San Francisco News

Israel’s democracy protests: What happens next?
Dov Waxman, University of California, Los Angeles The massive pro-democracy protests that shook Israel since January 2023, when its right-wing government introduced so-called “judicial reforms,” have quieted down for a while. The country’s legislature is on a break. But the government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, the most conservative in Israel’s short history, plans to continue its quest to erode the independence and power of the country’s Supreme Court. That will likely ignite further protest when the lawmakers reconvene. The Conversation’s senior politics editor, Naomi Schalit, interviewed political scientist and Israel scholar Dov Waxman about what comes next for Israel, its

War in Ukraine is a warning to China of the risks in attacking Taiwan
Peter Rutland, Wesleyan University U.S. defense strategists warn that China may use the distraction of the war in Ukraine to launch military action against Taiwan. They believe Chinese President Xi Jinping is determined to gain control over the breakaway province – which has been beyond Beijing’s control since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 – before he leaves office. In response to these concerns, in July 2023, the U.S. announced a US$345 million military aid package for Taiwan. For the first time, arms are being delivered to Taiwan from U.S. stockpiles under presidential drawdown authority, which

Military coups in Africa: here’s what determines a return to civilian rule
Sebastian Elischer, University of Florida Slightly more than two years after Niger’s first peaceful handover of power from one civilian president to another, the military seized power in July 2023. The coup – the fourth in Nigerien history – follows on the heels of recent military interventions in Africa. Mali (August 2020 and May 2021), Chad (April 2021), Guinea (September 2021), Sudan (October 2021) and Burkina Faso (January and September 2022). Since the end of the Cold War in 1991, the number of military coups has declined sharply. However, francophone west Africa now accounts for approximately two-thirds of all military

US-Israel relations the coolest for decades after ‘terror’ attack by settlers kills 19 year-old Palestinian
Paul Rogers, University of Bradford For most of Israel’s 75-year history, its closest ally has been the United States, prepared to use its UN security council veto and invariably willing to encourage military collaboration as well as providing plenty of direct aid. But that relationship is highly stressed at present, mainly down to the Netanyahu government’s determination to curb the power of the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, in favour of more power for the Knesset. As Time magazine put it recently: “The sources of Biden’s grievances are manifold. Since reclaiming power, Netanyahu has formed a hard-right coalition filled with

The Taliban’s war on women in Afghanistan must be formally recognized as gender apartheid
Vrinda Narain, McGill University https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/the-talibans-war-on-women-in-afghanistan-must-be-formally-recognized-as-gender-apartheid The second anniversary of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is fast approaching. Since then, Afghan women have been denied the most basic human rights in what can only be described as gender apartheid. Only by labelling it as such and making clear the situation in Afghanistan is a crime against humanity can the international community legally fight the systematic discrimination against the country’s women and girls. Erasing women from the public sphere is central to Taliban ideology. Women’s rights institutions in Afghanistan, notably the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, have been dismantled while the dreaded Ministry

Niger coup: Military takeover is a setback for democracy and US interests in West Africa
Leonardo A. Villalón, University of Florida The West African nation Niger is under military rule following a coup in which President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown and held captive by members of his own guard. On July 28, 2023, coup leaders named General Abdourahmane Tchiani as the new head of state, while international observers called for democratic norms to be reinstalled. Where the coup leaves the country and what happens next is unclear. The Conversation turned to Leonardo A. Villalón, political scientist and West African expert at the University of Florida, for some answers. How did this coup come about? At

Here’s how China is responding to US sanctions – with blocking laws and other countermeasures
Bashar Malkawi, University of Arizona After a recent meeting between U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and officials in Beijing, China released a statement demanding “practical action” over the issue of sanctions. The implication was that the punitive measures – imposed by the U.S. government on hundreds of Chinese individuals and entities over the past few years – impede any alleviation of the strained relations between the two economic giants. The statement followed a testy encounter in May 2023 in which

The coronation of King Charles III: 5 Essential reads on the big royal bash – and what it all means
Matt Williams, The Conversation The United Kingdom is about to embark on an orgy of flag-waving pomp and pageantry in celebration of King Charles III’s coronation. Charles is already the ruling monarch, having ascended to the throne following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. So this is more of a chance for him and everyone else to dress up and have a bit of an old-fashioned royal knees-up. Despite events taking place in a relatively small island off the coast of mainland Europe, the footage of King Charles being anointed with oil and accepting the regalia

Deadly heatwaves threaten to reverse India’s progress on poverty and inequality – new research
Ramit Debnath, University of Cambridge and Ronita Bardhan, University of Cambridge Record-breaking heatwaves in April 2022 put 90% of people in India at increased risk of going hungry, losing income or premature death, according to our new study. After 2022 was designated the hottest in 122 years, extreme heat has appeared early again this year with over 60% of India recording above-normal maximum temperatures for April, according to the country’s Meteorological Department. El Niño, a natural climate event that can increase global temperatures, is also expected to occur this year. The increasing frequency of such deadly heatwaves could halt or

Sudan’s conflict has its roots in three decades of elites fighting over oil and energy
Harry Verhoeven, Columbia University Sudan stands on the brink of yet another civil war sparked by the deadly confrontation between the Sudan Armed Forces of General Abdelfatah El-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (“Hemedti”). Much of the international news coverage has focused on the clashing ambitions of the two generals. Specifically, that differences over the integration of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces into the regular army triggered the current conflict on April 15, 2023. I am a professor teaching at Columbia University and my research focuses on the political economy of the Horn of Africa. A

Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ are a problem – but a lot of thought is going into preventing their spread
@, Nottingham Trent University Last week, Colombia recorded its first road traffic incident involving a hippopotamus. A car collided with the animal at speed leaving it dead on the road. The hippo was a descendent of the four animals that notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar imported from a zoo in the US to his luxurious Hacienda Nápoles estate in Colombia in the 1980s. The four hippos, which included three females and one male, were abandoned after Escobar’s death in 1993 due to the difficulty associated with moving them to a wildlife sanctuary. The hippos then escaped the untended estate and

Explainer: why has fighting broken out again in Sudan and what does it mean for the region?
Anne L. Bartlett, United Arab Emirates University In the last few days, a deadly conflict has erupted in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, between rival factions of the armed forces, leaving at least 180 people dead and at least 1,800 civilians and combatants injured. The fighting, which broke out between the Sudan Armed Forces led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, saw fighter jets take to the skies over the capital and armed fighters take to the streets. Militia vs military The latest fighting comes as no surprise to many in Sudan,

Russian ‘spy ship’ in North Sea raises concerns about the vulnerability of key maritime infrastructure
Christian Bueger, University of Copenhagen A new documentary produced by a consortium of public broadcasters in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway has revealed what appears to be a profound threat to maritime and undersea energy and data infrastructure in the North Sea and the Baltic region. The Shadow War includes footage of a Russian research vessel called Admiral Vladimirsky allegedly collecting data on windfarms, gas pipelines, power and internet cables. The film, which has been widely reported in the UK press this week, asserts that Russia is systematically mapping the vulnerabilities of maritime infrastructure in the North Sea. This would