Analyses
International Affairs
Reconstruction and Distrust: Stories Amid Lebanon’s Ceasefire
Nicole Hamouche 23 December 2024
After an initial sense of relief, reactions to the ceasefire among the population vary depending on one’s personal history, background, and level of awareness. If, for a population exhausted by years of repeated violence since the end of the so-called civil war—what stateman and journalist Ghassan Tueni called “the war of others”—the news of a ceasefire was significant, a page of such brutality cannot be turned in just a few days or weeks. Besides the moral damages, the bill of this war includes 4,047 killed and 16,593 injured in Lebanon since October 2023, with over 3,000 deaths in the last two months alone. Around 1.5 million people have been displaced, and destruction is concentrated in the South and in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Hezbollah’s headquarters. This comes on top of the unprecedented financial and economic crisis that has gripped the country for years, compounding the suffering.
  • Mona Harb on Lebanon’s Fragile Ceasefire and the Road to a New President
    Alessandra Tommasi 17 December 2024
    On November 28, 2024, a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon began, announced by US President Joe Biden as “designed to be permanent.” However, strikes continue to devastate southern Lebanon. Just days ago, Tel Aviv declared a partial troop withdrawal but refrained from a full pullback as part of the truce. Amid this fragile peace, set against Lebanon’s severe economic and political crises, we reached out to Mona Harb, Professor of Urban Studies and Politics at the American University of Beirut.
  • After the Exodus: The Hong Kong Diaspora Engaging in UK Politics
    Owen Au 3 December 2024
    Hong Kong, once a vibrant city celebrated as an international financial hub, is now witnessing a significant new wave of mass exodus. While official data on the scale of this migration is unavailable, estimates suggest that between 200,000 and 500,000 people have left the city over the past few years. Hong Kong has long been familiar with migration; cross-border employment and split families are nothing new to Hongkongers. However, the mass migration taking place is still something worth a glance at – not only because of the factors driving it but also because, for the first time, it has created a Hong Kong diaspora.
  • The Gaza Massacres: A Suicide for Israel?
    Alessandra Tommasi 22 November 2024
    “The siege. The hunger. Innocent children, the first victims of war. […] Why does God allow harm to be done to children? […] It pairs with another insoluble question: how could God allow the Holocaust? Children were the first to be sent to the gas chambers. The only thing that should be clear to everyone is that a Palestinian child is worth exactly the same as a Jewish child.” From the biblical massacres of the innocent to the war in Gaza. This is how Macellerie – Guerre atroci e paci ambigue (“Slaughterhouses – Atrocious wars and ambiguous peace,” by Siegmund Ginzberg begins, a book that profiles a violent humanity through conflicts and atrocities in history, from the Warring States period in China to today’s wars. Ginzberg, a journalist and essayist born in Turkey to a Jewish family, is not alone in taking a stand in recent weeks. Historian Anna Foa, “a Jew of the diaspora,” explores the “same pain for both sides”—the victims of October 7, the Israeli hostages, and the civilians killed in Gaza—in her book, Il Suicidio di Israele.
  • Trump Rally Jobs
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    Jeffry Frieden: Once Again, it’s the Economy, Stupid
    Sofia de Benedictis 13 November 2024
    One week ago, Donald Trump secured a resounding victory over opponent Kamala Harris in the 2024 US elections, primarily due to a country-wide shift to the right. Swing states like Georgia and Michigan that were previously blue, are now red, and urban areas – historically Democratic bastions – have shifted their favor considerably towards the Republican party. We asked Jeffry Frieden, Professor of International and Public Affairs and Political Science at Columbia University what was motivating voters and whether this rightward shift will mean for democratic values and whether Trump will be able to live up to his lofty election promises.  
  • The Triumph of Trump and Netanyahu: The End of the Two-State Solution?
    Claudia De Martino 8 November 2024
    Donald Trump’s clear-cut victory in the US presidential election has shaken the entire world, and has been greeted with sharply contrasting reactions, especially in Middle East. For Palestinians, it felt like the final nail in the coffin. Hopes for American mediation toward a fair resolution of the conflict are virtually non-existent, and Palestinians view the next four years through a lens of mere survival, trying to withstand the blows from Israel’s most right-wing government in history, which will now feel even freer from burdensome external constraints, such as the call to respect international law.
  • Georgia: Caught Between Russia and an Uncertain Europe
    Luca Sebastiani 5 November 2024
    The October 26 elections and the developments that followed have drawn international attention to Georgia in a way not seen for some time. This interest arose both from the uncertainty surrounding the vote and, especially, from the broader historical and political context: the ongoing war in Ukraine, renewed debates about European Union expansion, and concurrent, hotly contested elections and referendums in Moldova.
  • Beyond the West: China’s Strategic Push with BRICS and Belt and Road
    Giovanni Panzeri 4 November 2024
    In the past decade, China has emerged as a strategic contender to the US-led international system, actively reshaping global economic and geopolitical dynamics. This repositioning has unfolded through China’s proactive involvement in the BRICS+, the launch of the One Belt One Road Initiative (OBOR, or Belt and Road Initiative), and, more recently, through a concerted push to mediate in crises worldwide, capitalizing on both political and economic opportunities. Reset DOC discussed these developments with Claudia Astarita, a professor of Chinese Studies at Science Po University in Paris.
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    Poland’s Immigration Law: Tusk’s Struggle to Hold the Center
    Fabio Turco 29 October 2024
    “Regain control, ensure security.” This is the slogan of a draft law promoted by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and adopted by his government to outline the country’s migration strategy from 2025 to 2030. The proposal has sparked intense debate due to its strict measures, particularly the option to suspend the right to asylum when deemed necessary. Tusk aims to nearly eliminate “illegal” immigration by pursuing a radical approach, enacting measures that conflict with the Geneva Convention, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and even Poland’s own Constitution.
  • After Nasrallah: Why Hezbollah’s Grip Threatens Lebanon’s Future
    Riccardo Cristiano 2 October 2024
    According to the BBC, the missile attack on Hezbollah’s general command bunker is said to have caused 492 casualties, in addition to the wounded. The Israeli army has announced the killing, among others, of Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and nearly the entire senior leadership of the party. The number of Lebanese casualties, especially in southern Lebanon and the Shiite neighborhoods of Beirut, remains unknown, as no one can yet account for those trapped beneath the rubble. Israeli forces have gained control of strategic positions near the border, while hand-to-hand combat between Hezbollah militants and Israeli soldiers has already claimed eight Israeli lives. Despite these developments, few believe Hezbollah will disappear
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