Who Just Bombed Ankara?
Hundreds of people gathering in the centre of the Turkish capital of Ankara to hold a peace rally were just targeted in a bomb attack. Two powerful explosions killed at least 86 of those gathered and...
Category: Themes
London Film Festival 2015 Dispatch 1: Der Nactmahr, Live From New York & Sunrise
“Der Nactmahr’s” early swimming pool set piece exerts an audacious ear drubbing of sub-bass pressure, a sonic bombardment of ultra-sleek techno that threatens to strobe the viewer out of their...
The Battles Lines Being Drawn in the New Middle East
As Russia’s airstrikes begin to take hold, and Russian/Syrian coordinated ground attacks against the non-ISIS rebels continue, the battle lines in the post Sykes-Picot Middle East are starting to...
Enough With The Reboots Already
CBS has announced its latest reboot subject: Nancy Drew. We have reached Peak Reboot, a point beyond which we surely cannot possibly go any further. It needs to stop. The television industry owes us...
Digital Immortality: The Social Media Sites For Dead People
Going back to my roots. See ya very soon BALI!” declared a jubilant 20-year-old Joshua* on Facebook, just a while before boarding the plane that would take him to his fatherland. It was 17th of...
Winter is coming to the Middle East: Understanding Russia’s Intervention in Syria
Recently, Russia has made a number of aggressive foreign policy decisions in Syria. When looking in depth, it becomes apparent that these newly assertive moves have the opportunity to generate...
Carnage in Yemen
You know the Middle East is horrendously chaotic when a war which has cost over 2000 lives and, according to the United Nations, left over 6.5 million people at risk of starvation and most of a...
Is The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah Just A Jon Stewart Clone?
Trevor Noah stepped into an extremely large pair of shoes on Monday night as he took the helm of the venerable Daily Show, replacing long-time host Jon Stewart. Stewart was largely responsible for...
Review: Satin Island by Tom McCarthy (Man Booker Shortlist #4)
(For other Man Booker shortlist reviews, see: A Spool of Blue Thread, The Fishermen, and The Year of the Runaways). Satin Island is Tom McCarthy’s second grab at the Man Booker ring – his book C...
The Case for Humanitarian Intervention in Syria
It's worth noting that the entrance of the term, and indeed concept, of 'humanitarian intervention' into the general lexicon was a mere quarter-century ago. In the aftermath of the 1991 Persian Gulf...