The World is Watching

While Trump was busy hearkening back to segregationist-era maxims and militarising against the eruption of protests in the wake of George Floyd’s callous death, his foreign adversaries adopted a different tact. From Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei tweeted that “A human… has no reassurance to live in society, if…a police officer can beat him to … Read more

Big Oil: Chevron In Ecuador

Today, neoimperialist powers often undermine the autonomy of Latin American politics and economics, especially on environmental issues. Although it is usually not perceived in such a way, environmental degradation is essentially a site of neocolonial conquest through the exploitation of natural resources and marginalization of disenfranchised communities. The longstanding legal battle between Chevron and some … Read more

Pocketbook Protests: Small Price Changes that Trigger Mass Protests

Sometimes it is the tiniest spark that lights the largest fires. Small pocketbook items have become the catalysts for large-scale protest movements around the globe in the past months. A four-cent raise in metro fares in Chile, fluctuations in the price of onions in India, and a twenty-cent tax on the use of the messaging … Read more

COVID-19 and the Politicization of Personal Protective Equipment

Healthcare workers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE). The COVID-19 pandemic will not be contained without international solidarity and coordination, but not all high-level cooperation is productive — in fact, the politicization of some responses has critically compromised them. A particularly high-stakes example of this trend is the distortion of the personal protective equipment (PPE) supply … Read more

Australian PM Details Trump Relationship, Says Obama Called Him “a Lunatic”

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull broke confidence earlier this week, spilling on his previously private engagements with both Presidents Obama and Trump. Throughout the tome entitled “A Bigger Picture,” Turnbull offers character assessments of various world leaders, and perhaps none were more eyebrow-raising than his disclosure of President Barack Obama’s own appraisal of then-candidate … Read more

The Political Economy of Australia’s Wildfires

Australian Parliament building in aftermath of wildfire. This past summer, Australia experienced one of the most devastating fire seasons on record. Over a period of 80 days, forty-six million acres of bushland were razed (an area larger than Portugal), an estimated one billion animals were lost, including endangered species, and 2,500 homes were destroyed. Tragically, … Read more