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I hate to say I told you so. It’s obnoxious, really. But sometimes it is an important point. In this case, the point is this: the people who are always right about wars were right about the war in Ukraine, whereas the “experts” who are always on television and in government were, as usual, wrong.

Which of the following statements about the war with Russia comes closest to your personal views?

Ukraine should continue fighting until it wins the war
Ukraine should seek to negotiate an end to the war as soon as possible

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Gallup asked that …

When it comes to recognising Palestinian statehood, the UK and US seem unable to grasp what their solemn obligations are. Fortunately, UN Resolution 37/43 of December 1982 is there to help.

It comprehensively reaffirms previous resolutions and treaties on the universal right to self-determination and the speedy granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples to provide an effective guarantee that human rights may be observed. And note the words “speedy granting”. Palestinians have been kept waiting for over 100 years for an effective guarantee of their human rights.

37/43 considers that denying the Palestinian people their inalienable rights to self-determination, sovereignty, …

“Assassination,” wrote George Bernard Shaw in The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet, “is the extreme form of censorship”. Such extremism visited Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues in Gaza City late on August 10. Resting in a tent located outside the main gate of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, he was killed alongside Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa, and freelance reporter Mohammed al-Khaldi.

Palestinian journalist Wadi Abu al-Saud recalls the drone attack taking place at 11.22 pm. Having entered the tent opposite, he had raised his phone to make a call …

Orientation
Boogey men on parade
“How can you like Putin? He is a dictator who has been in power for 20 years. There is no democracy in Russia. Besides, Russia is not a socialist country, so why are you rooting for him?” Here is another one. “Venezuela is a failed country run by drug cartels. There is no democracy. Maduro is an incompetent strongman who suppresses freedom of speech. Finally, Gaddafi: “He dresses like a king and wants to control all the African gold. He murders his own people”. Here we …

What would happen if sheep gave up their rights?

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after signing an executive order about the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, August 5, 2025

Trump’s threat of imposing a crippling 50 per cent tariff on all Brazilian imports to the United States took everyone by surprise, especially, considering the US enjoys a trade surplus with the South American giant (surplus it has enjoyed since 2007). Lula made it clear that Brazil would reciprocate in kind.

Trump tariffs against Brazil are in line with his overall policy …

To say that Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had lost the plot is to assume he ever had one. With a dearth of ideas as to how to come up with a “final solution” to the Palestinian problem, he has received a majority approval from his cabinet colleagues to take over Gaza City. It took a late-night meeting with the security cabinet lasting some ten hours.

A statement released on the morning of August 8 from his office mentioned a five-point plan intended to defeat Hamas and conclude the war. None of this is an improved version of what …

The headline read, “Trump tells Israel to ‘finish the job’ against Hamas.” Unexplained by Triumphant is why the United States is involved with determining the fate of Hamas. Has Hamas injured any American or threatened U.S. hegemony? Does Hamas have long-range ballistic missiles, tipped with nuclear weapons, that can reach the U.S. mainland? Does Hamas have submarines that can move close to shore? They don’t even have rowboats. Outside Israel, Hamas is not a threat to anyone.

Israel has murdered many Americans, including naval forces on the U.S.S. Liberty, has submarines that contain missiles tipped with nuclear weapons, …

The Sirens and Ulysses by William Etty, 1837

Just when I figured I had plumbed the depths of capitalism’s toxicity, I came across yet more proof; in fact, the apotheosis of toxicity. The toxicity to end all toxicity. Chris Hayes’ The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource (2025) describes how, with the latest social media revolution, capitalism has managed to penetrate our skulls and steal our very consciousness, what makes you you.

It steal …

Why would AI lie?

The flag of Israel represents the greatest human rights disaster in modern history, yet has flown proudly at the Broome County Correctional Facility by order of Sheriff Akshar. His dedication to Trump’s unconstitutional actions has also made Broome County one of the leading penal camps for immigrants in New York State.

For over 600 days the Israeli flag flew over our county jail. It was a flagrant display of a Sheriff knowingly engaging in a divisive, illegal act in violation of New York State Public Building Law.

New York State Law forbids a foreign flag from flying over public …

In every season of abundance—when music pours through nightclubs, when diamonds clink in champagne flutes, when the glitter of modern life dazzles like divine light—there exists a parallel world. A world not less real, but far less seen.

As capitalist empires grow ever more intoxicating, the dispossessed groan beneath their glitter. We live in a time of spiritual amnesia, forgetting that we were made not for profit—but for purpose, for people, for planet.

This is not a call to guilt. It is a summons to conscience. To awaken to the sacred truth: There are now more than eight billion human souls on …

A reckless enterprise bordering on criminal stupidity, the story of the Titan’s crushing demise as it descended to the ocean floor is one with many historical echoes. The Report of Investigation (ROI) by the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation into the events of June 2023 that led to the deaths of five people on their deep sea journey to see the Titanic did not hold too many surprises. Jason Neubauer, Titan MBI chair, made some bland remarks that the investigation lasting two years had “identified multiple contributing factors that led to this tragedy, providing …

I don’t know what word in the English language—I can’t find one—that applies to people who are willing to sacrifice the literal existence of organized human life … so they can put a few more dollars into highly overstuffed pockets. The word ‘evil’ doesn’t begin to approach it.

—Noam Chomsky

Unlike other historical periods of extreme wealth inequality, the added fact that our planet’s life support systems are currently being pushed toward a breaking point adds a new level of horror to current governance by the elites. As Chomsky implies, we need new words to describe our daily and worsening situation.

The short …

Before the clenching constipation of reluctant and cloddish policy makers, climate change advocates have found courts surprisingly amenable to their concerns. Bodies of environmental law in national courts and international tribunals are now burgeoning on the obligations of states to address ecological harms and the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. As is often the case, it’s the children at the vanguard, pointing scolding fingers at the adults in filing petitions and drawing attention to the dangers of tardiness.

2025 is proving to be something of a good year for climate change litigants and activists. On July 3, 2025, the Inter-American Court …