Theater of Cruelty

Hans Henrik Fafner

Fafner is a regular critic in Ny Tid. Residing in Tel Aviv.
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Citizen journalists

GAZA: Sheikh Jarrah describes how the Israeli authorities subsequently sought to silence the journalists. Here is a current book – in connection with the murdered journalists in Gaza. The democratic function of the media is not always so democratic.
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The military ambitions of the oil states

ARMS: There are a number of developments in the three oil states of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, which Jean-Loup Samaan researches in his latest book. These are the three oil states that account for 17 percent of all arms purchases worldwide. Saudi Arabia's desire to become a nuclear power in order to stand up to Iran.
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The power of water

HISTORY: Terje Tvedt breaks some research norms by seeing the water wheel to a greater degree than the steam engine as the real driving force behind the industrial revolution. It's about water, not cultural superiority.
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It is not possible to wipe out Hamas

HAMAS: Leila Seurat provides a good basis for understanding what went terribly wrong on October 7, when Hamas made a drastic change of course. The purpose of it all was to get the Palestinian cause back on the global agenda, and it has largely succeeded.
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White Christian supremacy

WHITE SUPREMACY: Although the slaves became Christians, they were still relegated to the bottom of the hierarchy. According to this book, in the common world view it was still Europe that symbolized freedom – true freedom belongs only to white people. It is in the church context that it takes the longest to break down the racist divides.
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Two about the tragedy of the Palestinians

ISRAEL: When the Knesset in 2018 passed the so-called nation-state law defining Israel as a Jewish state, it undermined the legitimacy of their own state's existence as a democracy. And here the Norwegian oil fund topped the list of 725 European financial institutions that have invested in 50 companies linked to the illegal settlements on the West Bank.
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To be a stranger in one's own town

IRAQ: The Iraqi journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad has written an excellent book that dispels the typical view of a sectarian and divided society as the main cause of Iraq's long and continuing tragedy.
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When it's really on fire out in the world

EU: Europe has never become an adult and responsible player in a multipolar world. And a common foreign and security policy has never gone beyond the sketch plane. Will it happen now?
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A thorough breach of the norms

USA: Donald Trump broke down established norms and led democracy astray, but he would never have reached this far, if the groundwork had not been laid by others – this new tradition of imprecise wording, secrecy and dodgy methods.
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Full 100-page MODERN TIMES including the appendix Orientering and Modern Times Review comes out quarterly in early March, June, September and December) with international book reviews (non-fiction) and comments / essays. According to the physical newspaper (and PDF), the articles are published regularly online (see the newsletters).

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