International

German war plans against Russia

Discussions among senior German officers

by Robert Seidel

(16 March 2024) At the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, the German government reassured the country’s worried citizens that only helmets from old Bundeswehr stocks would be delivered to Ukraine and that any further military support would be ruled out. But the population’s mistrust was not deceived.

Middle East

In Gaza, March has begun just like February has ended – with death and destruction

by Karin Leukefeld*

(16 March 2024) (CH-S) Karin Leukefeld – one of the few independent Western journalists in the region – describes the inhumane situation in Gaza in precise words. She repeatedly gives the floor to directly affected civilians whom she knows personally. Her report from the beginning of March is stirring and extremely informative.

Tanzania

A mega construction goes into operation in Africa

Julius Nyerere Dam supplies electricity for 60 million inhabitants

by Ruy Barbosa

(9 March 2024) The “Julius-Nyerere-Dam” in Tanzania is practically completed and is due to start generating electricity these days. The new dam is a genuine pan-African project. The construction costs of 2.9 billion US dollars were financed entirely by the Tanzanian government, and the dam on the Rufiji River was built as part of a partnership between two Egyptian companies: the state-owned “Arab Contractors” and “El-Sewedy Electric”.

The myth of Israel’s “democracy”

Israel cannot be a colonial power and a democracy

Interview by Chris Hedges* with Ilan Pappé**

(29 February 2024) Israeli historian Ilan Pappé reframes ‘the only democracy in the Middle East’ as a colonising force that is inherently undemocratic due to its necessary subjugation of Palestinians.

Israel’s status as a bona fide democracy is often taken to be a self-evident truth, but a more critical look at the history and reality of Zionism calls this into question. After all, how can a democracy exist in a country constitutionally defined as an ethno state that can only exist through the suppression and gradual elimination of its Others?

Israeli historian Ilan Pappé joins The Chris Hedges Report for a discussion on Israel as an inherently colonial, and therefore anti-democratic, project.

Julius Malema, Nathalie Yamb and the new African radicality

by Guy Mettan,* Geneva

(29 February 2024) A blind angle in the global media for decades, the African continent has become fascinating to observe since the Covid crisis because mind-blowing events are constantly happening there and there is a kind of confusing excitement that is difficult to decipher, but very exhilarating.

A nuclear “Armageddon” by Western elites?

by Robert Seidel

(23 February 2024) The opinion that “elites” or “experts”, plutocrats, “blue bloods” or “global young leaders” can make better decisions per se than the public has proven to be a mistake time and again. The current wars are planned, initiated, waged, or “merely” tolerated by small elite circles who think they know better. This is a mockery of every human being and every democracy – after all, in the nuclear age, everyone is affected by these decisions. It is a fatal mistake to want to rely on the “common sense” of these elites these days.