Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

 It sounds a very compelling book. Part of a review of Affluence and Freedom: An Environmental History of Political Ideas

A martyr to Palestinian freedom assassinated 50 years ago The life of a Palestinian writer A tiny piece of Palestine

In the discourses of geopolitics the reemergent veil is an emblem of many things, prominent among which is its meaning as the rejection of the West. But when one considers why the veil has this meaning in the late twentieth century, it becomes obvious that, ironically, it was the discourses of the West, and specifically the discourse of colonial domination, that in the first place determined the meaning of the veil in geopolitical discourses and thereby set the terms for its emergence as a symbol of resistance. In other words, the reemergent veil attests, by virtue of its very power as a symbol of resistance, to the uncontested hegemonic diffusion of the discourses of the West in our age. And it attests to the fact that, at least as regards the Islamic world, the discourses of resistance and rejection are inextricably informed by the languages and ideas developed and disseminated by the West to no less a degree than are the languages of those openly advocating emulation of the West or ...

“The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values. The PRC employs a broad range of political, economic and military tools to increase its global footprint and project power, while remaining opaque about its strategy, intentions and military build-up. The PRC’s malicious hybrid and cyber operations and its confrontational rhetoric and disinformation target Allies and harm Alliance security. The PRC seeks to control key technological and industrial sectors, critical infrastructure, and strategic materials and supply chains. It uses its economic leverage to create strategic dependencies and enhance its influence. It strives to subvert the rules-based international order, including in the space, cyber and maritime domains. The deepening strategic partnership between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation and their mutually reinforcing attempts to undercut the rules-based international order run co...

The struggle for independence Available also en  Français

“No negotiation, no compromise, no partnership” with the military

Money, rights, violence

An ode to a struggling empire

With prices rising at the fastest rate for 40 years … UK’s record number of billionaires

The writer should have included the American complicity in the use of torture by the US allies from Pakistan to Egypt to Morocco whether before, after or during the so-called war on terror and the rendition programme. US leaders from Bush to Biden are in denial

 

An interesting and good read , especially for someone who does not read about evolution regularly and wants an update on the field. I have not read about the topic since 2010 (mainly through the writings of Jerry A. Coyne and Stephen Jay Gould). This is a battle of ideas over the fate of one of the grand theories that shaped the modern age. But it is also a struggle for professional recognition and status, about who gets to decide what is core and what is peripheral to the discipline. “The issue at stake,” says Arlin Stoltzfus, an evolutionary theorist at the IBBR research institute in Maryland, “is who is going to write the grand narrative of biology.” And underneath all this lurks another, deeper question: whether the idea of a grand story of biology is a fairytale we need to finally give up. The modern synthesis theory’s ideas “are still deeply embedded in the field, yet no formal reckoning with its failures or schisms has occurred. To its critics, the modern synthesis occupies ...