Original essays, research notes, and reports
by Ahmed E. Souaiaia :6 min read Abstract: Echoing the ideals of many Enlightenment thinkers and their struggle against the encroachment of the Crown and the Cross on individual rights, John Locke penned that the proper function of government is to ensure men’s rights to “life, liberty, and property.” In 1776, the drafters of the Read more
Continue ReadingMore than 5,000 researchers from universities around the globe issued an urgent call to heed the lessons of the COVID-19 crisis and rewrite the rules of our economic systems in order to create a more democratic and sustainable society. Their call, made in the midst of an unprecedented health, climate, and political crisis, paves a Read more
Continue Readingby Ahmed E. Souaiaia* March 18, 2020 Abstract: It might be pure conspiracy theorism to think that some evil person or entity has engineered and intentionally released the deadly COVID-19 that literally shutdown the world. However, it is not a theory that the state we are in is due to human behavior and a result Read more
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by Mieczysław P. Boduszyński, Assistant Professor of Politics, Pomona College In all the hand-wringing that critics and commentators have done since President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria, one of the common refrains emphasizes the breach of trust between Washington and its Kurdish militia partners. Some scholars of international relations Read more
Continue Readingby Xu Hailin, based on conversations with Li Weijian, a senior research fellow with the Center for West Asian and African Studies Iran has been striving to overcome the crisis in its relations with the US. Although the Islamic Republic has taken some tough steps, such as shooting down a US military drone in June Read more
Continue Readingby Simon Black and Anthony Fenton* As Canada’s largest labour organization and the political arm of the labour movement, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) has long been a voice for peace, human rights and social justice. But on one of the most controversial issues in Canadian politics, Canada’s arms deal with Saudi Arabia, it has Read more
Continue ReadingBy Ahmed E Souaiaia* Abstract: On May 11, 2019, the US federal government indicted 50 individuals, charging them with bribery and fraud in a widespread college admission scandal involving wealthy parents, coaches, administrators, and business executives, paying bribes to buy their children’s way into the nation’s elite schools. For weeks thereafter, the public discourse had Read more
Continue ReadingBy Ahmed E Souaiaia* Since the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran Deal and re-imposed and imposed sanctions on Iran, Iranian leaders indicated that they will close the Strait of Hormuz if they are unable to sell their oil. In the last few months, a number of incidents had occurred with the potential for impacting Read more
Continue Readingby David Cortright* Many are worried about the risk of war with Iran after the Trump administration leaked discussions of a troop deployment in response to claimed threats to U.S. warships in the region. And in recent days, the rhetoric has only gotten more heated, with President Donald Trump saying a war would be “the Read more
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