Worldcrunch
Updated Oct. 17, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. Raqqa was declared fully liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria on this day in 2017. Why was Raqqa so important in the Syrian Civil War? Raqqa was of strategic importance because it served as the self-proclaimed capital of ISIS and was a center for the […]
Israel is keeping the Tehran regime and outside observers guessing on the scope and timing of its threatened strikes on Iranian territory. Some say it is seeking to win itself time to “finish up” in Lebanon and Gaza, others say a massive attack on Iran could help reorder the whole region.
Updated Oct. 15, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. The execution of Dutch exotic dancer Mara Hari, a World War I spy, happened on this day in 1917. Who was Mata Hari? Mata Hari, whose real name was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, was a Dutch dancer and courtesan born on August 7, 1876, in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. She became […]
Benjamin Netanyahu escaped the growing calls to stop the war in Gaza and bring the hostages back, by launching another war on Hezbollah. It’s a taste of what’s to come.
As Israel’s air strikes on Lebanon intensify, following the unprecedented exploding pagers attack, the severely injured get care inside Geitawi General Hospital that aims to salvage their forever altered lives.
Packed full of Russian culture, the children’s cartoon Masha and the Bear is a very popular cultural export. But does that make the little girl and her furry friend pro-Putin propaganda? Reflections from a conflicted parent in Germany.
Updated Oct. 9, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. North Korea conducted its first nuclear weapon test on this day in 2006. The test marked a significant development in North Korea’s nuclear capabilities. What was North Korea’s first type of nuclear weapon it tested? The exact nature of the device tested has been a subject of debate […]
When Emmanuel Macron called for an embargo on arms supplies to Israel, he was aiming at the United States, following the failure of the attempted ceasefire in Lebanon. Paris even speaks of ‘duplicity’ by Washington and Israel. It’s just the latest example of the failure of diplomacy in the face of the “logic of war.”
As Israel celebrates the death of Hezbollah’s leader, Washington and Tehran both suddenly seem powerless, looking like spectators of an unraveling tragedy that is beyond their control. Yet, given its demographics and geography, Israel desperately needs allies.
Updated September 30, 2024 at 11:30 a.m. On this day in 1938, the Munich Agreement, (also known as the Treaty of Munich) was signed by Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Édouard Daladier and Neville Chamberlain. What was the Treaty of Munich? The Treaty of Munich, also known as the Munich Agreement, was an agreement signed on […]
The call in Lebanon to “postpone politics” is driven by a narration of the war as a religious, and not a political, event: that’s the root of Hezbollah’s ideology.
Updated September 25, 2024 at 10:30 a.m. On this day in 1964, the Mozambican War of Independence against Portugal began. What was the Mozambican War of Independence? The Mozambican War of Independence was a protracted armed conflict that took place from 1964 to 1974 in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. It was fought between the […]
The upsurge in violence between Israel and Hezbollah in recent days carries the risk of regional conflagration that the United States does not want. But once again, for almost a year now, the Americans have been unable to get their Israeli ally to listen.
It was the exceptional time that changed the equation, and revived the Palestinian dream. It also awakened the hidden Israeli plans: the extermination of the Palestinian people, the liquidation of their cause, and the evacuation of their land.
Unprecedented attacks via pagers and walkie-talkies carried by Hezbollah members comes amid a growing consensus in Israel in favor of launching a war across the border into Lebanon. Meanwhile, the U.S. may have given its assent and the Lebanese government appears unable to intervene, with Hezbollah holding all the cards on this side of the border.
Nine dead and nearly 3,000 wounded. The unprecedented attack on the pagers of Hezbollah members is the larger explosion of a war already underway that could consume the whole Middle East.
The porn industry and amateur and professional adult content plays a role in the Israeli war on Gaza. Some pornographic companies did not only provide support to Israel, but adult content also contributed to drawing a violative imagination about Israeli soldiers and their relationship with the battlefield and the Gazan victims. It is part of a long history linking pornography and war.
The first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump was an important reminder that the American election will help determine the fate of Ukraine. It did not take long to see which option was better. So much so the moderators had to ask Trump “Do you want Ukraine to win?”
Hezbollah’s Imad 4 underground missile facility, which was revealed on Aug. 16, is just another layer of the Lebanese tragedy. For Hazem El-Amin, the footage brings back memories of his experience during the Lebanese Civil War.
At least 91 Indians have been forced to fight alongside the Russian army on the frontlines, and so far, eight Indian nationals have been killed. Many families have been waiting agonizingly long for their loved ones to return home.
Between Hezbollah and Israel, the Sunday morning exchange of attacks looked to be the beginning of the long dreaded regional war. But the sound and fury of Israeli jets and Hezbollah weapons amounted to another round of warfare, but not (yet) total war as major power sponsors in Washington and Tehran try to wind them back.
Updated Aug. 19, 2024 at 11:20 a.m. Paris was liberated from Nazi Germany occupation on this day in 1944. How did the liberation of France unfold? The liberation of France involved a series of military campaigns and battles. It began with the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944, when Allied forces landed on the beaches […]
Married shortly before ISIS militants began their genocide of Yazidi people in northern Iraq, Samia Samu was later abducted and held captive for nine years. Upon her recent release, she and her husband, Dakhil Hassan, celebrated by renewing their wedding vows.
The Argentine comic strip, who is now about to get its own Netflix series, was created at a time when Latin America was going through political censorship. A testament to Mafalda’s innocent-but-serious attitude toward world problems, an excellent example of how young people often see more clearly than the rest of us.
Updated August 6, 2024 at 11:45 a.m. The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the United States on this day in 1945, during World War II. Why was Hiroshima a target for the atomic bomb? Hiroshima was chosen as a target for the atomic bomb due to its military significance and its dense population. […]
Updated August 2, 2024 at 12:00 p.m. Iraq invaded Kuwait on this day in 1990. This surprise invasion marked the beginning of a major international conflict and set the stage for the Gulf War. What were the reasons behind Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait? One key factor was Iraq’s desire to control Kuwait’s vast oil reserves, as Iraq was struggling with significant debt from the Iran-Iraq War. Additionally, territorial disputes, economic grievances, and claims of Kuwaiti overproduction of oil were cited by Iraq as reasons for the invasion. What were the major events of the Gulf War? Significant events included the […]
With wars around the world arousing political strife and affecting the personal lives of many athletes, it seems the Paris 2024 Games could be overrun by geopolitics. Polish journalist Radoslaw Leniarski, an 11-time Olympic Games correspondent, explains what is, and isn’t, different this time.
Some Palestinians believe the Israel-Hamas in Gaza war has turned into a war of attrition. But it is, in reality, one of extermination. And the people of Gaza are no longer hiding their criticism with the international community that for nine months has failed to stop the war.
Disappointed by poor gains over the past three years in Ukraine, Russia’s pro-war Z community is blaming a new scapegoat. Russian writer and historian Ivan Philippov explains why a society that just wants to live and to work is now their main enemy.
The remains arrived in Rafah in two bags, one blue and the other white. I placed them in front of me, waiting for a time that would force me to open them up.
An Israeli missile struck children playing soccer in a schoolyard a day after international outrage at Russia’s bombing of Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital. As the Israel-Hamas war drags on, ceasefire negotiations get harder as the rest of the world looks away.
The concept of “resistance” adopted by militants in the Middle East has a close relationship with oppression and “divine victory,” which Hamas and Hezbollah both embrace in a false interpretation of the Koran, despite the heavy human and material losses inflicted.
After more than two years of war, Russia’s bombing of a children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday was among the most violent. What does Vladimir Putin aim to achieve with this escalation of horror — which came just 48 hours before the NATO Summit in Washington in the presence of Volodymyr Zelensky?
Updated July 5, 2024 at 12:35 p.m. Algeria gained independence from France on this day in 1962. What was the Algerian War of Independence? The Algerian War of Independence was a conflict that took place from 1954 to 1962 between Algerian nationalist groups and France. The war was fought with the goal of ending French […]
After nine months of war, most Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced multiple times. Often that leaves the sense of being at home, even a destroyed home, fading from their consciousness.
As the war in Gaza nears nine months, bombardments continue, even in the camps where displaced people live. Death and fear are everywhere, as is hunger. Palestinian human rights activist Moustafa Ibrahim is also displaced now. In this personal essay, he addresses the hopelessness that people in Gaza face as they see Israel committing genocide.
The Israeli army’s spokesman said that those talking about eradicating Hamas are “throwing sand in the eyes” of the Israeli public. It was a clear challenge to Benjamin Netanyahu, who counterattacked even as he remains under fire from all sides.
This spring, Kharkiv has been under almost daily shelling. Yet cafes, beauty salons, theaters and shops are still open in Ukraine’s second-largest city, and residents are spending time in parks, jogging and maintaining elements of a normal life.
In 19 years in Gaza, she always felt lost in her mind, body and even time. She was desperate to escape abroad, and made one attempt after another to find a way out. Eventually she did, for better or worse.
Comparisons between the wars in Europe and the Middle East tell us a lot about the standpoint of those who compare. They also signal to a new world order that has yet to be shaped.