Archaeological ruins at Mohenjo-daro, Sindh, Pakistan -- Saqib Qayyum, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Adam S. Green Inequality and Urbanism Today’s cities are hotbeds of inequality. Urban real estate is one of the most expensive kinds of land in the world. It attracts billionaires looking to store their wealth and hedge funds looking to garner predictable returns: New York’s avenues, Paris’s thoroughfares, and Dubai’s dazzling skyscrapers are great at making the rich

The Republican Party’s crusade to cap or abolish local property taxes is the latest tactic in their effort to drain funding from public education. By Jeff Bryant In what is being touted as the “Golden Age of School Choice,” the option that is most popular with American families—to fund and attend their local public schools—is gradually being made less viable. Take North Carolina, for instance. For years, the Republican-dominated state legislature has chosen to cut the state’s

Trump is flouting regulations to reap billions for himself, as ordinary Americans teeter on the edge of economic ruin. Trump on May 19 -- public domain image By Sonali Kolhatkar President Donald Trump has brazenly engaged in what appears to be insider trading. A bombshell story published in Bloomberg on May 14, 2026, revealed that Trump made thousands of stock trades in the first quarter of this year with companies connected to the government. This isn’t fake news. Bloomberg

Trump and Xi Jinping on May 15 -- public domain image By Vijay Prashad The scenes unfolding in Beijing were carefully choreographed, yet politics can never be reduced to mere spectacle. When US President Donald Trump traveled to China for his summit meeting with Xi Jinping, Western media, as it often does, fixated on spectacle: lavish banquets, honor guards, theatrical gestures that were designed to flatter the US president. Yet beneath all this ritual lay another reality, ha

Voting in Callao, Peru on April 12 -- Johnattan Rupire, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By José Carlos Llerena Robles For some time now, we have maintained that there are three fundamental categories for understanding the Peruvian situation, especially following the popular victory of rural teacher Pedro Castillo Terrones in the presidential elections of 2021. Now, in 2026, in light of the still-unresolved Peruvian electoral process held on 12 April, we can confirm that t

Automation has shaped governments for decades, but new AI-driven systems are taking on functions from warfare to welfare. Promising speed and efficiency, their growing influence over decision-making complicates political accountability and risks autonomous governance being beyond human control. Miami-Dade fully autonomous patrol vehicle -- image via news video screenshot By John P. Ruehl In April, the General Services Administration announced plans to automate 1 million work

Trump arrives in Beijing -- image via the White House on X By Tings Chak From Beijing this week, the first US state visit to China in nine years is being staged for the world to see. The Great Hall of the People is open to Donald Trump, who has traveled with eighteen US executives—Apple, Tesla, BlackRock, Boeing, and Nvidia among them. A state banquet on Thursday, followed by tea and lunch on Friday. On the streets of Beijing, ‘the Beast‘ has been securing the motorcade route

Often promoted as sustainable, fish farming can increase pressure on wild fisheries, deepen global food inequities, and damage marine ecosystems. Asc1733, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Laura Lee Cascada Fish farming, a form of aquaculture, is now the fastest-growing form of factory farming worldwide. This rapid expansion can be attributed to the industry’s emphasis on buzzwords such as “climate,” “conservation,” and “sustainability.” While discussions about land-base

Viewing food as a system of biological signals helps explain why diets affect people differently and how nutrition can better support metabolism, mental health, and long-term well-being. Touzrimounir, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Michael S. Fenster Modern nutrition science has continued to see food through numbers. Calories, macronutrients, ingredient lists, and percent daily values have become the primary language of eating. This approach, often referred to as “nut

US President George W. Bush speaks with Ghana President John Agyekum Kufuor during their meeting at Osu Castle, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008 in Accra, Ghana By Vijay Prashad In February 2008, beneath the harsh afternoon sun of Accra, US President George W. Bush stood before a small gathering of journalists and dismissed swirling rumors with a chuckle. The United States, he claimed, had no intention of building military bases in Africa. “That’s baloney,” he said. The casual, dismi

A dangerous right-wing solution to homelessness is to hide the unhoused in out-of-sight detention camps. Image via X By Sonali Kolhatkar A 2024 Treasury Department report articulated the leading cause of homelessness in the United States: “For the past two decades, rents and house prices have been rising faster than incomes across most regions of the United States.” The logic of this claim—based on documented evidence—is straightforward. People aren’t earning enough to pay re

Tax the Rich placard -- Yuri Keegstra from Milwaukee, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Gary M. Feinman Political debates about democracy often focus on culture, leadership, or polarization. But history points to a more prosaic—and more powerful—driver of political outcomes: how governments raise revenue. Across thousands of years of human history, the strongest predictor of whether power is shared or concentrated is not population size, technological sophistication

A scene in Tehran, March 4, 2026 -- Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Ali Abutalebi On April 7, the Prime Minister of Pakistan posted on X a call for an ‘extension of the deadline,’ following Donald Trump’s threat to destroy Iran’s ‘civilization.’ Shortly afterward, diplomatic sources announced that U.S. and Iranian authorities had agreed to a ‘ceasefire’ and to resume talks in Islamabad. These developments came after 40 days of unprovoked aggression aga

Gathering in Tehran on April 7 in memory of the Minab students killed on the first day of the war -- Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Carlos Ron and Vijay Prashad The United States has agreed with Iran to cease hostilities for two weeks. The illegal US and Israeli imposed war has not ended but has a break, although not in Lebanon which was supposed to be part of the deal. Just before the ceasefire was announced, the Iranian authorities released a ten-p

Trump with Pete Hegseth on March 23 -- public domain image By Vijay Prashad US President Donald Trump has increasingly become unhinged as the war on Iran has not gone as he imagined. Both the United States and Israel felt that a series of domination strikes against Iran would decapitate the leadership of the country and force the remaining mid-level leaders into surrender. The miscalculation of the Trump-Netanyahu agenda has been total: a depth of wartime leadership has emerg

Trump addresses the nation, April 1, 2026 -- public domain image By Dae-Han Song Trump is infamous for his cavalier disregard for the truth. So, we, in South Korea, should inspect his words and claims critically. In fact, many of the claims in his recent 1 April (US time) address are false and constitute disinformation. So, let’s cut through the fog of war: Lie One: The US is Winning the War Against Iran. The US might have air and naval superiority, but Iran’s control of the

Protestors outside of the federal courthouse in Manhattan, March 26, 2026 -- image via news video screenshot By Celina della Croce Venezuelans in the News On the morning of 26 March 2026, two crowds gathered outside of the federal courthouse in Manhattan where President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores sat awaiting their trial, set to begin at 11AM that day. On one side was a group of protestors gathered behind a large yellow banner that read “Free President Maduro

Coup president Jorge Rafael Videla assuming power in 1976 -- public domain image By Julián Bokser It has been fifty years since the coup d’état of 24 March 1976, one of the most tragic chapters in Argentina’s recent history: a dictatorship that combined state terrorism with a structural transformation of its economy. Throughout the 20th century, the country experienced six interruptions of its democratic order—in 1930, 1943, 1955, 1962, 1966, and 1976—but the last coup ushere

Signs at a No Kings protest in Washington DC, March 28 -- G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Biljana Vankovska We are living through times where the architecture of global peace is not merely crumbling; it is being deliberately dismantled. The drums of global war beat louder than ever, drowning out the voices of reason. Across the globe, imperial power grinds forward, indifferent to human lives. In the face of such force, silence is complicity. We are com

Trump and Vance at a ceremony for the return of the remains of six U.S. soldiers killed in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait, Saturday, March 7, 2026 -- public domain image By Vijay Prashad Last year, in July, the United States and Israel bombarded Iran’s nuclear energy and nuclear research facilities over twelve days. After a few days, the two belligerent powers—who had no United Nations authorisation for this war of aggression—opened the door for a ceasefire . At that time,