Back in 2021, Donald Trump called cryptocurrency “a disaster waiting to happen” and a “scam.” Takes one to know one, right? As he got closer to regaining the White House, however, Trump changed his mind about this “scam,” probably as a result of the millions of dollars that flowed into his campaign coffers from industry… Continue reading Crypto and the Far Right
During the Cold War, the United States waged a war of ideas with the Soviet Union to capture the hearts and minds of the rest of the world. It was in many ways a lop-sided contest, at least in terms of popular appeal. The United States had pop songs, Pop art, Pop-Tarts, not to mention… Continue reading The End of U.S. Soft Power?
Donald Trump has always presented himself as a master builder, a successful real estate developer who erected office buildings and resorts and curated golf courses all around the world. In reality, Trump was never a good businessman, declaring bankruptcy six times over his career and producing a string of failed enterprises from Trump Airlines to… Continue reading Europe Has to Choose: Maintain an Abusive Relationship or Break with America
The aging leader wanted to shake up his country, so he launched a second revolution with the help of a cadre of young people. Drunk with power, the leader targeted his enemies, remade his political party, and turned his own government into a self-destructing circus. Anyone with real expertise was sent far away from the… Continue reading The Trump-Musk Cultural Revolution
“They are coming to replace us.” It sounds like the tagline of a horror movie. And indeed, what the far right whispers into ears, chants at hate-filled rallies, and translates into odious legislation in white-majority countries is very much a horror movie in that it is both scary and untrue. In country after country, the… Continue reading Trump to Gaza: We Will Replace You
Going into 2025, the world was already pretty scary. Take your pick: climate change, nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, pandemic, Elon Musk. But in two short weeks, the current occupant of the White House has made life scarier still for specific communities of people. The Trump administration has already taken into custody thousands of undocumented immigrants… Continue reading Trump’s Scare Tactics
Donald Trump cares little about democracy, except in the most utilitarian sense. For Trump, democracy is a ladder that he can use to ascend to power. He is not interested in promoting democracy abroad or strengthening democracy at home. He cares only about power: corporate, presidential, national. Before Trump, presidents frequently promoted U.S. democracy overseas,… Continue reading The End of American Democracy?
A storm system is gathering off the coast of Maryland and is set to make landfall on January 20. Those of a more optimistic bent predict that the storm, puffed up by hot air, will dissipate considerably when it hits the shore. The rest of us are in full disaster preparation mode. Past experience, after… Continue reading America’s Homegrown Superstorm
Democracy isn’t doing so well around the world. One poignant sign of democracy’s decline is that it’s cherished most fervently in places where it effectively doesn’t exist— in Venezuela, for example, among voters protesting a stolen election. In existing democracies, meanwhile, voters don’t hold their defining political institutions in high regard. In the United States,… Continue reading The Global Significance of South Korea’s Leadership Crisis
In the late 1990s, at the request of five South Korean organizations, I put together a conflict resolution training program in Seoul. The groups were interested in learning more about nonviolent ways of resolving disputes in the community, at a national level, and across borders. Another aim of the program was to explore ways for… Continue reading The Transformation of Korean Civil Society