Illiberalism
Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 1. Donald Trump booking photograph by Fulton County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Office, August 24, 2023, via New York, August 25, 2023,[1] public domain.
Chris Geidner, “Supreme Court takes first step toward quick review of Trump constitutional questions,” Law Dork, December 11, 2023, https://www.lawdork.com/p/supreme-court-first-step-toward-trump-review
Sam Levine, “Rudy Giuliani faces trial over defamation of 2020 election workers,” Guardian, December 11, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/11/rudy-giuliani-court-defamation-2020-election-workers
Hannah Rabinowitz and Devan Cole, “Special counsel goes directly to Supreme Court to resolve whether Trump has immunity from prosecution,” CNN, December 11, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/11/politics/special-counsel-trump-jack-smith/index.html
Spencer S. Hsu and Amy Gardner, “Georgia election worker describes harrowing threats in Giuliani defamation trial,” Washington Post, December 12, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/12/12/giuiliani-defamation-trial-election-workers-testify/
Abortion, reproductive freedom and health
Fig. 2. Sign at demonstration in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, May 3, 2022. Janni Rye, via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Paul J. Weber and Jamie Stengle, “Texas woman who sought court permission for abortion leaves state for the procedure, attorneys say,” Associated Press, December 11, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/abortion-texas-ban-7d865cdfd75bdc6b2f4186f4d1e6e8bd
Ann E. Marimow, “Supreme Court will decide access to key abortion drug mifepristone,” Washington Post, December 13, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/12/13/abortion-drug-supreme-court-mifepristone-fda/
Imperialism
Israel
Palestine
Fig. 3. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[2] fair use.
This is a war that cannot be won. Israel has created an amount of hatred that will haunt this region, that will define generations to come.[3]
The United Nations General Assembly has voted to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in war-torn Gaza, in a rebuke to the United States which has repeatedly blocked ceasefire calls in the UN’s Security Council.
A majority of 153 nations voted for the ceasefire resolution in the General Assembly’s emergency special session Tuesday, while 10 voted against and 23 abstained.[4]
Joe Biden has warned Binyamin Netanyahu that he risks losing international support for Israel.[5] This is projection. The U.S. has already lost support for its support of Israel.[6]
Peter Beaumont, “Angry relatives of Hamas captives and ex-hostages confront Netanyahu,” Guardian, December 5, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/05/angry-relatives-of-hamas-captives-and-ex-hostages-confront-netanyahu
Loveday Morris, “Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas. Yet the group remains largely intact,” Washington Post, December 5, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/05/israel-military-offensive-hamas-destruction-gaza/
Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s Netanyahu is fighting two wars, and may not win either,” Washington Post, December 5, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/05/netanyahu-wars-win-lose-political-endgame-career/
Steve Hendrix, Miriam Berger, and Hazem Balousha, “Israel touts civilian warning system, but for Gazans, nowhere is safe,” Washington Post, December 6, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/06/israel-gaza-civilians-protection/
John B. Judis, “Yes, Israel Is a Colonialist State. But Does That Matter Today?” New Republic, December 6, 2023, https://newrepublic.com/article/177306/israel-colonialist-state-history-today
Guardian, “US highlights ‘gap’ in Israel’s commitment to protect civilians in Gaza,” December 7, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/08/us-israel-hamas-war-gaza-civilian-protection-anthony-blinken
Nataliya Vasilyeva, “IDF strip Palestinian men and parade them through square once used by Hamas,” Telegraph, December 7, 2023, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/12/07/palestinian-men-stripped-to-underwear-gaza-idf/
Ron Kampeas, “US officials deny pressing Israel for a war ‘deadline,’ but differences between the two are emerging,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 8, 2023, https://www.jta.org/2023/12/08/united-states/us-officials-deny-pressing-israel-for-a-war-deadline-but-differences-between-the-two-are-emerging
Edith M. Lederer, “US vetoes UN resolution backed by many nations demanding immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza,” Associated Press, December 9, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-un-resolution-ceasefire-humanitarian-6d3bfd31d6c25168e828274d96b85cf8
Times of Israel, “National security adviser indicates war against Hezbollah likely once Hamas is defeated,” December 9, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/national-security-adviser-indicates-war-against-hezbollah-likely-after-defeat-of-hamas/
Rory Jones et al., “The Hamas Leader Who Studied Israel’s Psyche—and Is Betting His Life on What He Learned,” Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hamas-yahya-sinwar-israel-palestinian-hostages-6407dc41
David S. Cloud, and Summer Sai, “Israel’s Netanyahu Rejects U.S. Plan for Postwar Gaza,” Washington Post, December 12, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israels-netanyahu-rejects-u-s-plan-for-post-war-gaza-d60fc0c3
Caitlin Hu, “UN General Assembly votes to demand immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” CNN, December 12, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/12/middleeast/ceasefire-vote-gaza-israel-un-intl/index.html
John Hudson and Yasmeen Abutaleb, “Biden shows deep empathy with Israelis. Some feel it’s missing for Gazans,” Washington Post, December 12, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/12/12/biden-empathy-lacking-palestinians/
Kevin Liptak and Jeremy Diamond, “Biden tells donors Israel is losing support, Netanyahu must change his government,” CNN, December 12, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/12/politics/biden-israel-losing-support-netanyahu/index.html
Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s Gaza war raises fears of a Palestinian exodus into Egypt,” Washington Post, December 12, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/12/12/gaza-displacement-egypt-palestine-israel-flee-rafah/
Nancy A. Youssef et al., “Israel Begins Pumping Seawater Into Hamas’s Gaza Tunnels,” Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-hamas-war-pumping-seawater-gaza-tunnels-2ed3b3f2
Jacob Magid, “Biden: ‘Indiscriminate’ bombing costing Israel support, Netanyahu ‘has to change,’” Times of Israel, December 13, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/biden-indiscriminate-bombing-costs-israel-support-netanyahu-has-to-change/
Russia
Ukraine
Fig. 4. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[7] fair use.
Douglas Busvine, “Sanctions aren’t working: How the West enables Russia’s war on Ukraine,” Politico, December 11, 2023, https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-sanctions-western-companies-intel-huawei-amd-texas-instruments-ibm/
Ishaan Tharoor, “Ukraine’s Zelensky and Hungary’s Orban reflect a divided Washington,” Washington Post, December 12, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/12/zelensky-orban-hungary-ukraine-aid-eu-funding/
Jakob Hanke Vela, “Orbán names his price,” Politico, December 13, 2023, https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/brussels-playbook/orban-names-his-price/
(dis)United Kingdom
Prime minister
Fig. 5. President Reagan on the South Lawn during the arrival ceremony of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom. U.S. Government photograph, November 16, 1988, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
I’m smelling blood on the water.
Kiran Stacey and Rajeev Syal, “Rishi Sunak desperately lobbying Tory MPs to avoid defeat on Rwanda bill,” Guardian, December 11, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/dec/11/rishi-sunak-desperately-lobbying-tory-mps-to-avoid-defeat-on-rwanda-bill
Pippa Crerar, Ben Quinn, and Peter Walker, “Relief for Rishi Sunak as Rwanda bill passes first vote in Commons,” Guardian, December 12, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/12/rishi-sunak-survives-rwanda-bill-commons-vote
Neoliberalism
Self-driving cars
Fig. 6. Photograph by Mark Doliner, August 1, 2012, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Gareth Vipers, “Tesla to Recall More Than Two Million Vehicles Over Autopilot Safety Concerns,” Wall Street Journal, December 13, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/tesla-recalls-more-than-two-million-vehicles-over-autopilot-safety-concerns-274eb6e6
- [1]Margaret Hartmann and Nia Prater, “All the Mug Shots of Donald Trump and His Alleged Co-Conspirators,” New York, August 25, 2023, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-mug-shot-gallery.html↩
- [2]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
- [3]Ayman Safadi, quoted in Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s Gaza war raises fears of a Palestinian exodus into Egypt,” Washington Post, December 12, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/12/12/gaza-displacement-egypt-palestine-israel-flee-rafah/↩
- [4]Caitlin Hu, “UN General Assembly votes to demand immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” CNN, December 12, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/12/middleeast/ceasefire-vote-gaza-israel-un-intl/index.html↩
- [5]Kevin Liptak and Jeremy Diamond, “Biden tells donors Israel is losing support, Netanyahu must change his government,” CNN, December 12, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/12/politics/biden-israel-losing-support-netanyahu/index.html↩
- [6]Caitlin Hu, “UN General Assembly votes to demand immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” CNN, December 12, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/12/middleeast/ceasefire-vote-gaza-israel-un-intl/index.html; Edith M. Lederer, “US vetoes UN resolution backed by many nations demanding immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza,” Associated Press, December 9, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-un-resolution-ceasefire-humanitarian-6d3bfd31d6c25168e828274d96b85cf8↩
- [7]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩