The tension between Russia and the West is escalating to an unprecedented degree. It started in March 2021 when the U.S. and E.U. announced sanctions against Russia in response to the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. With these sanctions, the U.S. government began a journey towards the destruction of any remaining relationship between the West and Russia.
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February 1, 2021 marked the downfall of any democratic progress in Myanmar. The previously ruling military seized control of the country, arresting State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, handing power to Min Aung Hlaing, the Commander in Chief of the military. Mass protests at this subversion of democratic progress have been met with violent tactics, including use of water cannons, rubber bullets and live ammunition, resulting in the deaths of many civilians. While in and of itself somewhat of an illusion, hopes of democratic progress have been dashed in Myanmar, illustrating yet another example of democratic backsliding and the growth of authoritarianism worldwide.
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June 21st will mark the fourth anniversary of Mohammed Bin Salman’s ascendancy to the title of Saudi Crown Prince. His relatively short tenure as de-facto ruler has proved to be an unprecedented one, for no previous Saudi ruler in recent memory has been as bold or nakedly ambitious as this one. Now trying to untangle the Gulf Crisis, the question inevitable emerges for the Biden Administration: what to do with MBS?
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On October 6th 2019, then-President Donald Trump made the decision to withdraw United States military troops and aid from northeastern Syria, leaving the Kurds, an essential ally in the fight against the Islamic State, on their own and at the mercy of attacks from Turkey. This sudden step back from the West was another move in destabilizing an already fragile geopolitical climate in the region. Indeed, in the days that followed US withdrawal, the Turkish military attacked Kurdish territories in Turkey and northern Syria. This was another episode in the ongoing struggle of the Kurdish nation, scattered across four countries with borders arbitrarily drawn by former colonial powers.
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The international community is in imminent danger all because the United States refuses to call a spade a spade.
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“Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AK Party may lack a substantial number of qualities that one might hope for in an elected government, but one thing cannot be denied, they possess an unyielding ambition to reform Turkey (some might argue, beyond recognition). This claim does not merely refer to more obvious shocks (the radical constitutional referendum in 2017, or the countless activist, and often provocative, foreign policy initiatives), but specifically to urban policy – yet another arena manifesting Erdoğan’s excerption of power.”
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“Many of us have probably swiped by an Instagram story with the caption “Free Uyghurs,” seen the leaked satellite images of Uyghur detention centers, or heard calls for boycotting the Disney movie Mulan for thanking government security agencies in the Xinjiang province in their final credits. But who exactly are the Uyghurs and why is the Chinese government conducting a campaign of genocide?”
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“My view of modern Black-led youth movements comes from a place of sadness and admiration. I hate that people my age are forced to fight the battles of corruption but I am extremely humbled by the acts of courage I’ve seen. The hands of white supremacy have twisted our ideals to value money over people, production over product and individuals over communities. The EndSARS protests started as a call for the disbanding of the police force but turned into a multi-dimensional demand for a more equitable government.”
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“Three months out of the explosion, in the city laid waste, destitution and despair is palpable. Winter’s darkness is growing; electricity cuts have soared to 22 hours a day and impending thunderstorms threaten those who are still living in roofless and windowless homes, who jump at every loud sound, unable to sleep from their resurfacing PTSD.”
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