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Category: Politics

Israel can no longer ignore the Palestinian cause after failing to quash it by force

Israel can no longer ignore the Palestinian cause after failing to quash it by force

Meron Rapoport writes: It is still too early to say who won and who lost Israel’s war on Gaza, especially since the ceasefire has not yet begun. But if at least the first stage of the agreement goes ahead, it can be said that Israel has not achieved its war goals. Israel has not succeeded in achieving its pronounced goals: wiping out Hamas and returning the captives by military force. More importantly, its undeclared goal was to eliminate the Palestinian…

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Trump launches meme coin. Rakes in over $25 billion in value overnight

Trump launches meme coin. Rakes in over $25 billion in value overnight

Politico reports: President-elect Donald Trump late Friday launched a cryptocurrency token that exploded in value overnight, potentially increasing his net worth by tens of billions of dollars on paper just days before he is set to be sworn in as president. Trump launched the so-called memecoin — a digital token with no intrinsic real-world value that is traded on a digital ledger technology called blockchain — with posts on his social media site and X after 9 p.m., prompting the…

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Speaker Johnson did not fire his Intelligence chair under orders from Trump

Speaker Johnson did not fire his Intelligence chair under orders from Trump

Rachael Bade writes: When Speaker Mike Johnson summarily fired House Intelligence Chair Mike Turner this week, everyone assumed it was about Donald Trump. Actually, it was about power — not the incoming president’s, but Johnson’s. After spending more than a year tiptoeing around a Republican Conference where intervening in even miniscule factional disputes could risk his gavel, the speaker’s intel machinations this week represented an uncharacteristic — and messy — show of political muscle. Out went Turner (R-Ohio), a brash,…

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A visual guide to the destruction of Gaza

A visual guide to the destruction of Gaza

Gaza: What does it mean to return "home" when Israel has made your home a dangerous toxic waste site of rubble and destruction? https://t.co/o7Qk8ei9XG — Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) January 18, 2025 The Guardian reports: Israel’s war in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of people and laid waste large swathes of the territory. Schools and hospitals have been destroyed, and aid flows into the territory have fallen sharply. As Israel and Hamas reach a deal to pause the war for…

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‘Bye Genocide Joe’: Social media reflects on Biden’s legacy on Gaza

‘Bye Genocide Joe’: Social media reflects on Biden’s legacy on Gaza

Middle East Eye reports: As Joseph Biden’s US presidency comes to an end, many on social media this week are saying that his legacy boils down to one thing: his active role in Israel’s fifteen-month war on Gaza, which has been widely defined as a “genocide” by human rights organisations, international bodies and scholars. Biden’s last day as president, on 19 January, is also the first day of the planned Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal that was reportedly pushed to the finish…

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Will Biden pardon this human rights lawyer, Steven Donziger, who beat Big Oil in court?

Will Biden pardon this human rights lawyer, Steven Donziger, who beat Big Oil in court?

Rolling Stone reports: In the last few days of Joe Biden’s presidency, Steven Donziger hopes Biden will pardon him — as do dozens of progressive lawmakers in Congress, as well as human rights and environmental activists across the world. Donziger’s story is unique. “I’m the only person in the country to be criminally prosecuted by a private corporation,” Donziger tells Rolling Stone. As a lawyer, he helped secure a historic judgment against the oil giant Chevron on behalf of 30,000…

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Outside Europe, much of the world is upbeat about the second Trump presidency

Outside Europe, much of the world is upbeat about the second Trump presidency

Timothy Garton Ash, Ivan Krastev, and Mark Leonard write: When Donald Trump returns to the White House, much of the world will welcome him. In Europe, anxiety is widespread, but people in many other countries feel either relaxed or actively positive about Trump’s second term. This is the remarkable finding of a major new poll conducted in November 2024—directly after the US presidential election—for the European Council on Foreign Relations and Oxford University’s Europe in a Changing World research project,…

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‘Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland’

‘Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland’

Romain Chuffart and Rachael Lorna Johnstone write: In recent days, Donald Trump’s comments regarding Greenland and the informal visit of his son Donald Trump Jr. have reignited discussions about sovereignty, geopolitics, and international law. During his previous presidency, Trump floated the idea of purchasing Greenland in 2019, which at the time was widely dismissed as an absurd proposition. Both Greenlandic and Danish governments stated that Greenland was not for sale and that the Greenlanders were in command of their own…

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Trump’s deportations pledge could upend Nebraska’s economy

Trump’s deportations pledge could upend Nebraska’s economy

NPR reports: Every so often, Al Juhnke, executive director of the Nebraska Pork Producers Association, says he’ll get a phone call from one of his farmers about how to solve Nebraska’s severe labor shortage.. It goes something like this: “Al, I got a great idea. Why don’t we invite any immigrants? Legal, illegal … I don’t care. Invite them to Nebraska because we have lots of openings out on our farm and we need help.” Juhnke smiles wearily as he…

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Hamas, Egypt and Qatar pushing for Marwan Barghouti’s release in ceasefire deal

Hamas, Egypt and Qatar pushing for Marwan Barghouti’s release in ceasefire deal

Middle East Eye reports: Egypt and Qatar, alongside Hamas, are using “all means available” to secure the release of Marwan Barghouti as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement between the group and Israel, three sources informed on the negotiations have told Middle East Eye. The long-imprisoned Palestinian political leader is on a list “of around one hundred senior Palestinian prisoners” being discussed ahead of the second phase of the truce deal, a source close to the negotiations said. “Marwan alongside…

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Biden administration reaches deal limiting controversial protections for multinational corporations

Biden administration reaches deal limiting controversial protections for multinational corporations

Inside Climate News reports: The Biden administration announced a last-minute deal on trade this week, reaching an agreement with Colombia to limit protections for investors between the two countries. The move represents a small step toward reforming a system that has awarded multinational corporations more than $100 billion in taxpayer funds from countries around the globe. Investor state dispute settlement, or ISDS, allows foreign companies to bypass national courts and sue governments before panels of arbitrators if they believe their…

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Biden’s new constitutional amendment on women’s rights is nothing more than his opinion

Biden’s new constitutional amendment on women’s rights is nothing more than his opinion

Vox reports: Three days before leaving office, President Joe Biden has made a surprising announcement: He declared that a decades-old proposed Constitutional amendment enshrining equal rights on the basis of sex is now “the law of the land.” Except it isn’t. A senior administration official told CNN that Biden was not taking executive action but merely “stating an opinion” that the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was in effect. The National Archives — the federal government agency that is the official…

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How Stephen Miller has become one of the most powerful unelected people in America

How Stephen Miller has become one of the most powerful unelected people in America

The New York Times reports: When Stephen Miller met with Mark Zuckerberg at Mar-a-Lago late last year, the 39-year-old Trump adviser was in a position of power that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. Back then, Mr. Miller was a mere Senate staffer railing about the evils of immigration. Now he was holding forth on U.S. policy with the billionaire chief executive of Meta, a man he had vilified for years as a globalist bent on destroying the nation….

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Trump’s billionaire Treasury pick stresses importance of tax cuts for billionaires

Trump’s billionaire Treasury pick stresses importance of tax cuts for billionaires

Rolling Stone reports: President-elect Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary pick, a billionaire who has been accused of evading taxes, says that “the most important economic issue of the day” is extending Trump’s tax cuts for the ultra rich. Scott Bessent spoke about his economic plans while sitting for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday. Bessent is an investor, political donor, and a hedge fund manager. He is a former partner at Soros Fund Management, liberal philanthropist George…

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A euphoric tech industry is ready to celebrate Trump and itself

A euphoric tech industry is ready to celebrate Trump and itself

The New York Times reports: A party at the Beaux-Arts mansion of the venture capitalist Peter Thiel. A blowout organized by hosts of the popular tech podcast “All-In” at a brand-new members-only club. A viewing ceremony hosted by an ascendant, Silicon Valley-inflected network of wealthy donors. Some of the most coveted parties during President-elect Donald J. Trump’s inaugural weekend will be hosted by the Silicon Valley donors who are flush with power at the dawn of his second administration. The…

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