https://znetwork.org/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Thu, 22 Jan 2026 13:49:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-greenland-delusion-runs-aground-in-davos/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-greenland-delusion-runs-aground-in-davos/#respond Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:58:41 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293791 Trump is a narcissistic, psychopathic bully. But a weak one.  I started listening to Trump’s speech at Davos with anger and outrage. But as he went on and on, I slowly felt a growing sense of relief. I realised that all his bullying, taunts and threats reflected weakness. He sounded like a needy, spoilt child [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-greenland-delusion-runs-aground-in-davos/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-minneapolis-to-portland-state-violence-and-how-communities-are-responding/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-minneapolis-to-portland-state-violence-and-how-communities-are-responding/#respond Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:58:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293789 The killing this January of unarmed Minnesota woman Renee Nicole Good in her car by an ICE agent has sparked nationwide alarm and civil protest. It marks the latest escalation in the political violence risk environment in the United States, which in just the last year has seen high-profile political assassinations, a rise in death [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-minneapolis-to-portland-state-violence-and-how-communities-are-responding/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whats-it-going-to-take-to-get-to-mass-strikes/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whats-it-going-to-take-to-get-to-mass-strikes/#respond Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:58:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293786 On Jan. 23, Minnesotans will witness a new tactical experiment in resisting authoritarian consolidation: a one-day call for no work, no school, no shopping — an economic blackout across the state (www.iceoutnowmn.com). The call is coming from a rapidly growing coalition that includes the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, Service Employees International Union Local 26, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whats-it-going-to-take-to-get-to-mass-strikes/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-climate-change-an-externality/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-climate-change-an-externality/#respond Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:57:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293784 This post is part of a symposium on Alyssa Battistoni’s Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature. Read the rest of the posts here. ** ** ** In Free Gifts, Alyssa Battistoni traces the concept of the “externality” across the past century. This history begins in 1920, when the economist Alfred Pigou observed how private market transactions could impose [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-climate-change-an-externality/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-left-needs-bureaucrats/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-left-needs-bureaucrats/#respond Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:56:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293764 After MAGA, the left will need to be ready with a theory of how to rebuild the federal administrative state—not as it was before Trump, but as something better. With Zohran Mamdani’s ascent to Gracie Mansion, a democratic socialist is now chief executive for the largest municipal bureaucracy in the United States, meaning that he [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-left-needs-bureaucrats/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-sun-sets-on-the-syrian-kurdish-rebellion/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-sun-sets-on-the-syrian-kurdish-rebellion/#respond Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293776 The agreement that terminated the Syrian Kurdish enclave was presented by its signatories as a pragmatic settlement. But, in fact, the deal is a major political defeat for the Syrian Kurdish political formations. Certainly, the rapid advance of the Syrian armed groups loyal to President Ahmad al-Sharaa broke the resistance of the Syrian Democratic Forces [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-sun-sets-on-the-syrian-kurdish-rebellion/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-disconnected-present-neoliberal-fascism-and-the-politics-of-erasure/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-disconnected-present-neoliberal-fascism-and-the-politics-of-erasure/#respond Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:50:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293781 Weaponizing Distraction: Spectacle as Governance Under the Trump administration, the politics of diversion has hardened into a governing strategy and been normalized by a compliant mainstream media ecosystem. As James Oliphant observes in Reuters, “Donald Trump is a human hurricane,” generating so many simultaneous controversies that tracking any single event becomes nearly impossible. Oliphant is only partly [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-disconnected-present-neoliberal-fascism-and-the-politics-of-erasure/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/us-aggression-uk-support-the-special-relationship/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/us-aggression-uk-support-the-special-relationship/#respond Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:48:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293778 Forty years ago, US warplanes bombed Libya, attempting to assassinate its leader Muammar Gaddafi. Failing in that task, they managed to kill dozens of civilians in Tripoli, Libya’s capital. The attacks, which were in response to the bombing of a Berlin nightclub blamed on Gaddafi, were strongly supported by Margaret Thatcher’s government. Indeed, she allowed [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/us-aggression-uk-support-the-special-relationship/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/europe-pretends-to-talk-about-self-respect-while-coated-with-u-s-military-bases/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/europe-pretends-to-talk-about-self-respect-while-coated-with-u-s-military-bases/#respond Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:47:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293769 Dear European governments, look at the map of U.S. military bases above and tell us again about your self-respect, about how you’re going to fight Trump in Greenland (where he also has a military base), about all the military violence metaphors in your newspapers’ columns about trade policies, but understand that we know about the thing you’ve [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/europe-pretends-to-talk-about-self-respect-while-coated-with-u-s-military-bases/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/military-bases-prove-new-york-times-to-be-lying-about-greenland/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/military-bases-prove-new-york-times-to-be-lying-about-greenland/#respond Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:46:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293772 This was a headline in the New York Times on Tuesday: “With Threats to Greenland, Trump Sets America on the Road to Conquest: After a century of defending other countries against foreign aggression, the United States is now positioned as an imperial power trying to seize another nation’s land.” Here is a sentence from the article that [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/military-bases-prove-new-york-times-to-be-lying-about-greenland/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-destruction-of-unrwa-is-a-warning-to-indonesia-the-two-state-solution-is-dead/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-destruction-of-unrwa-is-a-warning-to-indonesia-the-two-state-solution-is-dead/#respond Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:45:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293807 By destroying facilities of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem, Israel has done more than demolish buildings. It has shattered, yet again, the illusion that the two-state solution remains viable—and exposed the moral bankruptcy of an international order that continues to pretend otherwise. For Indonesia, a country long committed [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-destruction-of-unrwa-is-a-warning-to-indonesia-the-two-state-solution-is-dead/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-us-israel-hybrid-war-against-iran/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-us-israel-hybrid-war-against-iran/#comments Wed, 21 Jan 2026 19:10:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293747 The question is not if the US and Israel will attack Iran, but when. In the nuclear age, the US refrains from all-out war, since it can easily lead to nuclear escalation. Instead, the US and Israel are waging war against Iran through a combination of crushing economic sanctions, targeted military strikes, cyberwarfare, stoking unrest, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-us-israel-hybrid-war-against-iran/feed/ 2 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-of-james-douglass-martyrs-to-the-unspeakable/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-of-james-douglass-martyrs-to-the-unspeakable/#respond Wed, 21 Jan 2026 19:00:00 +0000 James Douglass, longtime antinuclear activist and author of the bestselling JFK and the Unspeakable, has written his life’s work. Martyrs to the Unspeakable builds on the work of its predecessor, which detailed Kennedy’s turn toward peace during the Cold War and his resulting death at the hands of his own government. Martyrs broadens and deepens [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-of-james-douglass-martyrs-to-the-unspeakable/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-past-year-has-seen-an-unprecedented-displacement-of-palestinian-communities-in-the-west-bank/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-past-year-has-seen-an-unprecedented-displacement-of-palestinian-communities-in-the-west-bank/#respond Wed, 21 Jan 2026 18:59:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293749 The year 2025 saw the unprecedented displacement of Palestinian rural communities by Israeli settlers, who enjoy the Israeli army’s backing. At least 13 rural Palestinian communities in the West Bank were completely wiped off the map. This impacted at least 190 families and 1,090 individuals.  The wave of settler attacks has continued into 2026, with [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-past-year-has-seen-an-unprecedented-displacement-of-palestinian-communities-in-the-west-bank/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-has-built-his-own-fascist-paramilitary-squad/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-has-built-his-own-fascist-paramilitary-squad/#respond Wed, 21 Jan 2026 18:59:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293733 Exactly a year ago today, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. He took over a nation with strong imperialistic tendencies and a democratic polity but with widespread illiberal features throughout its history and, in less than a year, succeeded in establishing a 21st-century US variant of fascism while [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-has-built-his-own-fascist-paramilitary-squad/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/historians-have-a-duty-to-condemn-scholasticide-in-gaza/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/historians-have-a-duty-to-condemn-scholasticide-in-gaza/#respond Wed, 21 Jan 2026 18:58:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293731 Earlier this month, the American Historical Association’s (AHA) leadership once again overruled its own members, blocking a resolution on scholasticide in Gaza and vetoing a second resolution concerning the escalating repression of scholars in the United States — particularly those who have spoken out about this destruction. The votes were not close. Nearly 80 percent [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/historians-have-a-duty-to-condemn-scholasticide-in-gaza/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/after-bondi-australia-faces-a-foreign-policy-choice/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/after-bondi-australia-faces-a-foreign-policy-choice/#comments Wed, 21 Jan 2026 18:56:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293724 Australia has entered one of those rare diplomatic moments when grief at home collides with moral judgment abroad, and when a single invitation carries meanings far beyond the bounds of protocol. The decision to host Israeli President Isaac Herzog in the aftermath of the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre has become more than an act of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/after-bondi-australia-faces-a-foreign-policy-choice/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-train-of-regeneration-green-peace-for-the-oases-from-bechar-to-tindouf/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-train-of-regeneration-green-peace-for-the-oases-from-bechar-to-tindouf/#respond Wed, 21 Jan 2026 18:54:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293725 Facing the strategic challenges in Algeria’s Southwest — water security, sustainable resource management, territorial stability, and socio-economic development — it is essential to complement major national projects with integrated approaches capable of amplifying their long-term benefits. This contribution aims to do just that. It offers a complementary perspective on a state-led infrastructure project, exploring how [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-train-of-regeneration-green-peace-for-the-oases-from-bechar-to-tindouf/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/fighting-the-israel-lobby-never-retreat-never-show-weakness/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/fighting-the-israel-lobby-never-retreat-never-show-weakness/#respond Wed, 21 Jan 2026 18:53:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1293755 This past weekend, I learned from social media commentary that yet another Zionist complaint has been filed against me with the Law Society of Ontario (LSO). I have been a member in good standing of the LSO for more than twenty years. Prior to the launch of Israel’s genocide in October 2023, no one had [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/fighting-the-israel-lobby-never-retreat-never-show-weakness/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-dangerous-attack-on-free-speech-matt-taibbi-sues-for-defamation/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-dangerous-attack-on-free-speech-matt-taibbi-sues-for-defamation/#respond Wed, 21 Jan 2026 18:52:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293732 In November of last year, in an egregious abuse of defamation law, former progressive journalist  (and current right wing influencer) Matt Taibbi launched a lawsuit–presently ongoing–claiming to have been defamed by leftist journalist Eoin Higgins (and Higgins’s publisher Hachette Book Group), ludicrously alleging “reputational and financial damages”, according to the official legal complaint, “in excess [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-dangerous-attack-on-free-speech-matt-taibbi-sues-for-defamation/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ratify-the-r-word-bruce-minneapolis-revolution-and-us/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ratify-the-r-word-bruce-minneapolis-revolution-and-us/#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293677 Twenty four years ago I wrote an essay titled “Resurrect the R Word.” To many people back then revolution meant chaos, violence, and death. Disagree? Me too. But should we resurrect the R-Word? My answer back then was that we should and I have the same answer now. But now we should Resurrect and also [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ratify-the-r-word-bruce-minneapolis-revolution-and-us/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/mayor-mamdani-can-empower-new-yorks-municipal-workers/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/mayor-mamdani-can-empower-new-yorks-municipal-workers/#respond Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293711 What does it augur to have a socialist mayor of New York City? The basic tenets of Zohran Mamdani’s election platform are, of course, directed at reducing inequality in the most unequal city in the nation: free childcare and buses, frozen rents, and more subsidized housing are all steps in that direction. But sabotage from [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/mayor-mamdani-can-empower-new-yorks-municipal-workers/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/kings-dream-was-never-finished/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/kings-dream-was-never-finished/#respond Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293705 On a cold January morning, a small group of visitors walks through a National Park, expecting to honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. The gates are open, but the celebration is absent—no banners, no programs, no recognition. Juneteenth, too, has vanished from the federal calendar. Last year, the Pentagon paused Black History Month. And President [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/kings-dream-was-never-finished/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israeli-agricultural-exports-face-looming-collapse-as-world-rejects-products-over-gaza-genocide/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israeli-agricultural-exports-face-looming-collapse-as-world-rejects-products-over-gaza-genocide/#respond Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293709 In recent months, Israel’s public broadcaster aired several reports on Israel’s massive problem in exporting fruits, particularly to European markets. Put out by Kan 11, the reports indicate what the growers themselves describe as a looming “collapse,” unwittingly testifying to the importance of the continuing international boycott of Israel.  Now Israel finds itself alongside Russia [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israeli-agricultural-exports-face-looming-collapse-as-world-rejects-products-over-gaza-genocide/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ending-republican-control-will-require-overcoming-the-democratic-leadership/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ending-republican-control-will-require-overcoming-the-democratic-leadership/#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293699 The past year has completely discredited any claim that choosing between the Democratic and Republican parties would be merely a matter of “pick your poison” with the same end result. In countless terrible ways, the last 12 months have shown that Donald Trump’s party is bent on methodically inflicting vast cruelty and injustice while aiming to crush [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ending-republican-control-will-require-overcoming-the-democratic-leadership/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/does-the-unthinkable-happen/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/does-the-unthinkable-happen/#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293703 Modern history is replete with events so extraordinary, aberrant, revolting, and surprising that one feels like exclaiming: how is this possible!? Normally, this exclamation, as a generalized phenomenon, does not arise at the moment such events take place, but years or centuries later: how was this possible!? The astonishment is such that, often, what has [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/does-the-unthinkable-happen/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dear-america-keep-your-republic-and-let-all-others-keep-theirs/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dear-america-keep-your-republic-and-let-all-others-keep-theirs/#respond Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293707 It is not easy to play poker with Washington these days. It holds a trump card never seen in the deck before. It is now an ace, a king, a jack, and a joker with very dark intent. For example, just when we were being schooled to believe that Russia and China could be gunning for [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dear-america-keep-your-republic-and-let-all-others-keep-theirs/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/so-what-is-it-that-youth-should-aspire-to/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/so-what-is-it-that-youth-should-aspire-to/#respond Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293692 Everyone wants a good future for their children, grandchildren and students. Most would say a better future. A quality education. Good work they are interested in. A peaceful community of well-being. Some kind of dignity in all arenas of life. The more time passes the clearer the demand becomes on all of us to begin [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/so-what-is-it-that-youth-should-aspire-to/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-streets-of-iran-are-burning-and-so-is-the-myth-of-stability/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-streets-of-iran-are-burning-and-so-is-the-myth-of-stability/#respond Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293697 Estimates of the human cost of the unrest vary dramatically; U.S.-based monitors such as HRANA report at least 2,571 people killed, while some outlets and activist networks have cited far higher figures, including claims of around 12,000 deaths. Iran’s streets have seen this story before, yet each time it unfolds, the emotional toll deepens and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-streets-of-iran-are-burning-and-so-is-the-myth-of-stability/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/resistance-grows-as-border-wall-construction-threatens-jaguars/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/resistance-grows-as-border-wall-construction-threatens-jaguars/#respond Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293701 On a sunny and modestly warm day in mid-November, I have a clear view of the San Rafael Valley from high in Montezuma Pass in the Coronado National Monument. A road cuts a straight orange-red line through the juniper trees and grassland below. That road, I am told by one of the border wall resisters [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/resistance-grows-as-border-wall-construction-threatens-jaguars/feed/ 0