Illusion of Greatness: Russia’s war continues to be propelled by propaganda and historic parallelism
By Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager, Associate Professor of Critical Cultural & International Studies, Colorado State University; and Evgeniya Pyatovskaya, Ph.D. Candidate in Communication, University of South Florida Russia’s war against Ukraine is pressing into its...
False claims of Nazism: Putin is already floating justification for an invasion of Poland
By Juris Pupcenoks, Associate Professor of Political Science, Marist College Oleg Morozov, a member of the Russian parliament and an ally of President Vladimir Putin’s, made what sounded much like a threat in May 2022. Poland should be “in first place in the queue for...
A terror playbook: Almost two million Ukrainians have been victims of Russia’s mass kidnappings
By Alexander Hinton, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology; Director, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, Rutgers University – Newark Following months of speculation, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed on July 13, 2022, that Russia...
War-shattered infrastructure: North Korean labor to rebuild occupied Donbas region destroyed by Russia
North Korea could send workers to two Russian-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine, according to Russia’s ambassador in Pyongyang. The move would pose a challenge to international sanctions against the North’s nuclear weapons program. According to NK News, a...
Morally Exhausted: Why Russian soldiers are refusing to fight in the unprovoked war on Ukraine
For 4 1/2 months, Corporal Ilya Kaminsky and his fellow soldiers from the 11th Separate Air Assault Brigade have waged war, as part of the grinding Russian military offensive that has slowly pushed Ukrainian troops back in eastern Ukraine. By early July, Kaminsky...
A catalyst for fear: How to help children cope with the violence they are bombarded with in the news
By Nicole Martins, Associate Professor of Communication Science, Indiana University; and Erica Scharrer, Professor of Communication, UMass Amherst Over 100 mass shootings have taken place in the U.S. since the rampage in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. Not a single...
Superintendent of Public Instruction says restricting access to guns is key to school safety in Wisconsin
The key to making schools safe from mass shootings is reducing access to guns, said Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly. She said efforts to increase security on campuses or limit access to schools cannot completely protect kids without...
Handcuffs on Democracy: When a court sworn to uphold the law becomes a threat to the rule of law
America is not just a country. It is an idea. But whose idea is it anyway? Peering through the mists of time, the current right-wingnut majority of the U.S. supreme court believe they can divine the original ideas of some very dead White men. On that flimsy basis,...
Milwaukee students use summer program to imagine successful futures by exploring career opportunities
Douglas Winfrey was already considering a career as an auto mechanic. But a visit to Milwaukee Area Technical College’s campus in Mequon made the idea more real for the rising Rufus King High School senior. “If I’m able to see it and touch it, get the feel...
A Civil War in the making: The payoff for 50 years of attacks by rightwing interests on democracy
The June 24th Supreme Court ruling nullifying Roe v. Wade should not be viewed as an isolated event in America’s cultural wars but instead as the result of a fifty-year conservative strategy to supplant US democracy with plutocracy. Although culture wars are an...
A Political Convention: Republican Party now likely to name their 2024 presidential candidate in Milwaukee
When Republicans officially name their next candidate for president of the United States, it appears likely they will do it in Milwaukee. The site selection committee for the Republican National Committee is recommending Milwaukee as the site for its 2024 national...
Maks Levin: Report finds that celebrated Ukrainian photojournalist was executed by Russian troops
A Ukrainian photojournalist and a soldier accompanying him who were killed in the first weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine appear to have been “coldly executed” by Russian troops, Reporters Without Borders has concluded following an investigation into the killings....
