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The politics of cheese and chocolate
Just as Russians have been getting used to drinking excellent Georgian wine and mineral water again after a seven year embargo, their taste buds have been assaulted by new trade bans with neighbouring...
View ArticleReveries of an English teacher on vacation
As discussions of the pros and cons of the ASA boycott continue, a historic leader's life comes to an end. Efraim shares his experiences as an English teacher and farmer, and remembers when Ariel...
View ArticleEuropean austerity seeds governance alternatives
‘If representative democracy is only to choose every four, or five, or six years the person who’s going to do everything they want without taking popular will into account... we are in a sort of trap...
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Personal responsibility lost in Hitchens v Perry debate
Watching the enthrenched Newsnight argument between Matthew Perry and Peter Hitchens, I found myself agreeing with some of what Hitchens had to say. Not on the ‘war on drugs’ - but that there is no...
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Lebanon: a year which promises little but foreboding?
The feeling of being hamstrung by international events both out of their control but with direct consequences, combined with domestic political stalemate and factionalism, is all too familiar. People...
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Iran and the Arab world: a change in foreign policy
Iran has lost a significant component of its soft power in the Middle East. No longer viewed as a Muslim nation, it is regarded as a Shiite nation. This might be very costly for Iran in the long run....
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Time to re-introduce nature's flood management engineer - the beaver
As climate change brings more rain, Britain is suffering from the extinction here of our native flood engineers - the beaver. One reintroduction project in Scotland is showing this week why they are so...
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The UK is flooded in climate silence
The last time there were major floods in the UK, they were met with climate change marches and demands for action. Now, one victim of the floods asks if a climate silence has descended on Britain.the...
View ArticleEgypt's constitutional referendum: the untold story
By ignoring expressions of people power in the Egyptian constitutional referendum, some western political commentators and the media are showing a disconnect with the pulse of the citizenry and...
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Aloneness is central to our collective wellbeing
Is spending time alone an escape from reality, or a gateway to more effective social action? A walk can be transformative when no one is babbling in your ear.Original artwork by Dionne Kasian-Lew. All...
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This week's window on the Middle East - January 17, 2014
Arab Awakening's columnists offer their weekly perspective on what is happening on the ground in the Middle East. Leading the week, Corruption in Bahrain.Corruption in BahrainEl Sisi: the revolutionary...
View ArticleEuro elections 2014 bloggers introduce themselves: Part One
What is Europe for you? What does it mean to be young and European in 2014? An exchange of views between bloggers across the continent. Can Europe make it? has the pleasure of introducing you to our...
View ArticleEuro elections 2014 bloggers introduce themselves: Part Two
What is Europe for you? What does it mean to be young and European in 2014? An exchange of views between bloggers across the continent. Can Europe make it? has the pleasure of introducing you to our...
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The European Green primary experiment
Primary elections to elect the new leaders of the European Greens will take place tomorrow. What makes this hustings particularly special?Candidates for the European Greens leadership. From l-r:...
View ArticleGiant banks play Russian roulette with our future
Governments – particularly in the United States and the European Union – must start showing the intestinal fortitude to stand up against the banks. Five years after the Great Recession of 2007-08...
View ArticleNext-generation extremism: next-generation responsibility
Gaming companies occupy a much stronger position to create effective and legitimate counter-narratives than governments.Last December, the Guardian published a leaked NSA document by whistle-blower...
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The Siberian archipelago
There’s a popular misconception about Russian politics that ‘everything happens in Moscow.’ But sometimes it’s the capital that has to catch up with the regions (or with Siberia at least).Many people...
View ArticleKafr Batna, Syria
I want to believe, have to believe, that when people learn of what is truly going on in Syria, to the Syrian people, they will want to act. To stop, and acknowledge that this is happening.It started...
View ArticleHamas’ response to the Syrian uprising
Are we now witnessing a third phase in Hamas’s response towards the Syrian Uprising?In an interview with the pro-Syrian Al Mayadeen channel based in Beirut, the Hamas deputy chief, Mousa Abu Marzouk...
View ArticleSex, law, and the nation: the Indian Supreme Court reinstates a law...
To focus only on the sexual politics misses the critical dimension of the unfolding debates in India about secularism and sovereignty.On December 11, 2013, India’s Supreme Court reversed the July 2009...
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