I'm very excited to bring you our first attwiw guest post! Georgetown University's Joshua Mugler looks at the Trump administration's "defense"of Middle Eastern Christians and places them in the context of similar--and generally cynical--past claims. If you would like to pitch something for attwiw, please email me. And if you enjoy this content, please consider … Continue reading Using Middle Eastern Christians for Imperial Aims
Category: blog
How to Craft a Narrative
There's no Soviet Union anymore, but the principle is the same (from oldenburger.us, via hyperallergenic.com) If you've ever wondered how to go about creating a narrative to drive public perception about a story, I'm here to help. I'd like to start, if I may, with a couple of examples. Back in January, NATO began major … Continue reading How to Craft a Narrative
Irredeemable
It can be challenging to write about things like Donald Trump's immigration executive order, which has by now gone through so many clarifications and legal challenges that it's hard to say exactly what it is beyond red meat to his terrified white nationalist base. When discussing public policy, the reflexive thing--at least for me--is to … Continue reading Irredeemable
Death in the family
Like any mostly closed/insulated group of people--Fortune 500 CEOs, Catholic clergy, the mafia, Congress--there are a lot of ways in which Iran's religious (and increasingly military) ruling class resembles a family. There are a lot of things binding them together: everybody knows each other, they all share some common backgrounds and life experiences, they probably … Continue reading Death in the family
Corruption Matters
Amid all the post-election "how the hell did we get here" analysis, a lot of which has focused squarely and rightly on the myriad failures of the Democratic Party, another piece of the puzzle has gotten lost a bit, and that has to do with what Donald Trump represented to a lot of voters--a vote … Continue reading Corruption Matters
Fidel Castro, 1926-2016
Fidel Castro is dead. Maybe you've heard. This blog is not devoted to events in or the history of Latin America, as you've presumably figured out by now, and this is for the simple reason that this is a part of the world I just haven't studied apart from the most perfunctory American and world … Continue reading Fidel Castro, 1926-2016
What He Said (second in a series)
So the piece I wrote yesterday got a lot of attention, and a lot of positive feedback, for which I'm grateful. When I stray beyond foreign policy and world affairs I'm the first to admit that I'm out of my comfort zone, and I certainly didn't intend that post to be anything more than a … Continue reading What He Said (second in a series)
Things I Think (first in a series)
As I process what happened last Tuesday, and how I can help do something about it, I'm going to start an irregular series here where I lay out some of my thoughts. Maybe, hopefully, this will spur some discussion about how we--all of us who want to--can organize a real left opposition to what is … Continue reading Things I Think (first in a series)
Speaking Ill of the Dead
Shimon Peres, 1923-2016 (World Economic Forum via Wikimedia Commons) Shimon Peres, who died on Monday at the age of 93, spent much of the last couple of decades of his life paying lip service to the idea of making peace with the Palestinians, and so it's much easier for world leaders to eulogize him as … Continue reading Speaking Ill of the Dead
Politicizing Ethnic Cleansing
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video on YouTube. A video that may shock, anger, and possibly horrify you. Here it is, and please don't say I didn't warn you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ1BltDU4iM Oh wait, no, that was a campaign ad from last February. Still, horrifying. This was last week's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8CUFSHB114 Netanyahu's attempt … Continue reading Politicizing Ethnic Cleansing
The Foreign Exchanges Companion 