In the first Republican debate of the 2016 election, Carly Fiorina told the American public that her second phone call from the Oval Office would be to the Supreme Leader of Iran, to whom her message would be “crystal clear: new deal, new deal.” Later, Donald Trump, on Good Morning America, in usual bombastic fashion, … Read more
“Everyone right? Thank you for being here tonight.” With that curt statement, Australian Government Whip Scott Buchholz began a speech that lasted 52 terse seconds. It was 9:50 P.M. on Monday, September 14. In his speech, Buchholz announced that Tony Abbott had just lost the leadership of the Liberal Party, and along with it his … Read more
The nightmarish Syrian Civil War has claimed many victims. 310,000 have been killed in the maelstrom, and even more have been driven from their homes. 6.5 million people have been displaced in the country, and 4.1 million have been forced to abandon Syria entirely. Taken together, approximately half of all Syrians have been forced to … Read more
This is not the first time in history that Europe has been forced to come to grips with an urgent and overwhelming refugee crisis. Nor, as it turns out, is it the first time that refugees have been slandered with xenophobic hate speech and broadly stroked suspicion. In 1933, T.S. Eliot proclaimed to an audience … Read more
On July 23, Turkey formally entered the American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State, granting the United States and its allies access to strategic airbases within its border with Syria and initiating its own air and artillery strikes to secure its southern border. While some have hailed the agreement as a milestone in the effort against … Read more
November 24, 2014: Kurdish Peshmerga loyal to the Kurdish Democratic Party advance upon ISIS militants lying in wait in Kharabarut, Iraq. They manage to take the city—temporarily. The KDP forces soon face an aggressive ISIS counterattack and decide to retreat to avoid any losses. Meanwhile, a nearby unit of Kurdish fighters loyal to the Patriotic … Read more
In early July, in Germany’s historic Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, academics and analysts from a wide range of disciplines gathered to participate in a research symposium on climate engineering. The fledgling field—only some of those present at the conference even consider climate engineering to be their primary research interest—has steadily been picking up … Read more
Three years ago, more than 700 million people in India experienced a blackout that lasted more than 10 hours. Power outages of this scale are not just an inconvience; they also disrupt commutes and business activity, adding to Asia’s many economic challenges. Coupled with today’s overcrowded trains and roads, crises like the one in 2012 … Read more
It’s 5:00 a.m. in Liaoning Province and a shrill whistle pierces the still air. All of a sudden, the lights turn on and a small group of eight-year-old boys springs up from the ground where they had been sleeping and start folding their blankets. They quickly put on their clothes and rush outside, meeting up with … Read more
It’s 5 a.m. in Liaoning Province, and a shrill whistle pierces the still air. All of a sudden, the lights turn on, and a small group of eight-year-old boys springs up from the ground where they had been sleeping and starts folding their blankets. They quickly put on their clothes and rush outside, meeting up with … Read more