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Inching closer to an uneasy peace in Ukraine
The Trump peace plan goes some way towards squaring the circle by providing some guarantees to both sides, albeit far fewer than both would like. As such it is a reasonable compromise and a good starting point for further talks. There will be some hard diplomatic work ahead, but at least the long process of negotiation is finally about to start.
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Trump’s Abraham Accords incited Hamas attack
Donald Trump’s failed 2020 Abraham Accords led directly to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. This agreement, initially signed by Israel, the US, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, was ostensibly designed to “recognize the importance of maintaining and strengthening peace in the Middle East and around the world based on mutual understanding and coexistence.”
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The attack on democratic rights
As we see in the case of ongoing efforts to criminalize disruptive forms of climate protests, establishment thinking is embracing the idea that stricter limits must be set on the freedoms that have been conceded by liberal democracies. You can object to the destructive conduct of fossil fuel companies, but if you challenge their operations you will be treated as a terrorist.
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Guantánamo redux
The human rights situation in Cuba is bad, and about to get worse. Prisoners will be denied basic constitutional rights and reports of abuse and torture will surface. No, we are not talking about treatment of dissidents opposed to the revolutionary government—but rather to the victims of US foreign policy in the tropical gulag of Guantánamo.
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Hard times are here
People like me and my family members who work in the construction and restaurant industries are canaries in the coal mine of the economy. New condo starts have been down for some time, which is an early indicator of a real estate slump—but rents remain high. Recession is here already, for some folks. Like me. What are we going to do about it?
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Will Poilievre’s pro-Trump past boost an ailing Liberal Party?
Poilievre had an easy time running against an unpopular incumbent he could use as a dart board for empty right-wing labels like “woke” or “authoritarian socialist.” But running against an out-of-control Trump administration that has its eyes on Canadian resources and the ideological sympathy of a large part of the national conservative movement? That has proven much harder for him.
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Now is the time to turn the tide on the deindustrialization of Canada
The rise of the populist right in deindustrialized areas, like the US Rust Belt, is a legacy of neoliberalism and free trade. We need to break this cycle. If we want to turn the tide of deindustrialization and create manufacturing jobs for the economy of the future, we need to be bold. And it starts now, not in some distant future.
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Predatory capitalism: Neo-mercantilism and the Canadian economy
Canada is no longer dealing with a globalizing neoliberalism that extracts surplus value from developing countries, the domestic working class, and racialized minorities. Instead, the American alt-right works with and through a different regime of accumulation that bears more affinities to mercantilism than the neoliberal order it is in the process of supplanting.
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Paul Kagame’s foray in eastern Congo leaves thousands dead and sparks fears of a broader war
It’s difficult to know why Kagame gambled on his troops seizing Goma now, a move surely to trigger an international outcry. The Rwandan leader may be bent on testing the Trump administration’s resolve or lack of interest in Central Africa in order to pursue Rwanda’s territorial expansion in Congo, and consolidate control over areas rich in artisanal minerals.
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Mobilizing Canada for economic battle?
Over the past 60 years left-leaning folk have largely turned a blind eye to the decay of Canada’s distinguished military heritage and typically cast a jaundiced eye towards any talk of significant reinvestment. At this moment in history Canadian governments need to respond with the same energy and urgency that mobilized efforts to make our economy battle-ready in the face of war.