By Paul Whiteley, University of Essex

Colchester (UK), Jan 13 (The Conversation) The Labour prime minister Harold Wilson coined the phrase a week is a long time in politics, something that has certainly been confirmed by recent events.

by Elif Selin Calik

When assessing Turkey's military involvement over the past few years – including in Syria, Libya and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict – one thing must be highlighted: the significant capabilities of its military drones.

During the last 10 years, the export of Turkish weapons has been directly linked to the country's economic rise, as well as to its political manoeuvre. These sales have led to the coining of a new term, "drone diplomacy".

by Iftikhar Gilani

While elections in South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong, Brazil, Hungary, Angola, Kenya, Italy and France will dominate the global political scene in 2022, the developments associated with heightened tensions between China and the US to claim geostrategic space will consume much of global attention over the next 12 months.

by Yvonne Ridley

Tony Blair's final act as a human wrecking ball could well bring down the British monarchy following the controversial decision by Queen Elizabeth II to award him a knighthood. Not just any old knighthood, you understand; he has been made a member of the Order of the Garter, the country's oldest and most prestigious order of chivalry.

by Sunita Vishwanath and Raju Rajagopal

Dear Hindu brothers and sisters:

No doubt you would have seen the recent chilling videos of saffron-clad Hindu religious leaders from Haridwar and Delhi, calling for the extermination of all Muslims in India. You may have also read about the disruption of Christmas celebrations in many parts of India and the increasing threats faced by pastors and places of worship.  

We hope that you are as shocked and dismayed as we are that such vile acts could be happening in our names.

by Dr Ramzy Baroud

An article by Gideon Rachman in the Financial Times last July is a prime example of western intelligentsia's limited understanding of China's unhindered rise as a superpower. "Becoming a superpower is a complicated business. It poses a series of connected questions about capabilities, intentions and will," Rachman wrote.

by Desmond Tutu

Every recent US administration has performed a perverse ritual as it has come into the office. All have agreed to undermine US law by signing secret letters stipulating they will not acknowledge something everyone knows: that Israel has a nuclear weapons arsenal.

by Desmond Tutu

In our struggle against apartheid, the great supporters were Jewish people. They almost instinctively had to be on the side of the disenfranchised, of the voiceless ones, fighting injustice, oppression and evil. I have continued to feel strongly with the Jews. I am patron of a Holocaust centre in South Africa. I believe Israel has a right to secure borders.

by Dr Amira Abo el-Fetouh

When Muammar Gaddafi declared the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in 1977, he invented a new way for the people to govern themselves. Not through democracy and the ballot box, but by what he called the General People's Committee, wherein he placed his informants, followers, and supporters. Instead of a president ruling Libya, he said, the Libyan people would govern the country themselves through popular committees; it was enough for him to be Africa's king of kings.

by Nasim Ahmed

by Asa Winstanley

Throughout most of 2021, the Israel lobby waged a war at the University of Bristol. Its main target was David Miller, then a professor of sociology there.

Backed by the Israeli government itself, the lobby ran a long-term campaign that resulted in the summary firing of Miller for still undisclosed reasons. But it's evident that Miller's anti-Zionist politics were the true reason.

by Elif Selin Calik

India's government has this week decided to close Srinagar's Grand Mosque in Indian-administered Kashmir. This act is the latest of a two-year campaign of repression by the Indian authorities against Kashmir's Muslim population.

The 600-year-old mosque is now shut for the first time in its history. For centuries, Jamia Mosque, as it is known, has been used by the locals, their ancestors, scholars and spiritual masters to worship.