Stories Archive | Page 23 of 87

Analyses

For decades, Latin America’s authoritarian regimes were seen as a right-wing phenomenon, with Cuba as the lone exception — a dictatorship born not from a betrayal of democracy, but of revolution. As Washington’s embargo returns to the headlines, this piece asks what that framing has long obscured: that Cuba has never had just one embargo, but two.

Religion
Moscow Patriarchate Returns to Era of Excommunications
Riccardo Cristiano 7 March 2024

Some may remember that when Vladimir Putin initiated his “special military operation” against Ukraine, one of his earliest supporters was Patriarch Kirill I of the Russian Orthodox Church. What was his perspective? In his first public address following the commencement of what Moscow terms the “special military operation,” he provided a clear answer: he saw it as a “metaphysical war.” In other words, for the Patriarch, it was evident that this conflict represented a battle between Russia defending the fundamental values of its Christian essence, and Western de-Christianization, which sought to spread, through Ukraine, even to this part of Europe, concepts like gay pride, seen as the epitome of evil.
International Affairs
Netanyahu’s Refusals Pose a Challenge to Those Seeking to Quell the War in Gaza
Renzo Guolo 27 February 2024

Benjamin Netanyahu’s consistent refusals pose a challenge to those seeking to quell the Middle East conflict. Despite global pressure, Netanyahu remains steadfast in his decision to advance the fighting towards Rafah. In this area, millions of Gazans find themselves trapped between the Israeli Defense Force’s Merkava tanks and Egypt’s increasingly fortified barrier, which serves as the final obstacle preventing further dispersal of Palestinians from the Strip.
Human Rights, Religion
The Hazara’s Resilience against Taliban Persecution
Ali Kosha 26 February 2024

According to a 2022 Gallup survey, Afghanistan is the only country in the world where the vast majority of the population, a staggering 92 percent of men and 96 percent of women, say they face hardships that make their lives sheer suffering. In this realm of agony, the Hazaras bear a disproportionate burden of suffering. And for Hazara women, the burden intensifies further.
International Affairs
Myanmar’s Struggle for Freedom Three Years After the Military Coup
Kristina Kironska 22 February 2024

Three years after the failed military coup in Myanmar, there is genuine hope within the country for democratic resistance. By the end of 2023 and into the beginning of 2024, Myanmar reached a turning point, with significant successes achieved by the revolutionary movement, particularly on the battlefield. For the first time since the coup, there is a growing possibility that the resistance movement may prevail against the military dictatorship.
International Affairs
Ayesha Jalal: “The Only Winner of Pakistan’s Elections is
the Military Establishment”
Zafar Musyani 20 February 2024

After months of delay, Pakistan held its 12th general elections on February 8. However, the entire electoral process, from the lead-up to the polling and the announcement of the results, was marred by several controversies, further exacerbating the country’s political crisis.
International Affairs
Lev Gudkov: “Every Year 2% of Russia’s Elite Arrested by Putin”
Giancarlo Bosetti , Alessandra Tommasi 16 February 2024

Before the death of political opponent Alexei Navalny in the penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence, Reset DOC reached Russian statistician Lev Gudkov. In the interview, a figure emerges: the arrest of 2 percent of the Russian elite around Vladimir Putin every year, a form of control that goes beyond dissidents and anti-war voices.
Society
The Earthquake of Al Haouz: The Difficult Reconstruction of a Tormented Area
Rabii El Gamrani 12 February 2024

One million and six hundred thousand people were affected by the earthquake of September 8, 2023, which caused about 3,000 deaths and the destruction or damage to some 50,000 homes; 60,000 people are still displaced. Journalist Rabii El Gamrani went to Al Haouz, in the heart of the High Atlas, to see how the reconstruction is going.
International Affairs
Polls Foreshadow the Decline of Catalan Independence Movements
Andrea Walton 31 January 2024

The constitutional crisis and the repression by the Spanish authorities following the 2017 independence referendum have left their mark on Catalonia, and separatist parties have been reduced in a region that some believe was ready to transform itself into an independent state.
International Affairs, Religion
Once Upon a Time There was a Model of Free Political Debate
Mujibur Rehman 29 January 2024

On January 26, 2024, India celebrated its Republic Day – the day India adopted its current Constitution – with great fanfare, with French President Emmanuel Macron as the guest of honor. “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity’ is the major political ideal for France, though each of these terms has little meaning for Indians in the context of rapidly expanding Hindu majoritarianism.
International Affairs
The New Ram Temple: A Triumph of Hindu Nationalism
Maria Tavernini 22 January 2024

January 22 will go down in history as a big day in India. Construction works have been feverish in the months leading up to the inauguration of the Ram temple, an event that many have labeled as important as August 15, 1947, the day India gained independence.