U.S. policymakers argue for limited war in Taiwan instead of World War III
Foreign Affairs, March/April—The fate of Taiwan keeps American policymakers up at night…A Chinese invasion of the island would confront the United States with one of its gravest foreign policy choices ever. Letting Taiwan fall to Beijing would dent Washington’s credibility and create new challenges for U.S. military forces in Asia…Even if the United States prevailed—and it might well lose—an outright war with China would likely kill more Americans and destroy more wealth than any conflict since the Vietnam War and perhaps since World War II. Nuclear and cyber weapons could make it worse, bringing destruction on the U.S. homeland. These would be catastrophic consequences for the United States…
Turmoil and killing in Syria continues
N.Y. Times, 3/9—Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Shara, appealed yesterday for calm and unity after violence erupted last week between fighters affiliated with his government and those loyal to the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad. More than 1,000 people have been killed, including about 700 civilians, mostly by government forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights…“We call on Syrians to be reassured because the country has the fundamentals for survival,” al-Shara said…It was unclear whether al-Shara was acknowledging possible killings at the hands of his forces or laying the blame entirely on al-Assad loyalists…
Israeli bosses continue to smash Palestinian refugees
Al Jazeera, 3/9—The Israeli army’s continued operations that began in January in the Jenin refugee camp, and expanded to other camps over the past month, have led to even more Palestinians fleeing these historic refuges, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said. “Coercive conditions, threats of demolition, and evacuation orders drove further displacement from these already near-empty camps,” UNRWA said in its weekly situation report on the occupied territory, adding that “Israeli Forces continued to deploy militarised tactics and advanced weaponry, including the use of tanks”...
Number of strikes in U.S. decreases in 2024
Labor Action Tracker, ILR, 2025—We documented 359 work stoppages (356 strikes and 3 lockouts) involving approximately 293,500 workers in 2024…The number of work stoppages in 2024 continued to exceed 2021 levels but were not as many as in 2022 or 2023. The number of work stoppages decreased by 23.8% in 2024 compared to 2023 and the approximate number of workers also decreased by 45.5%. The decline in the total number of strikes is overwhelmingly due to the decline in the number of one-day strikes, which is attributable in large part to the decrease in the number of strikes by Starbucks Workers United in 2024 as compared to 2022 and 2023.
Australian students rally against modern day eugenics professor
Honi Soit, 3/8—Students rallied outside the F23 Administration Building to protest USyd’s [University of Sydney] decision to platform Professor Julian Savulescu, whose upcoming talk entitled ‘Polygenic Selection and Editing: A Welfarist Approach’ …The rally began with an Acknowledgement of Country that powerfully connected historical eugenic practices to the continued oppression of First Nations peoples, setting the tone for a demonstration that highlighted the real-world consequences of ostensibly abstract academic debates. “This is, to put it bluntly, an argument for genetically selectively removing and eliminating personal traits that are wrongly assumed to be undesirable” …
French imperialists continue evacuation of Africa & flex nuclear muscle in Europe
France24, 3/7—France on Friday began handing over military bases in Senegal, as part of a withdrawal of troops from the west African nation where it has had a presence since 1960. The withdrawal follows the departure of French forces from Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad and Ivory Coast in recent years…Niger, Mali, Central African Republic and Burkina Faso -- urged France to withdraw its troops from their territories, and have moved closer to Russia. The French military presence has similarly decreased in Ivory Coast and Gabon, as part of a restructuring plan in west and central Africa.
