NATURE: Latour wants to problematize how several features of the Christian tradition have stood in opposition to man's relationship with nature. Religious thinking usually has an indifference towards the natural world. And it is not unusual that the most militant climate skeptics often also have a positive and religious expectation of the end of the world – where the saved will be saved and the sinners lost.
PHILOSOPHY:Here follows an assessment of three new books about the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. From a debate in a castle via a critique of modern Western society to a call for more dynamic and 'wild' thinking. Tensions in the past, present and future.
VIOLENCE: Is man fundamentally violent? History does not show exactly that. We have several examples of large societies in prehistory showing few traces of war and authoritarian rule. For example, the Stone Age can be essential for anyone who wants to say something about human evolution and nature.
USA: The European political-media elite portrays Trump as the new Hitler, but is nevertheless in a great hurry to subordinate itself to the USA economically, militarily and politically. Glenn Diesen analyzes the US situation now.
ENVIRONMENT:With the help of Project 2025, President-elect Donald Trump will stop all attempts to avert the climate crisis and accelerate an irreparable catastrophe. The project believes that the US has an "obligation to develop the enormous oil, gas and coal resources for which the country is responsible". Over the next few years, LNG exports alone will produce more greenhouse gases than every single car, home and factory in the EU.
WAR: The fear of a third world war is becoming palpable. Last year, 59 armed conflicts were registered in the world, the highest number since the end of the previous world war. Can one today compare states at war with teenagers who have not yet developed the ability to think about consequences? Today, the possibility of nuclear war is undoubtedly present – with Norway linked to a nuclear-weapon dependent NATO.
USA: The American mission looks at the interesting field of tension between patriotism and liberalism, between inclusion and exclusion, and internationally between what are seen as friends and enemies of freedom. An analysis of how political myths formed the basis for an understanding of US national identity and agency in international conflicts, and of the 'American century', which seems to be fading these years.
CONSPIRACY THEORY: When states, politicians and companies hide the facts and tell half-truths, conspiracy theories become the attempt of the powerless to understand the reality that conditions their lives – and if possible change it. Conspiracy as both a revolutionary and authoritarian tool, pandemics such as AIDS and covid19, post-truth mythologies, the US's military build-up, gold rush and deindustrialisation, al-Qaeda and UFOs are touched upon here.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL:What is it like to be the UN's special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories? After the launch of the Italian book J'accuse, we spoke to Francesca Albanese – about Israel's war against Gaza, genocide, anti-Semitism and impunity, based on her specialization in international law. She talks about political, legal, psychological and epistemic violence resulting from how Israel, with the consent of the West, has oppressed the Palestinians for decades. (And what about the Oslo agreement, see the sub-section.)
BORN: Instead of showing magnanimity to an adversary that no longer wanted to be an enemy, the US continued to exclude Russia and rejected any idea of a common European security architecture.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS: The main message of Annie Jacobsen's book is to demonstrate how terrible a nuclear war would be. A nuclear war would destroy the indispensable anthropological basis for any form of high culture and technology.
HEGEMONY: Will the genocide continue until the Palestinians are exterminated or forced into Egypt – or indeed until America's global hegemony is defeated? No true friend of Palestine should therefore support this hegemony's arms deliveries to Ukraine.
PSYCHOLOGY: Blaise Pascal was a contradictory figure: He was one of the most important mathematicians and scientists of all time, but at the same time a rather strict and dogmatic Catholic. By dogmatic is mainly meant that he emphasized a clear distinction between faith and knowledge. And ask yourself: Is there a difference between 'idiocy's truth' and 'truth's idiocy'?
GEOPOLITICS: In The Battle for World Power, Tunsjø is guilty of 'mirror imaging'. In recent decades, the United States has started a large number of wars and supported a large number of coup d'états, while in the same period China has actually built up trust in various states in the Third World.
CONFLICTS: Glenn Diesen believes it is time to look at the relationship with Russia and 'the others' – at least an attempt to observe the situation from their side. Meanwhile, the US defines 'democracy' as its 'rules-based order' – eagerly promoted with 800 US military aces around the world. A graveyard democracy, an illusion of peace.