The upheaval in Afghanistan was undoubtedly one of the most shocking events of the year. It will likely have fatal consequences for the Afghan people, neighboring countries and the international community. The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is so devastating that it is impossible to predict the...
Over the past year, far-right demonstrations have captured media attention. From several protests against COVID-19-related restrictions to disturbing episodes at national legislatures in Germany and the United States, far-right actors have proven their capability to mobilize on the street....
It is now well known that younger officers in the Pakistani army are no longer members of the Scotch-swilling elite. To understand the growing radicalization in Pakistan, it is instructive to read Nadeem F. Paracha, a noted columnist in Dawn, Pakistan’s most reputed newspaper. In 2013, he...
Religious groups and alternative medicine advocates have always been resistant to vaccines. But in the current COVID-19 anti-vaccination movement, they have mutated into variants of the far right in a violent mush of anti-establishment conspiracies, white supremacy and anti-Semitism. Religion...
Sonny and Cher are among the best-known duos in pop history. Their 1965 single “I Got You Babe” is a must in any “best of” oldies-but-goodies compilation. On YouTube, the song has been viewed more than 14 million times. After the couple divorced, Cher embarked on a fulminant career that...
Following the fall of Kabul in August, the first face-to-face meeting between US officials and the Taliban took place last week. As is typical in such first encounters, both sides came with their respective agendas, including demands and requests of the other side. The one issue on which both...
Between September 17 and 19, Russians went to the polls to elect the State Duma. The voting period was officially increased to three days and introduced electronic voting for the first time due to measures intended to contain the spread of COVID-19 currently raging across the country. Third...
July 2021 was marked as the hottest month of the year in Tbilisi, Georgia. While the temperature outside hit around 33˚C at 10 am on July 5, the day when the pro-LGBTQI+ “March of Dignity” was scheduled to take place, it was a counterprotest by conservative and radical-right actors that...
In recent months, I have had the privilege of helping curate an exhibition, “This Fascist Life: Radical Right Movements in Interwar Europe,” which is running from October 2021 to February 2022 at the Wiener Holocaust Library in London. Just as the Science Museum’s new show, “Our Future...
A news story that falsely claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine caused the death of an American doctor was the most viewed article on Facebook in the US for the first three months of 2021. Instead of going public about the platform promoting such misinformation, Facebook held back on publishing the...
From its inception, the Russian state has long used Europe as a measure for itself. In the 19th century, the leading intellectual debate in Russia was between the Slavophiles and the Westernizers, divided on the idea of the essence of the Russian civilization and its relation to Europe. The...
