In India, Rape Culture Continues Unabated
As protests against the ghastly rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata continue, they are helping to reveal the larger epidemic of rape in India that thrives on a culture that objectifies women’s bodies, laughs at rape jokes and normalizes rape threats on social media.
Trump’s Alleged Would-Be Assassin and His Syrian Rebel Scheme for Ukraine
I got in touch with Ryan Routh through one of the posters he had spread around town in Kyiv. I was a reporter there and had noticed his posters and the Syrian flag and was curious what it was about. When we spoke on the phone, he did not beat around the bush. He claimed to have over 200 Syrian military men who were ready to go to Ukraine and fight the Russians. He just needed help bringing them to Ukraine.
French Polynesia’s Third-Gender Identities
Like several other Polynesian societies and many Indigenous communities around the world, French Polynesia maintains third-gender identities that have changed with historical contexts — the traditional identity of māhū, which means “in the middle,” and the more contemporary identity of raerae.
War Upends Southern Lebanon
Throughout southern Lebanon, yellow and green Hezbollah flags flutter from buildings, billboards show Hassan Nasrallah and posters of dead fighters line the streets. Our trip was accented by Israeli warplanes and drones, incoming and outgoing artillery, and funerals of Hezbollah soldiers — a normal week for the civilians living there.
Why Most Israelis Believe the Conflict Can Never Be Resolved
The events of Oct. 7 were both a military and a political failure, the culmination of Israel’s refusal over the previous two decades to engage meaningfully with the Palestinians. Since the Second Intifada, most Israelis have become convinced that the conflict can only be managed, not solved.