by Igor Torbakov The October Revolution of 1917 was not a singular event, but five years of violent political upheaval and social radicalization, culminating with the establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922. It set the empire’s many peoples on… Continue Reading
by John Feffer When the historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., published his bestseller The Disuniting of America in 1991, he didn’t seriously entertain the worst-case scenario suggested by the title. At the time, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia were imploding, while separatist movements… Continue Reading
by Graham E. Fuller The past two weeks have seen two referendums vote for national self-determination. The Iraqi Kurds voted for independence but the referendum was rejected by the central government in Baghdad. Then Catalans in Spain voted for their… Continue Reading
by John Feffer Democracy can be messy. In the northeast corner of Spain this week, democracy was downright chaotic. Catalans went to the polls on Sunday to vote in a referendum on whether to stay in Spain or go their… Continue Reading
by Nicolai Due-Gundersen On July 21, 2017, Qatar’s emir gave his first address since the start of a two-month blockade launched by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt. “The time has come for us to spare the… Continue Reading