WORLD - The African Mirror

Apr

09

2025

The left-behind men who crave pride, battle shame – and voted for Trump

WORLD

ARTIE Russell Hochschild’s Strangers in their own Land, which explored the motivations and resentments of working-class conservatives in Louisiana, was named one of six books to help understand Donald Trump’s win by the New York Times when he was first elected president, in 2016. (Another was Hillbilly Elegy, by now vice president JD Vance, published just a few months earlier.) Since then, Californian progressive sociologist Hochschild has been struggling to understand the appeal of Donald Trump: particularly to white, working-class men, once a strong Democratic constituency. No writer has worked harder to grasp the gut-level appeal that saw Trump win…

Apr

09

2025

By SCOTT LUCAS

Why is Israel expanding its offensive in Gaza and what does it mean for the Middle East? Expert Q&A

WORLD

ISRAEL resumed its military offensive in Gaza in March, blaming Hamas for rejecting a new US proposal to extend the ceasefire and free the remaining hostages. Since then, the Israeli military has launched waves of airstrikes on the besieged territory, killing hundreds of Palestinians and forcing many more to evacuate. Israel now says it is expanding its offensive. In a video statement released on April 2, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the Israeli military had “shifted gears” in the Gaza Strip, “seizing territory, hitting the terrorists and destroying the infrastructure”. Earlier that day, his defence minister, Israel Katz, had…

Apr

08

2025

By ALAIN-G. GAGNON

TrumpWith Trump in power, the world must fight the new culture of intimidation

WORLD

THE world is in the midst of one of the most serious political crises since the end of the Second World War. The bond of trust that existed for 80 years between the United States and the other Western countries has been broken. In this new political era, a great deal of cooperation will be required to preserve the principles of international law and the protection of human rights and democratic values. The arrival of Donald Trump and his acolytes in power must now serve as a rallying call for the most enlightened minds to join forces to resist a…

Apr

08

2025

By FEDERICO CHAVES CORREA

Argentina’s Javier Milei is playing the democratic game, but using authoritarian tactics

WORLD

ARGENTINIAN president Javier Milei promised radical changes before he came to power. Now, after just over a year in office, there are many signs that point to a relative improvement in the Argentinian economy. Wages are starting to catch up with inflation. Inflation fell from a peak of 25.5 per cent in December 2023 to 2.7 per cent in December 2024. The national deficit has been reduced and economic activity has rebounded. The poverty rate, after having increased, is now reportedly lower than it was when the Milei administration took power at the end of 2023. Thanks to his successes,…

Apr

08

2025

By The African Mirror

Tremors of Conflict: The UN’s Plea Amid Myanmar’s Dual Catastrophe

WORLD

THE ground had barely stopped shaking when the first jets appeared in the sky. In the hazy aftermath of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that had just ripped through central Myanmar, as dust still hung in the air above the rubble of homes and hospitals, the distant drone of military aircraft cut through the cries of the wounded and bereaved. "The bombs fell as people were still digging through collapsed buildings with their bare hands," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk would later report, his voice tight with barely contained outrage. "The military launched airstrikes in the very hours…

Apr

06

2025

By ABBEY MAKOE

US tariffs: China hits back!

WORLD

CHINA, the world's second-biggest economy, is leading international retaliation against US President Donald Trump's wholesale imposition of universal tariffs that has triggered an unprecedented global trade war. President Trump's minimum baseline 10 percent tariff on all goods exported from elsewhere into the US, the world's biggest economy, has set off fear, shock and uncertainty that global trade has not seen in recent memory. Applying the cowboyish theory of different strokes for different folks, President Trump's executive order, signed amid growing unilateralism, saw each nation – big or small – hit with its own specific "reciprocal tariff" that Washington argues only…

Apr

05

2025

By The African Mirror

UNHCR seeks funding to scale up support to Myanmar’s quake survivors

WORLD

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is appealing for $16 million to assist 1.2 million people who survived last week’s devastating earthquake in Myanmar. UNHCR will use the funds to expand its emergency relief efforts, manage displacement sites and support vulnerable people in six affected regions until the end of the year. In the week since the earthquake struck central Myanmar, UNHCR has deployed existing in-country stocks, including plastic sheets and kitchen sets, for some 25,000 survivors in Mandalay, Sagaing and Bago regions, as well as the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, and parts of Shan State (South). As part of the…

Apr

05

2025

By SARA MCKINNON

How Latin American countries should counter Trump’s migration crackdown

WORLD

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian. By Sara McKinnon IT was an otherwise calm Sunday on 25 January 2025 – that was until Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, swapped a flurry of messages that sparked a diplomatic crisis. On the X platform, Petro blamed Trump for treating Colombians as “criminals” and said he would not allow deportation flights. The response was quick: Trump suspended consular visa processing, revoked visas, and implemented tariffs – moves Petro said he would replicate. As someone who studies migration policy in the Americas, and particularly how foreign…

Apr

04

2025

By RAKESH GUPTA

What Donald Trump’s dramatic US trade war means for global climate action

WORLD

US President Donald Trump’s new trade war will not only send shockwaves through the global economy – it also upsets efforts to tackle the urgent issue of climate change. Trump has announced a minimum 10% tariff to be slapped on all exports to the United States. A 34% duty applies to imports from China and a 20% rate to products from the European Union. Australia has been hit with the minimum 10% tariff. The move has prompted fears of a global economic slowdown. This might seem like a positive for the climate because greenhouse gas emissions are closely tied to…

Apr

04

2025

By SEBASTIAN MASLOW and PAUL O'SHEA

Faced with new tariffs and a truculent Trump, Japan and South Korea toe a cautious line

WORLD

TWO months into US President Donald Trump’s second term, the liberal international order is on life support. Alliances and multilateral institutions are now seen by the United States as burdens. Europe and NATO are framed as bad business, “ripping off” the US. On his so-called “Liberation Day”, Trump also imposed 20% tariffs on all European Union imports. The Trump administration has been far less critical of the US alliances in the Indo-Pacific region. On a visit to Tokyo this week, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth described Japan as America’s “indispensable partner” in deterring Chinese aggression. Yet, Japan and South Korea…