Axel Springer’s impending purchase of The Telegraph is a powerful reminder that we have entered a new media ecology, where nationalists walk in lockstep with neoliberals and neocons. The Telegraph can now take its place in an expanding national populist news empire. Josh White, for The Battleground.
Nowhere in London sounds like Hounslow. On the landing approach to Heathrow, every five minutes, descending passenger jets sonically obliterate everything in their path. In Outsidergrad, Joel Schalit & Duncan Simpson offer a sonic portrait of Hounslow as they hear it, in all of its deafening glory.
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Bar Kokhba didn't claim to be greater than God, but asked God not to work against his goals. Netanyahu makes a similar mistake. He knows Israel can't do what it does without US support. He just believes that “America is a thing you can move very easily.” Mitchell Plitnick, for The Battleground.
No jurisdiction: German prison chic. Portal Palazzo, Torino.
A Supreme Court defeat for Donald Trump would be a victory, not just for undocumented migrants but also for those who still believe the Constitution should govern. However, the president could also turn a court loss to his advantage. Ari Paul, on Trump’s attempt to eliminate birthright citizenship.
If we were to list the guilty leaders of the Tory years, Liz Truss would be near the top, along with Boris Johnson, despite her brief tenure. Josh White, on Truss’s rebranding as a far-right podcaster and why no one should forget her disastrous premiership.
In February, the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación carried out attacks across Mexico in response to government forces killing its leader, “El Mencho.” While cartel ultraviolence is nothing new, this had a political feel. Spencer Sunshine interviews extremism researcher Malika Criezis.
In a world where states act without declaring war, where conflict is conducted through economic and informational means as much as violence, the line between war and non-war becomes a memory. John Foster, on David Kilcullen’s The Dragons and the Snakes & why the 2020 book has never been more timely.
The conflict in Iran is set to change the Middle East, if not the world. Mitchell Plitnick, on Pakistan’s growing involvement in Middle Eastern affairs, and why it augurs an end to US domination of local politics.
Alexander Kluge’s body may have failed. But his disembodied voice lives on, reminding us that historians must never turn their backs on the future. Charlie Bertsch, on the legendary German director and Adorno protégé, who passed away last week at the age of 92.
No one should be surprised that there’s a large market for turning young men’s anger into conspiracism and hatred. Ari Paul, on Louis Theroux’s Inside the Manosphere, and the indoctrination of next-gen right-wing extremists.
There couldn’t be a more important time for a publication like The New Arab. Josh White, on the platform’s start during the Arab Spring, and how it’s rising to the occasion of the Israeli-American war with Iran.
Antiwar songs are monopolised by boomers. Perform a search query, and the top results will always be from the 1960s. In the interest of expanding the canon, this week’s Battleground playlist features antiwar songs that, for political and genre reasons, missed the cut.
Israelis may want peace and security. But they’re wrong to think they'll achieve it through war. Mitchell Plitnick, on efforts to convince the Israeli public that a more welcoming Middle East awaits them.
Populism is starting to lose its lustre. Blame Trump and his disastrous government's impact on the global right. Yours truly, with nine new photos for The Battleground.
If Netanyahu had been killed in a targeted assassination, would the Israeli government keep it a secret? Ari Paul, in The Battleground, on growing conspiracy theories about Bibi’s death and the powerlessness such fantasies express in the absence of an Israeli left and a mass antiwar movement abroad.
If last weekend's Palestinian solidarity protest in Torino is any indication, Gaza hasn't been buried by the Iran war. Two new pages of photos, by yours truly, for The Battleground.
Technocratic social democracy no longer commands the emotional loyalty it once did. German voters now prefer either the transformative optimism of the Greens or the disruptive anger of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland. John Foster, on the slow death of the Social Democratic Party.
The Israeli-American war on Iran only serves the interests of Bibi’s far-right government, and Donald Trump decided to support it out of his own mistaken view that he would benefit from it. He wasn’t forced into this, except by his own crass stupidity. Mitchell Plitnick, for The Battleground.
In a world where once-permeable boundaries are being walled off in the name of purity, Gomma’s willingness to seek self-knowledge in otherness hits differently. Wailing and Madness reminds us it’s still possible to strengthen our own identity without having to demean someone else in the process.
With Iran the focus of world news, we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that the United States is also at war with Lebanon. Israel isn't exactly a proxy, but it couldn't have gone to war without American support, either. Ari Paul, for The Battleground.
From a forthcoming photo book about Israel. Archival pic from 2016, shot with a 50-year-old film lens, on a Pentax K-3.
Benjamin Netanyahu knew from the start that this war would not conclude quickly. But he desires an atomised Iran, and the consequences only matter to him insofar as they impact the government and ruling structure of Israel. This is an end-times strategy. Mitchell Plitnick, for The Battleground.
It’s almost two years into the first Labour government elected since 2007, and we’ve witnessed a massive collapse in support for Starmer. The Tories’ well-earned defeat might end up being a soft version of the fate awaiting Labour. Josh White, from his brand new Battleground book, Tories Are Dead.
The Battleground is proud to announce the publication of Josh White's Tories Are Dead: 2024 UK Election Diary. Reviewers, get in touch. Battleground eBooks are distributed worldwide by London's Faber Factory. Get your copy from Apple Books.
Diplomacy is dead. Brute force runs the world now. Ari Paul, on the Israeli-American war against Iran, and why "bombs away" is the new normal.
It looked like a record cover. Satirising Benjamin Netanyahu’s closeness to Donald Trump, the homoerotic framing was as critical of their relationship as it got in 2018. This week’s Battleground playlist compiles underground and mainstream artists taking apart Israel’s nationalist-in-chief.
