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By Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor For the past few weeks the headlines about Gaza have focused on the hundreds of people who have been killed while queueing for food. The aid distribution system put in place in May, backed by the US and Israel and run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, … Continue reading “Gaza and Ukraine are both waiting for action”
By Alex Hinton, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology; Director, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, Rutgers University – Newark President Donald Trump signed the wide-ranging One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law on July 4, 2025. It focuses on cutting taxes, mainly for households that earn US$217,000 or more each year, as well … Continue reading “Why do MAGA faithful support Trump if his ‘big beautiful bill’ will likely hurt many of them?”
By Emma Shortis, Adjunct Senior Fellow, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University Alex Brandon/AP, Paramonov Alexander/Shutterstock, Gaza Survival Journey/Shutterstock, The Conversation https://theconversation.com/does-donald-trump-deserve-the-nobel-peace-prize-we-asked-5-experts-260801 https://theconversation.com/does-donald-trump-deserve-the-nobel-peace-prize-we-asked-5-experts-260801 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formally nominated United States President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. He says the president is “forging peace as we speak, in … Continue reading “Does Donald Trump deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? We asked 5 experts”
By Nathalie Belhoste, Associate professor, EM Lyon Business School The world experienced over 60 armed conflicts in 2024, a “historically high” number according to scholars in the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University. Consequently, the risks faced by multinational companies (MNCs) operating in conflict-torn regions, especially the Middle East and North Africa, … Continue reading “what companies can learn from Lafarge’s exit from Syria”
By Daniel H. Magilow, Professor of German, University of Tennessee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz recently sparked controversy by comparing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Nazi Germany’s notorious secret police, the Gestapo. “Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets,” Walz said during a May 2025 speech at the University of Minnesota … Continue reading “Comparing ICE to the Gestapo reveals people’s fears for the US – a Holocaust scholar explains why Nazi analogies remain common, yet risky”
By Alexandre Massaux, Ph.D. in international relations, Université de Toulon Both Israel and Iran used drones in the strikes that began between the two countries in June. Israel introduced drones into Iran to hit targets, while Iran launched roughly 100 aimed at Israel. Ukraine also recently carried out Operation Spider Web consisting of attacks by … Continue reading “How drones are changing the way wars are fought”
By Anna Erickson, Professor of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology What happens when a country seeks to develop a peaceful nuclear energy program? Every peaceful program starts with a promise not to build a nuclear weapon. Then, the global community verifies that stated intent via the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear … Continue reading “How the world’s nuclear watchdog monitors facilities around the world – and what it means that Iran kicked it out”
By Luca Trenta, Associate Professor in International Relations, Swansea University Tonya Ugoretz, a top FBI intelligence analyst, was placed on administrative leave in June. The FBI has not said why. But the decision came around the time she refused to endorse what was reportedly a thinly sourced report accusing China of interfering in the 2020 … Continue reading “Congress has a chequered history of overseeing US intelligence and national security”
By Linggong Kong, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, Auburn University China has long maintained that it does not supply arms to any party at war – a central tenet of its “noninterference” foreign policy. But in recent years, Beijing has repeatedly faced accusations of doing the opposite: providing direct military assistance to nations engaged in … Continue reading “Beijing’s ‘plausible deniability’ on arms supply is quickly becoming implausible – and could soon extend to Iran”
By Güneş Murat Tezcür, Professor and Director of the School of Politics and Global Studies, Arizona State University In July 2025, clashes between the Druze religious minority and Sunni Arabs backed by government-affiliated forces led to hundreds of deaths in Sweida province in southern Syria. Israel later launched dozens of airstrikes in support of the … Continue reading “Understanding the violence against Alawites and Druze in Syria after Assad”