by James Armel Smith | May 24, 2020 | "Planet of the Humans", Climate change, COVID-19, Economics, Michael Moore, Netherlands | Journalism |
There is indeed much to be critical of in Michael Moore’s new film “Planet of the Humans.” But the film also contains a legitimate critique of society, according to Jan Rotmans, professor in Sustainability Transitions at DRIFT, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Rarely has... 
by James Armel Smith | Apr 14, 2020 | Coronavirus, COVID-19, Donald Trump, Misinformation, Netherlands, Pandemic | Journalism, Political Science |
Now that America has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Donald Trump is slipping back into a familiar role: that of television personality. The U.S. president is so pleased with his almost daily press conferences that he is taking to Twitter to... 
by James Armel Smith | Mar 10, 2020 | Bernie Sanders, Ewald Engelen, Income inequality, Mark Rutte, Netherlands, Social justice | Journalism, Political Science |
Is the Netherlands an egalitarian oasis in a world of uneven wealth distribution and growing inequality? It depends on which ideological lens you use to look at it, as Casper Thomas demonstrates in an eminently readable article about global inequality in De Groene... 
by James Armel Smith | Mar 9, 2020 | 2020 Election, Bernie Sanders, Democratic Party, Democratic Primary, Income inequality, Netherlands | Journalism, Political Science |
Critics who call Bernie Sanders too radical and unelectable because he stands in the way of consensus are missing the point of his appeal, write three social scientists. Bernie Sanders is leading in the Democratic primaries.* The frontrunner, who is dismissed by the... 
by James Armel Smith | Feb 10, 2020 | ASML, China, Europe, Netherlands, Trade war, United States | International Relations, Journalism, Political Science |
The scene is familiar: the White House Oval Office, President Donald Trump signing a large white document as Vice President Mike Pence and other high-ranking officials look on approvingly in the background. Last Wednesday, the guest and fellow signatory was the... 
by James Armel Smith | Nov 25, 2019 | Endless wars, Military spending, NATO, Netherlands, United States | International Relations, Journalism, Political Science |
The Cabinet must renounce NATO’s defense spending requirements. Rather than allocating an extra 6 billion euros (approximately $6.3 billion) for defense and contributing to endless wars and the arms race, the Netherlands should instead invest in education and national... 
by James Armel Smith | Sep 30, 2019 | Amnesty International, Gun violence, Mass shootings, Travel advisory, United States | International Relations, Journalism, Political Science |
Amnesty International recently issued a travel advisory for the United States in an effort to call attention to the excessive gun violence there. An overly political move, according to critics. The human rights organization experienced quite a bit of backlash online.... 
by James Armel Smith | Jul 31, 2019 | Apollo 11, China, India, Moon, Moon Race, Russia, Space Exploration, United States | International Relations, Journalism, Political Science |
50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing In January of this year, the Chinese moon lander Chang’e-4, named after the Chinese moon goddess, deployed a rover on the far side of the moon. India is scheduled to launch its Chandrayaan-2 mission to the moon on July... 
by James Armel Smith | Jul 9, 2019 | Artificial Intelligence, European Commission, Facebook, Google, Maarten Goos, Personal Data, reCAPTCHA | Journalism |
Without even knowing it, we are often doing unpaid work for tech companies like Google and Facebook. According to economist Maarten Goos, the time has come for people to be compensated for that work. “You should profit from your data,” he says. You may not even know... 
by James Armel Smith | Jun 28, 2019 | Ava DuVernay, Central Park Five, Netflix, Racial Injustice, When They See Us | Journalism |
Review When They See Us” is more than a series about a miscarriage of justice; it is an indictment of a racist system. The victims of that system are finally being seen. By now, the world is familiar with the story of the Central Park Five, the five male teenagers... 
by James Armel Smith | May 31, 2019 | Android, China, Google, Huawei, Trade, United States | International Relations, Journalism, Political Science |
Android It is a major blow for Huawei. U.S.-based Google has been forced to take drastic measures against the Chinese tech firm. After the Trump administration introduced stricter regulations for conducting business with Chinese tech companies last week, Google is now... 
by James Armel Smith | Apr 30, 2019 | Chelsea Manning, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, First Amendment, Julian Assange, Whistleblowers, WikiLeaks | International Relations, Journalism, Political Science |
So, it’s settled then. There must be a scapegoat. And that scapegoat is now being prepared for the ritual sacrifice: Julian Assange is behind bars. He was taken into custody after the Ecuadorean government “invited” the British police to remove him from its embassy in... 
by James Armel Smith | Mar 18, 2019 | Border Wall, Donald Trump, Immigration, Irregular migration, Neoliberalism | International Relations, Journalism, Political Science |
If the U.S. truly wants less irregular migration, then it will have to reform its neoliberal economy. The current debate over Trump’s wall is primarily a conflict over window-dressing. At first glance, the political impasse over Donald Trump’s wall appears to reflect... 
by James Armel Smith | Feb 16, 2019 | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Netherlands, OxyContin, Philanthropy, Purdue Pharma | International Relations, Journalism |
Philanthropy Hiding behind the virtuous façade of philanthropy is an elite class that determines political agendas in the absence of any form of control, write Menno Bosma and Roeland Muskens. Two hundred people in the United States, including actor Heath Ledger, have... 
by James Armel Smith | Jan 20, 2019 | Border Wall, Donald Trump, Immigration, Mexico, United States | International Relations, Journalism, Political Science |
Modern states have to keep out non-citizens. They cannot do otherwise. A wall , a physical boundary, only makes that more visible, writes Eric Hendriks. Be honest about that. Are you a fence or a wall person? If you consider that a strange question and think that a... 
by James Armel Smith | Dec 5, 2018 | Donald Trump, Human Rights, Jamal Khashoggi, Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia, Trade | International Relations, Journalism, Political Science |
“Blinded by cheap oil and seduced by weapons sales, Trump maintains his alliance with a hereditary dictatorship with medieval social mores.” It remains unsettling even after two years – especially when it is all there in black and white, complete with... 
by James Armel Smith | Oct 26, 2018 | #MeToo, Brett Kavanaugh, Christine Blasey Ford, Donald Trump, Supreme Court | Journalism, Political Science |
It was a bad weekend for the rule of law and democracy. The Chinese director of Interpol disappeared from Lyon and was later found to have been arrested in China. In Turkey, the possibility that Saudi Arabia murdered a critical journalist inside the Saudi consulate in... 
by James Armel Smith | Sep 29, 2018 | Donald Trump, International Criminal Court, John Bolton, The Netherlands, United Nations | International Relations, Journalism, Political Science |
The fact that the United States is … turning its back so emphatically on the international legal order is ultimately harmful to everyone. In his speech at the beginning of this week, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton combined two favorite subjects: his... 
by James Armel Smith | Sep 12, 2018 | Donald Trump, Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia, United States, Weapons, Yemen | International Relations, Journalism, Political Science |
There would be no war in Yemen without American and British weapons. But Carolien Roelants sees no sign of movement toward terminating that assistance. There is an unbelievable photo in which Donald Trump points out on a board the number of weapons he has sold to... 
by James Armel Smith | Aug 24, 2018 | Antitrust, European Commission, Google, Margrethe Vestager | International Relations, Journalism, Political Science |
Margrethe Vestager is without a doubt the most popular European commissioner at the moment. The Dane heads the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission. She adjudicates on issues of market power, cartels and unfair competition. With a snap of her... 
by James Armel Smith | Aug 9, 2018 | Antitrust, European Commission, European Union, Google, United States | International Relations, Journalism, Political Science |
The €4.3 billion (approximately $5.1 billion) fine that the European Commission imposed on Google last week seems like an enormous sum of money. The penalty relates to Google’s alleged abuse of power in the mobile phone market. Some 85 percent of mobile devices... 
by James Armel Smith | Jun 11, 2018 | Deterrence, NATO, Netherlands, Nuclear Policy, Opinion | International Relations, Journalism, Political Science |
A coherent nuclear policy is not only in the national interest, but also contributes to a strong trans-Atlantic bond, argues guest columnist Elmar Hellendoorn.* Lack of understanding of nuclear weapons constitutes one of the greatest risks for international security.... 
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