Opinions
Why Xinjiang Is Emerging as the Epicenter of the U.S. Cold War on China
On March 22, 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken authorized sanctions against Wang Junzheng, the secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Committee of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), and Chen Mingguo, director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau (XPSB). These sanctions, Blinken said, have been put… »
Universalist Humanism and the Pandemic
The aim of this presentation is not to analyse the causes of, the responsibilities for, nor viable solutions to the pandemic. Considering that the COVID-19 situation has aggravated the instability of both institutional systems and individuals worldwide, I shall begin by acknowledging that it is precisely such moments of instability… »
The continued battle to manufacture consent for War against Russia, via Syria
This week while attention in the Middle East was focused on talks between Iran and other world powers to re-establish the Iran Nuclear Deal and get the USA re-signed up to it, a report came out of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague,… »
The Hibakusha Park – a place of remembrance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Europe
Hibakusha Park is a memorial in honor of the atomic bomb victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the Nimy campus of Mons University in Belgium. This park, dedicated to the abolition of nuclear weapons and created by Professor Pierre Piérart in 1989, has lost its appeal more and more. Some… »
Will the World Ever Know Peace?
Even though FBI data has indicated that violent crime rates in the United States declined between 1993 and 2019, violence continues to be a pressing issue in this country (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/20/facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/). In fact, according to TIME magazine, 2020 was one of the most violent years in the United States in… »
The Dirty Campaign Underlying Ecuador’s “Free and Fair” Election
Ecuador’s April 11 election that led to a 5-point victory by conservative banker Guillermo Lasso over progressive candidate Andrés Arauz was not what it appeared to be. On the surface, it was a surprisingly clean and professional election, as our CODEPINK official observer delegation witnessed. But a fraud-free process for… »
From George Floyd to a Cultural Reconciliation Process
Daunte Wright’s death Sunday night, April 11, in Brooklyn Center, 10 miles south of Minneapolis, came as the city already was on edge, in the middle of the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd last May. In remarks to the nation, US President… »
Hate Taxes But Love WWII? You Obviously Don’t Know Where Taxes Came From
The United States excels at hating taxes, and for good reason. The U.S. government gives you damn near nothing in return for them. You pay them at a higher rate than do billionaires or corporations. Cheating is permitted only if at a sufficiently large scale. And once you’ve paid your… »
Daunte Wright’s Killing Makes the Case for Shrinking Police Budgets
How many Black people have to be killed by police before politicians realize that expensive reforms don’t work? By Sonali Kolhatkar Three weeks into the Minneapolis trial of Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd, a white police officer in the neighboring suburb of Brooklyn Center killed a young… »