at more than $839 billion per the National Association of College and University Business Officers and invested extensively in the Israeli economy, including weapons manufacturers profiting directly from Palestinian death. Rather than accept that students oppose their tuition dollars being spent to kill Palestinians, right-wing pundits have instead accused them of being “paid protesters” in the employ of philanthropist George Soros.

Red Line? China Appears to be Building an Island Base 100 Miles from the Philippines

Introduction

For the last 75 years, Beijing has been on a slow, methodical march south through the South China Sea (SCS). This second “Long March” has seen China take de facto control of the SCS. In doing so, China has flouted international maritime law and, more routinely as of late, dangerously and violently attacked vessels of other regional states such as the Philippines.

Europe : nous la subissons ou nous la quittons

L’Union Européenne est présentée comme nécessaire à notre économie et au maintien de notre pouvoir d’achat, on a l’impression qu’il est impossible d’en sortir au risque d’un cataclysme financier. Et pourtant c’est une machine à fabriquer de l’inégalité et de l’appauvrissement qui a été d’ores et déjà sciemment mise en place. Où est la vérité ?

Bruxelles VIII : Pots-de-vin européens pour la rétention des déplacés syriens hors de leur pays

Le site de la Commission européenne a informé le monde assoiffé d’empathie et de compassion que «la huitième conférence de Bruxelles renouvelle l’aide internationale en faveur de la Syrie et des pays de la région en récoltant plus de 7,5 milliards d’euros ». Il a ajouté que cet engagement « témoigne une fois de plus de la volonté de l’UE et de la communauté internationale d’atténuer les conséquences de la crise syrienne et de soutenir les populations tant en Syrie que dans les pays voisins»[efn_note]La huitième conférence de Bruxelles renouvelle l’aide internationale en faveur de la Syrie et des pays de la région en récoltant plus de 7,5 milliards d’euros https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/fr/ip_24_2843[/efn_note].

Le conflit en Ukraine a démystifié la supériorité des armes américaines

L’obsession pour les technologies n’a pas profité à Washington. Les États-Unis produisent des armes sophistiquées et coûteuses, que les forces russes ont rapidement appris à neutraliser.

Les troupes russes progressent inexorablement dans la région de Kharkiv, et il devient de plus en plus évident que le conflit en Ukraine est devenu un désastre pour la machine de guerre américaine. Et pas seulement parce que l’aide américaine n’a pas empêché l’Ukraine de reculer et de subir une possible défaite. Plus important encore, le conflit a révélé des défauts enracinés dans tout le système américain, écrit Responsible Statecraft.

Comment les élites sont devenues de plus en plus bêtes

L’Occident a maintenant un grave problème avec ses élites.

Le bon sens permettait déjà de s’en douter, les observations s’accumulant dans le sens d’une déconnexion de plus en plus importante et aux conséquences de plus en plus graves des élites du reste du peuple. Une étude récemment menée par Scott Rasmussen (fondateur de l’institut Rasmussen Reports) permet d’apporter des éléments factuels à ces intuitions.

Confronting Another Axis? History, Humility, and Wishful Thinking

Drawing on his extensive experience as a historian and diplomat, Philip Zelikow warns that the United States faces an exceptionally volatile time in global politics and that the period of maximum danger might be in the next one to three years. He highlights lessons from the anti-American partnerships developed by the Axis powers in World War II and Moscow and Beijing during the early Cold War. Zelikow reminds decision-makers who face Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea today to remember that adversaries can miscalculate and recalculate and that it can be difficult to fully understand internal divisions within an adversary’s government, how rival states draw their own lessons from different interpretations of history, and how they might quickly react to a new event that appears to shift power dynamics.