Rwanda, 20 Years On: From Tragedy to Useful Imperial Fiction

By Robin Philpot* April 6, 2014 will mark the twentieth anniversary of the shooting down over Kigali of a plane carrying two African heads of state, Juvénal Habyarimana of Rwanda and Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi. We know that that terrorist crime—surely the worst of the 1990s—triggered unending war, destruction, and massacres in Rwanda and Congo.… Read More Rwanda, 20 Years On: From Tragedy to Useful Imperial Fiction

Getting It Right: Hugo Chávez and the “Arab Spring”

Some opening vignettes might set the right tone for properly appreciating the question of “who was right” about the so-called Arab Spring. (The notion of there having been an “Arab Spring,” a term first coined by U.S. neoconservatives such as Charles Krauthammer back in 2005, is one that has been subject to radically diverse interpretations,… Read More Getting It Right: Hugo Chávez and the “Arab Spring”

Thoughtful, Respectful, and Progressive: Regarding the “Responsibility to Protect”

Some of this has already been raised, in my recent interview with Phil Taylor, plus in an excellent article by Ken Stone, “UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay: ‘Pretext-maker’ for Western Military Aggression,” and by The Wrong Kind of Green (“Must Watch: MP Laurent Louis Exposes International Neo-Colonialists Behind ‘War On Terror’ & ‘Humanitarian Interventions’… Read More Thoughtful, Respectful, and Progressive: Regarding the “Responsibility to Protect”

Libya: The Second Anniversary of a Bloody Coup

This weekend, marking the second anniversary of the start of protests that would usher in a bloody and prolonged NATO-led coup to overthrow the Libyan Jamahiriya and Muammar Gaddafi, offers many reasons to celebrate for those whose intention was the demolition of Libyan self-determination, African integration, and a domestic system of extensive social welfare and… Read More Libya: The Second Anniversary of a Bloody Coup