Spyros A. Sofos, Simon Fraser University On March 1, the start of the holy month of Ramadan — observed by most of Turkey’s Sunni population — the imprisoned leader of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, Abdullah Öcalan, made a historic call for the party to disarm and end its 40-year-long armed struggle against
Thomas Gift, UCL Elon Musk is wielding a chainsaw against US government departments, potentially culling tens of thousands of jobs, as part of a huge plan to shrink the government and slash federal spending. This large-scale purge of public servants, coordinated through Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), may end up creating one
Daniel J. Olson, Purdue University English should be the official language of the United States, says a new executive order signed by President Donald Trump on March 1, 2025. The move follows the Trump administration’s termination of the Spanish-language version of the White House website and its Spanish-language account on X, formerly Twitter.
Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham and Tetyana Malyarenko, National University Odesa Law Academy The visit of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House has not gone to plan – at least not to his plan. There were extraordinary scenes as a press conference between Zelensky and Trump descended into acrimony, with the
Ph. Directors Basel Adra, left, and Yuval Abraham on stage at the 62nd New York Film Festival on Sept. 29, 2024. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images Drew Paul, University of Tennessee For many low-budget, independent films, an Oscar nomination is a golden ticket. The publicity can translate into theatrical releases or rereleases, along with more
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:CC-PD-Mark Daniel Eizenga, Africa Center for Strategic Studies Captain Ibrahim Traoré is the interim leader of Burkina Faso, having taken over the position following a coup which he led against Lieutenant Colonel Paul Henri Damiba in September 2022. The 37-year-old captain had supported Damiba, his commanding officer, in a putsch earlier that year
Salvador Sánchez Tapia, Universidad de Navarra Last weekend’s events will have left many with the dizzying sensation of watching historic events unfold before their eyes. The content of the speeches delivered by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance – at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels and at the Munich Security
Léonie de Jonge, University of Tübingen and Rolf Frankenberger, University of Tübingen In the weeks ahead of the German election, the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) consistently polled around 20%. For the first time, the AfD poses a challenge to mainstream parties’ longstanding strategy of isolating the far right. The rise of
Kristof Titeca, University of Antwerp The current conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) resemble the situation during the Second Congo War between 1998 and 2003. This resulted in millions of deaths, with neighbouring countries – especially Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi – playing a significant role. The pan-African weekly The Continent has
Stephen Clear, Bangor University It has been less than a month since Donald Trump retook the Oval Office. But with dozens of executive orders, every day has brought substantial change. While Trump claims he has a democratic mandate to cut government waste, it is the unelected Elon Musk who has been behind the