East Germany Re-Examined: Why Its Legacy of Socialism and Anti-Imperialism Still Matters
East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic (GDR), is remembered in the West as the antithesis to freedom and democracy. But the history and reality of the GDR was far more complex. Not only was the GDR a socialist state built on antifascist principles following the Second World War. It also practiced solidarity with other […]
Is the US Proxy War in Ukraine Making Europe Poorer? with Tarik Cyril Amar
Western sanctions on Russia, previously Europe’s biggest natural gas supplier, has lowered European living standards in the sweltering heat while exacerbating fuel and food shortages around the world. And that’s not all — military spending has increased while social budgets have been cut. To discuss this downplayed aspect of the war in Ukraine and its […]
Chinese ‘Foreign Agents’ and the New Era of McCarthyism, with Amanda Yee
The Red Scare is back. This new era of McCarthyism depends on loose and selective interpretation and enforcement of existing legal measures with some racial profiling and guilt-by-association mixed in. People are being accused of being foreign agents based on their political views. Chinese nationals have been chased out of academia. And wild and easily […]
Anti-Palestinian Fanatics Target Professors in the US: How Rabab Abdulhadi Won
For decades anti-Palestinian fanatics have harassed and attacked professors and students who dare to speak out against Israeli apartheid, going after their reputations and livelihoods with media smears and legal assaults. Why is it so important to document and understand such attacks on academic freedom? How does it fit into the context of Zionism and […]
US Ruling Class United Against China But Split on How to Counter Empire’s Decline, with Ben Norton
The US is escalating a bipartisan Cold War, pumping up the military industrial complex, fueling proxy wars and gutting what’s left of the welfare state. But there is a split in the ruling class on how best to guarantee US hegemony. On one side is the far-right America First crowd led by Trump, who claim […]
France on Fire: The Killing of Nahel Marzouk and Long Shadow of Colonialism
France is on fire after police were filmed shooting and killing unarmed 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk, a French citizen of Moroccan and Algerian descent, in the suburbs of Paris during a traffic stop. This shocking display of French state violence triggered large-scale protests, particularly amongst the country’s Muslim, African, and Arab populations, long boiling over racist […]
Terrorist or Political Prisoner? Lebanese Man Speaks Out After Release from US Prison for Alleged Hezbollah Support
In 2003, Mohamad Youssef Hammoud, a Lebanese-American, was sentenced to 155 years in prison on allegations of “providing material support” to the Lebanese organization Hezbollah with funds garnered from cigarette smuggling. Characterized by prosecutors as an “enemy combatant” and “terrorist financier,” he was the first person in the United States to be charged for material […]
The Rise and Fall of US Dollar Supremacy and How Sanctions Backfire with Prabhat Patnaik
The power of the dollar sustains U.S. imperialism. But rising multipolarity, an overuse of U.S. sanctions, the rise of alternative trading arrangements that sidestep the dollar, and a very obvious crisis of western capitalism have led to panic about a decline in dollar hegemony. What gives the dollar so much power in the first place? […]