Asia Pacific

John Cusack and Arundhati Roy: Things That Can and Cannot Be Said

By John Cusack and Arundhati Roy / AlterNet Dec 2, 2015 This is the narrative result of an encounter between Cusack, Roy and whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Daniel Ellsberg. Cusack and Roy provide their own accounts and joint conversations. Dig deeper ( 51 Min. Read )

2003 All Over Again? On Eve of Syria Vote, U.K. Is Warned Against ‘Rush to War’

By Deirdre Fulton / Common Dreams Dec 1, 2015 "We must do everything we can to stop MPs voting the U.K. into its fourth war on a Muslim country in 14 years," Stop the War coalition says. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Putin Claims Turkey Was Protecting Islamic State Oil Smuggling as He Urges Kurds to Ally With Assad

Juan Cole / Truthdig Dec 1, 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday in Paris that his government had intelligence that the reason Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet last week was to protect oil smuggling from Islamic State (Daesh) through Turkey. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Clean Energy Gathers Steam

Eugene Robinson / Truthdig Dec 1, 2015 As the Paris climate talks begin, the die is already cast: The world is going to move toward cleaner, more sustainable sources of energy. The question for U.S. policymakers is whether the world's biggest economy gets left behind. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Environmental Activists Are ‘Being Killed in Record Numbers,’ With at Least 116 Dying in 2014

Staff / Truthdig Nov 30, 2015 A new report reveals that two killings of environmental activists occurred on average every week -- up a fifth from 2013. Nearly three-quarters of the known deaths were in Central and South America. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Turkey Reels as Putin Imposes Stiff Economic Sanctions (Video)

Juan Cole / Truthdig Nov 30, 2015 The Russian sanctions announced by President Vladimir Putin on Saturday could have a severe impact on the Turkish economy. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Putin Justifies Russian Tourism Ban on Turkey by Claiming That the Country Supports Radicalism

Juan Cole / Truthdig Nov 30, 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin explained his rationale for asking Russian tourists to leave Turkey last week, and it is ominous. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Hollande and Putin Meet as France Considers an Alliance With the Syrian Army (Video)

Juan Cole / Truthdig Nov 29, 2015 French President Francois Hollande met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week, in his marathon search for a “grand and unique coalition” against Islamic State (Daesh) in Syria. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Where Does Israel Get the Right to Lock Thousands of Civilians Behind a Gate?

Staff / Truthdig May 21, 2015 For weeks, Israeli forces have shut a village of 6,000 people out from entering Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank; scientists find that when it comes to fighting bacteria that resist antibiotics, viruses may come in handy; meanwhile, one writer explains why Elizabeth Warren is right about the Trans-Pacific Partnership. These discoveries and more after the jump. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

‘Agent Orange’: a Poem About the Terrible Legacy the U.S. Left in Vietnam

Staff / Truthdig Apr 15, 2015 As the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon approaches, Paul Lobo Portugés' moving poem serves as a reminder of the pernicious and long-lasting effects American interventionism has had in Vietnam. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Will Flight 17 Sober Us Up?

E.J. Dionne Jr. / Truthdig Jul 22, 2014 American politics was trundling along on its usual unserious and trivial trajectory when news of the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in Ukraine shook the world. Suddenly, the stakes in public life and foreign policy were very high. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Edward Snowden: ‘The World Is Much More Unpredictable and Dangerous’ Than George Orwell’s ‘1984’

Staff / Truthdig Jul 19, 2014 "If I end up in chains in Guantanamo," the NSA whistle-blower tells The Guardian's Alan Rusbridger and Ewen MacAskill in a must-see interview, "I can live with that." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )