It is revealing that the growing social distress is generated not on the periphery of the Western world-system, but in the American metropolis itself. Equally revealing is that the West’s decline was not provoked by any catastrophe; on the contrary, it became evident at the very peak of the globalization-Americanization of humanity. After the collapse of the USSR and the Soviet bloc, US military hegemony and the dominance of the world’s reserve currency turned the United States into a global center for the capitalization of resources – the supreme beneficiary of the outflow of capital, brains, and ambitious youth from across the world. Only twenty-five years have passed since the apotheosis of the food-chain “finalists” was captured in Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History, and already the desperate Donald Trump, calling to “Make America Great Again,” has drawn a line under Pax Americana. What, then, happened? A different country Over the last quarter of the twentieth century and...
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The Social Well-Being Index reveals a downward evolutionary trajectory of the entire globalized West, including Europe west of the borders of the Union State of Belarus and the Russian Federation. At the same time, one cannot fail to notice the wide dispersion in the rankings of Western European countries: from Ireland and Denmark, which still rank among the global top five in the SWI, to Spain and Bulgaria, which occupy 75th and 78th places respectively. This configuration aptly fits the notion of a “Europe of different speeds,” but in a different sense: it is about different speeds of decline. The habitual reference to the divide between a highly developed Western core and a catching-up Eastern periphery of Europe no longer helps to explain what is happening. Spain’s proximity to Bulgaria and Romania’s to Italy at relatively low positions in the SWI rankings clearly shows that such explanations no longer work. Moreover, the high rankings of Slovakia (6th), Slovenia (10th), and the ...
The surveillance giant is not even hiding its truly evil plans for humanity anymore, and its only downfall might be its hubris Once the Nazis were done, quite a few people started scratching their heads. Obviously one thing to baffle any sane observer was the sheer enormity of their crimes, accomplished, moreover, with frenetic, really start-upish drive and ambition in a mere 12 years: World War? Check. Genocides? Check. Bad hairstyle? Check. But then, there also was another puzzle: How could their self-besotted visionary-in-chief, hobby philosopher (with a bent to sinister German stuff), and obviously mentally less-than-stable wannabe genius of a leader have gotten a whole nation of, apparently, reasonably educated people to go along? And not just go along, but go along to the very, very bitter end. That question was all the more disturbing in view of the fact that Adolf Hitler had not been shy about displaying his insanity and extremely bad intentions well before conservative ...
The comment follows footage released by Tehran showing its forces boarding two vessels Iran’s seizure of two container ships in the Strait of Hormuz was not a ceasefire violation because they were not US or Israeli-owned, the White House has said, after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) released footage of the operation. READ MORE: Oil jumps after US seizes Iranian ship near Hormuz The video, published on Wednesday, shows IRGC personnel intercepting and boarding two MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company container ships – the Epaminondas, a mid-sized vessel, and the larger MSC Francesca. A third vessel, identified as the Euphoria and bound for Jeddah, was also struck and disabled in the operation. The seizures were reported between April 22 and April 23 in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime chokepoint for global trade and a central flashpoint in the confrontation between Tehran and Washington since US-Israeli strikes on Iran began in late February. The IRGC footage...
Italy, whose failure to qualify sparked outrage at home, should be granted the Islamic Republic’s spot, a special envoy has claimed A US special envoy is pressuring FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the upcoming World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the three North American nations. Italy failed to qualify for the tournament for a third successive time after a humiliating loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a playoff, triggering widespread backlash at home and leading to the resignation of the head of the national football federation. Paolo Zampolli, an Italian-American who heads the Office of Global Partnerships at the US State Department, told Corriere della Sera he wanted “to assure Italians that I will do everything possible to welcome them with open arms to the World Cup in the United States” by pushing for them to replace Iran. His lobbying efforts were first reported by the Financial Times. Zampolli argues that “Italy, not Iran, should go to the World Cup” and says he would ...
Study based on Eurostat and UN data shows uneven inflows as anti-immigration sentiment grows The number of immigrants in the European Union reached a record 64.2 million in 2025, a study by the Berlin-based Center for Research and Analysis on Migration (RFBerlin) shows, citing Eurostat and UN data. Of this total, approximately 46.7 million were born outside the EU. The total rose by more than 2 million year-on-year and from about 40 million in 2010. Germany remains the bloc’s largest host of foreign-born residents at nearly 18 million, while Spain has recorded the fastest recent growth, adding about 700,000 people – roughly one-third of last year’s EU-wide increase. The study highlights an uneven distribution of arrivals, with Germany and Spain accounting for nearly half of the increase, while smaller states such as Malta, Cyprus and Luxembourg face the highest inflows relative to population size. Read more Germany rejecting 95% of Syrian asylum claims – media Applications ar...