Venezuela's legislature advancing an amnesty bill proposed by acting President Delcy Rodríguez -- image via news video screenshot By Guillermo Barreto On 20 May 2017, during a violent protest planned by sectors of the Venezuelan opposition, 21-year-old Orlando Figuera was attacked by a mob that accused him of being a Chavista. After being stabbed, he was doused with gasoline and set on fire in front of everyone present. Young Orlando was admitted to a hospital with multiple

The arrest of a drug kingpin in Mexico has reignited debate over how active U.S. military and intelligence forces are in Mexico and where they might be headed. Marco Rubio meets with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico City, Mexico, September 3, 2025 -- public domain image By John P. Ruehl FBI Director Kash Patel’s announcement on January 23 regarding the arrest of Canadian drug trafficker Ryan Wedding in Mexico led to immediate diplomatic tension between Washingto

Portraits of Chavez, Bolivar and Maduro in Venezuela -- Guaiquerí, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Celina della Croce U.S. President Donald Trump has not shied away from admitting his thirst for Venezuelan oil. On 16 December 2025, in the leadup to the 3 January bombing of Caracas and kidnapping of the country’s president and first lady, Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, he claimed ownership over Venezuela resources, stating that “America will not… allow a hostile regime to tak

The global energy map is being redefined and brings Tehran and Caracas together: gaining control of their oil wells requires military power. January 2026 marks a turning point: Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and President Donald Trump both held key meetings with the hydrocarbon business sectors, confirming what had been hinted at for some time in analyses: the US needs to take control, by any means possible, of Venezuela and Iran’s oil resources. In Venezuela, a

An election campaign poster of Pheu Thai Party on the Charot Withi Thong Road in Sawankhalok district, Sukhothai province, January 2026 -- image via Chainwit, Wikimedia Commons By Kay Young As Thailand goes to the polls, three visions compete: one which experiments in strange new populist economics, one which critiques from the seminar room, and one paying to keep the countryside quiet. In the Thai election, scheduled for 8 February, we can see the Global South’s political la

Not only are Californians struggling to make ends meet, they also have to contend with a governor who cares more about billionaires and his own presidential aspirations. Newsom at a press conference in May, 2025 -- Office of the Governor of California, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Sonali Kolhatkar California Governor Gavin Newsom has spent 2025 setting himself up as Donald Trump’s leading opponent and the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nominee . While the Tru

Mark Carney speaks at Davos -- video screenshot By Raïs Neza Boneza Western Power and the Persistence of Colonial Structures There are moments in global politics when the mask slips—not because power suddenly discovers morality, but because maintaining the performance becomes too expensive. Recently in Davos , the Canadian Prime minister Mark Carney did something unusual. He admitted—almost casually—that the so-called  rules-based international order  has never quite been wha

Board of Peace signing ceremony -- public domain image By Milkaela Nhondo Erskog Khaled Abu Jarrar, a 58-year-old Palestinian from Beit Hanoon, now shelters in Gaza City’s former Legislative Council building—one of thousands of structures repurposed as displacement camps after Israel’s genocidal assault reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble. His wife was recently diagnosed with liver cancer. She needs urgent treatment abroad, but the Rafah crossing remains sealed.  As intern

Pinarayi Vijayan speaks at an LDF rally in Kerala in January, 2026 -- image via Facebook By Nabil Abdul Majeed and Nitheesh Narayanan In 1945, two years prior to India’s independence, the current Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, was born into a working-class family in northern Kerala. He was his mother’s fourteenth child; of the thirteen siblings born before him, only two survived. His mother was an agricultural labourer and his father a toddy tapper. They belonged

Flag of Rojava By Vijay Prashad The agreement that terminated the Syrian Kurdish enclave was presented by its signatories as a pragmatic settlement. But, in fact, the deal is a major political defeat for the Syrian Kurdish political formations. Certainly, the rapid advance of the Syrian armed groups loyal to President Ahmad al-Sharaa broke the resistance of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the largely Kurdish group, but this advance can only be understood by the total back

Mass rally in Tehran condemning US and Israeli threats and intervention in Iran, January 12, 2026 -- Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Biljana Vankovska Anyone from the former Yugoslavia will immediately understand the title. Mujo is a legendary (though fictional) Bosnian character, the protagonist (together with his inseparable friend Haso) of countless jokes that generations of Yugoslavs grew up with. Wars took many lives, erased towns, and destroyed f

Greenland's flag -- Christoph Strässler, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Lotte Rørtoft-Madsen On 14 January, a few hours before the historic meeting in Washington between representatives from Greenland and Denmark and their U.S. counterparts, J. D. Vance and Marco Rubio, Denmark and several of its NATO allies reinforced their military presence in Greenland and announced that more reinforcements would follow. Some interpreted this move as pressure on the Trump Administr

Image via X By Vijay Prashad Iran is in turmoil. Across the country, there have been protests of different magnitudes, with violence on the increase with both protesters and police finding themselves in the morgue. What began as work stoppages and inflation protests drew together a range of discontent, with women and young people frustrated with a system unable to secure their livelihood. Iran has been under prolonged economic siege and has been attacked directly by Israel an

The relationship between Cuba and Venezuela transcends traditional diplomacy; it is a phenomenon of direct confrontation against imperialism and a model of cooperation between peoples that has transformed the geopolitics of the Caribbean and South America. This alliance is not a recent or improvised development; it has deep roots, and its destruction has become a primary strategic objective for the United States. Chavez and Castro meet, December 1994 By Carmen Navas Reyes Bac

Delcy Rodriquez sworn in as acting Venezuelan president with Maduro's son as part of the ceremony -- image via video screenshot on X By Vijay Prashad and Carlos Ron On the early morning of January 3, the United States government launched a massive attack on Caracas, Venezuela, and three of the country’s states. Roughly 150 aircraft swarmed the skies, bombing with exceptional ferocity. Amongst these aircraft were EA-18 Growlers equipped with the most advanced electronic warfar

Nicolas Maduro at a rally at the end of December -- image via his Facebook page By Taroa Zúñiga Silva and Vijay Prashad A little after 2am, Venezuela time, on 3 January 2026, in violation of Article 2 of the United Nations Charter, the United States began an attack on several sites in the country, including Caracas, the capital. Residents awoke to loud noises and flashes, as well as large helicopters in the sky. Videos began to appear on social media, but without much context

Gaza, December 2025 -- image via the UNRWA on X By Vijay Prashad On 19 January 2025, a ceasefire took effect to halt the Israeli bombing of Palestinians in Gaza. This ceasefire emerged from a mediation process by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, which had been sealed in June 2024 with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2735 . However, the Israelis rejected the agreement and waited until Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election to proceed so that Trump coul

Far right Chilean President Elect Kast in October -- Equipo Kast, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Taroa Zúñiga Silva and José Roberto Duque The disappointment felt by many left-wing supporters in Latin America has been renewed with the recent democratic victory of the far right in Chile. This sentiment is particularly poignant as it reflects the struggles of those who identify politically with progressive ideals. Much of this disappointment stems from a simplistic and lin

Obama, Clinton and Biden, along with members of the national security team at the Situation Room of the White House during the operation to kill Bin Laden -- Pete Souza, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Raïs Neza Boneza If everything you thought you knew about the War on Terror were nothing more than a mirage—an extravagant shadow-play staged by geopolitical puppeteers—would you really be surprised? After all, the last two decades have taught us two things: nothing se

Ursula von der Leyen, Volodymyr Zelensky, Mark Rutte & António Costa, December 8, 2025 -- © European Union, 2025, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad Sitting in a lively room in the University of Amsterdam, I ask a question about the respect accorded by students to their former Prime Minister and now head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Mark Rutte. The room is animated and funny. No-one seems to accord Rutte with the respect that he might deser