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Another terror attack on Cuba: The 66-year war that Washington refuses to end
Since the triumph of the Revolution, Cuban authorities have documented approximately 5,780 separate terrorist acts directed against their country. Weapons seized from the US boat by Cuban authorities -- image via the Embajada de la República de Cuba en Francia on Facebook By Manolo De Los Santos On the morning of February 25, 2026, Cuban authorities thwarted yet another terrorist attack one mile off the country’s northern coast. When it was over, four men lay dead, six more w

The Left Chapter
4 hours ago6 min read


Will Mamdani Abolish Police, or Simply Make Them Obsolete?
Mamdani speaking on January 5, 2026 -- Metropolitan Transportation Authority, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Sonali Kolhatkar As part of his proposed city budget for 2026, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani just canceled the NYPD’s plan to hire 5,000 more police officers, undoing a key component of his predecessor Eric Adams’s initiatives. The move aligns with Mamdani’s campaign promise to keep police budgets and hiring in check. The young mayor also promised to creat

The Left Chapter
4 days ago5 min read


Gaza, Cuba y la política del bloqueo genocida
Cuban and Palestinian flags outside the University of Havana, May 2024 By Biljana Vankovska Últimamente, me encuentro pensando en una personaje de la antigua película partisana yugoslava La batalla de Sutjeska . La película está dedicada a la heroica batalla y a la brillante maniobra táctica de Tito para liberar a las unidades partisanas rodeadas. Sin embargo, ese no es mi tema aquí, aunque ahora estemos hablando de un cerco mucho mayor que se cierne sobre la humanidad. En un

The Left Chapter
Feb 215 min read


La revolución cubana resiste al imperialismo estadounidense
By Vijay Prashad En enero de 2026, el presidente de los Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, declaró que Cuba era una “amenaza inusual y extraordinaria” para la seguridad de los Estados Unidos, una designación que permite al Gobierno de ese país aplicar restricciones económicas radicales que tradicionalmente se reservan para los adversarios de la seguridad nacional. El bloqueo de los Estados Unidos contra Cuba comenzó en la década de 1960, justo después de la Revolución Cubana de 19

The Left Chapter
Feb 197 min read


Gaza, Cuba, and the Politics of Genocidal Blockade
Cubans march in solidarity with Gaza in Havana, October 2024 By Biljana Vankovska These days, I find myself thinking of a character from the old Yugoslav partisan film Battle of Sutjeska . The film is dedicated to the heroic battle and Tito’s brilliant tactical maneuver to extricate the surrounded partisan units. However, that is not my subject here, even if we are now speaking of a far greater encirclement tightening around humanity. In one scene, the young nurse Dana tries

The Left Chapter
Feb 185 min read


The Cuban Revolution Holds Out Against US Imperialism
Banner and flag in Cuba -- Taymaz Valley from Ottawa, Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tig

The Left Chapter
Feb 186 min read


Bangladesh en la encrucijada: las elecciones y el futuro del octavo país más grande del mundo
Tarique Rahman on the campaign trail -- image via X video screenshot By Vijay Prashad and Atul Chandra El Partido Nacionalista de Bangladesh (BNP) obtuvo una victoria aplastante en las elecciones del 12 de febrero de 2026, asegurándose 212 de los 300 escaños parlamentarios. Esta victoria no representa simplemente un cambio de gobierno. Es la culminación de un proceso político que no comenzó con la ira espontánea de los estudiantes en las calles de Daca en 2024, sino mucho ant

The Left Chapter
Feb 147 min read


Bangladesh at the Crossroads: Elections and the Future of the World’s Eighth Largest Country
BNP leader Tarique Rahman -- Image cropped via X By Vijay Prashad and Atul Chandra The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won a sweeping victory in the 12 February 2026 elections, securing 212 of 300 parliamentary seats. This victory represents not merely a change of government. It is the culmination of a political process that began not with the spontaneous anger of students on the streets of Dhaka in 2024, but much earlier, in the strategic calculations of sections of the B

The Left Chapter
Feb 146 min read


¿La guerra contra las drogas o la guerra contra los pobres?
Taylor Dahlin, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons By Laura Capote La insistencia permanente del discurso estadounidense alrededor de la lucha contra las drogas pareciera evidenciar una cruzada moral de los sucesivos gobiernos norteamericanos en limpiar su país del consumo de drogas. Sin embargo, la realidad dista mucho de esta simple idea que suele instalarse en los medios de comunicación masivos. En realidad lo que se busca con la denominada “guerra contra las drogas”, demostra

The Left Chapter
Feb 145 min read


The War on Drugs or the War on the Poor?
Representational image By Laura Capote The constant insistence of the US discourse on the war on drugs seems to reflect a moral crusade by successive US administrations to rid their country of drug use. However, the truth is far removed from this simplistic idea that is often perpetuated by the mass media. In reality, what the so-called ‘War on Drugs’ seeks to achieve, as demonstrated by our region’s history, is a facade for the development of various mechanisms of imperialis

The Left Chapter
Feb 134 min read


Elections 2026: Asia’s New Reactionary Playbook and the Future of Resistance
Anutin Charnvirakul arrives at the Bhumjaithai Party headquarters on election night in Thailand -- image via news video screenshot By Kay Young The march of the Ultra-Right in the Global South continues on, but unlike their Global North counterparts like Trump, Le Penn & Farage, as bleak as the future may seem, there are green shoots amongst the concrete. On 8 February 2026 following the Thai general election , there was a paradigm shift ushering in a new era of Southeast Asi

The Left Chapter
Feb 136 min read


Cuba en el corazón
Monumento a José Martí en la Plaza de la Revolución. La Habana, Cuba. -- RG72, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons By Guillermo Barreto El 29 de enero pasado, el presidente de los EE. UU., Donald Trump, firmó una orden ejecutiva que declara una emergencia nacional y establece aranceles a productos de cualquier país que venda o suministre de otro modo petróleo a Cuba. Según la Orden, esto tiene la finalidad de proteger “la seguridad nacional de los Estados Unidos y su políti

The Left Chapter
Feb 135 min read


Why Scientists Are Still Puzzled by Consciousness
Despite several theories proposed by scientists and philosophers, there are no conclusive answers. Mind in Cave, David S. Soriano -- David S. Soriano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Leslie Alan Horvitz Consciousness, at its basic level, is an individual’s self-awareness , comprising both external and internal phenomena; it may constitute any kind of cognition , experience , feeling, or perception . Awareness can be a continuously changing continuum, or it may shut do

The Left Chapter
Feb 1217 min read


An Amnesty is Neither Weakness nor Oblivion
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 Left Chapter
Feb 105 min read


How Much Further Can U.S. Forces Go in Mexico?
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

The Left Chapter
Feb 77 min read


$380 Million in Funding Cuts to One of the Most Successful US Public Education Programs
“Every day, there’s yet another abuse.” The wanton attack on public schools is one of America’s biggest tragedies. Image via video screenshot By Jeff Bryant Chicago schoolteacher Claudia Morales may have been reflecting the feelings of most Americans about life under the Trump presidential administration when she told Our Schools, “Every day, there’s yet another abuse. It’s scary. And it’s coming from our own government.” In her work as a bilingual program teacher and bilingu

The Left Chapter
Feb 57 min read


How Venezuela Poses an “Unusual and Extraordinary Threat” to the U.S. Agenda
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 Left Chapter
Feb 47 min read


The Bangkok Bubble – Soft Power in International Media
The bar at The Foreign Correspondents Club in Bangkok, 2019 -- image via X By Kay Young Since the American War on Vietnam, Bangkok has been a key hub for international journalists and academics in Southeast Asia. It offers modern infrastructure, easy travel, and a high quality of life, allowing them to chopper into the periphery and return home for drinks. These advantages foster a professional environment removed from the region it purports to cover. Western expatriates oper

The Left Chapter
Feb 35 min read


Venezuela and Iran: Oil and Survival
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

The Left Chapter
Feb 25 min read


Thailand General Election 2026
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

The Left Chapter
Feb 25 min read
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