Ahead of the US midterm elections, voters need to clearly articulate a radical framework for spending our collective wealth. Police officers applauding Trump, August 2026 -- public domain image By Sonali Kolhatkar A recent New York Times editorial by Tim Wu, a former antitrust adviser for the Biden administration, caught my eye for the criticism it leveled at Democrats for making affordability a central issue ahead of the midterm elections. Wu contends that the party needs to

Delegates walk out as Netanyahu begins his speech at UN -- image via news video screenshot By Vijay Prashad When Benjamin Netanyahu rose to address the United Nations General Assembly on September 24, the rows of empty seats spoke before he did. Diplomats walked out, while others stayed away from the outset. News reports citing an Israeli tally put the number of delegations absent or departing at 77. This was not a recorded UN vote, nor did all 77 stage a coordinated walkout.

While genuine concern exists, constant warnings from AI companies serve as both a marketing tool and a consolidation strategy. As major companies manage stock prices and upcoming IPOs, the benefits of portraying the technology as powerful and dangerous are becoming clear. By John P. Ruehl Just weeks before its scheduled November IPO, Anthropic is facing growing attention over the potential dangers of its technology. The resignation of former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon o

US security agreement signing with Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen during the United Nations General Assembly, in New York City, New York, September 22, 2026 -- public domain image By Vijay Prashad Donald Trump’s campaign to bring Greenland under United States control has often been dismissed as bluster. That is a mistake. Behind the language of a property deal lies a serious attempt to revive an old imperial pri

Group photo of BRICS Member/Partner Countries Outreach Invitees and Heads of International Organisations at the 18th BRICS Summit -- Prime Minister's Office (GODL-India), GODL-India, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad The 18thBRICS Summit, held in New Delhi on September 12–13, occurred amid an exceptional intensification of international contradictions. Wars in West Asia, unilateral sanctions, tariff barriers, and the weaponisation of finance and technology have exposed t

USS Abraham Lincoln, May 29, 2026 -- public domain image By Benyasiri Eimviriyapong The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for a ‘leisure trip’ in Thailand before returning to its campaign of destruction against the people of West Asia demands immediate interrogation and opposition. For us Thai people, and those in sites of American plunder across the globe, this a rattling of the US’ cold war colonial chains on its most loyal lap dog, while conducting a war of aggre

Image via X By Vijay Prashad In Minaçu, in the northern part of the Brazilian state of Goiás, the landscape bears the scars of an earlier mineral rush. For decades, the town depended on the Cana Brava asbestos mine, whose prosperity was inseparable from lethal illnesses and a long history of environmental damage. Now Minaçu has been recruited into another promised future. At the Pela Ema mine, Serra Verde extracts rare-earth elements required for electric motors, wind turbine

Massive state and federal lawsuits take Meta to task over widespread harm to children. sharpemtbr, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Sonali Kolhatkar As a mother of two children who has often been on the losing side of family battles against screen time, I’ve been closely monitoring New Mexico’s landmark lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook. State Attorney General Raúl Torrez took the company to task to protect children “from sexual abuse, online sol

Axadem, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad Dear friends and colleagues, The United States and Israel launched a war of aggression against Iran in February of this year. For six months, US missiles and bombs have fallen upon civilian and military targets inside the country. Hospitals, schools, energy facilities, and neighbourhoods have been struck. The 168 schoolgirls killed in Minab have become the terrible symbol of this war. Iranians have been forced to live

Mass protest in Argentina against the land bill on August 7 -- image via news video screenshot By Julian Bokser Javier Milei’s government recently suffered a double defeat. The first occurred in the streets, with massive protests against his plan to liberalize land purchases by foreigners. The second took place in the halls of the Argentine Congress, where he failed to secure enough votes to pass the bill as presented. Both defeats point to the same thing: a power project tha

Daniel Noboa, March 2026 -- public domain image By Pilar Troya Fernández President Daniel Noboa governs Ecuador with increasingly authoritarian methods. Elected in 2023 and reelected in 2025, he has concentrated power in the executive branch, clashed with the Constitutional Court, abused states of emergency, and turned the justice system into a tool against his opponents. Analysts and human rights organizations describe a drift toward a dictatorial edge: a leader who preserve

Protests against the government in Tirana on June 13, 2026 -- Albinfo, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Biljana Vankovska When one has witnessed not only a colour revolution in her own country (Macedonia, 2015–2016) but also sensed its arrival during Ukraine’s Euromaidan in 2014, every new outburst of supposedly spontaneous revolt provokes scepticism. Regrettably, this scepticism is usually justified. Nearly two years ago, I wrote similarly about student protests in Serbia

Around the nation, citizens are resisting the mass warehousing of immigrants—and finding some success. Alligator Alcatraz detention center, July 2025 -- SovNAT, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Sonali Kolhatkar As the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency rapidly expands its carceral powers, immigrant detention centers around the United States have been facing relentless public scrutiny. It appears the pressure campaigns are finally having an impact as some cent

Image via Venezuela Analysis on X By Guillermo Barreto On 24 June, Venezuela was celebrating two important holidays: the 205th anniversary of the Battle of Carabobo, the battle that sealed the country’s independence, and the feast of St. John the Baptist, declared by UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, a celebration with deep spiritual significance, especially for the Afro-descendant communities of Venezuela. A day of celebration that was cut short at 6:04 and 6:

A girl walks amid the devastation in Gaza, August, 2024 -- Jaber Jehad Badwan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad On June 23, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel release done of the most devastating reports ever produced by a UN investigative body on the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Its title is almost unbearable to read: The Essence of Childhood Has Been

U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft fly in formation, June 3, 2026 -- public domain image By Gisela Cernadas, John Bellamy Foster and David Vine U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed a $1.5 trillion military budget for the fiscal year 2027, which would increase by 44 percent the acknowledged budget for 2026. While a roughly $500 billion increase would be unprecedented in modern U.S. history, the idea that the military budget only recently hit $1 trillion is incorr

Tesla charging stations at Pacific Fair, Queensland -- Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Layne Hartsell, Max Wilbert and Ntafakabirhi-Aganze Clovis Like oil in the twentieth century, lithium is the ‘white gold’ of the twenty-first. Demand for this key element is driving economic growth based on the ‘renewable’ energy provided by lithium-ion batteries. Such batteries are necessary for storing energy from solar photovoltaics in order to make that electricity readily

Protestors in Nanyuki, Kenya, June 2026 -- image via news video screenshot By Busani Ngcaweni The main news item in African media this past week has been the controversy surrounding a proposed U.S.-funded Ebola quarantine facility in Kenya. What began as a public health initiative has rapidly evolved into a politically charged national dispute. The project has triggered protests and legal action. Two people have reportedly died during demonstrations. The High Court, according

Israeli forces operating around Beaufort Castle in Lebanon on May 31 -- IDF Spokesperson's Unit By Vijay Prashad There are moments in history when words lose their meaning. Not because dictionaries are rewritten, nor because language itself changes, but because political power empties words of the realities they once described. The word ceasefire has increasingly acquired this desolate quality when used by Israeli and US officials. What was once understood to mean the suspens

Itamar Ben Gvir in May, 2025 -- משטרת ישראל-לשכת גיוס, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad The Theatre of Punishment The treatment of the flotilla activists by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was shocking only to those who continue to clothe colonial violence in the soft language of security. There is now a mountain of evidence before humanity: Gaza has become not merely a place under siege but a geography of calculated despair, where star