Inside: Conservatism in the United States

This week we bring you a short insight from Israel, which is about to get a new Prime Minister. Benjamin Netanyahu has been in this position since 2009, but now the opposition parties, regardless of the differences in their programs, came together to oust the  PM.  Naftali Bennet, a far-right politician, is about to take his seat. A short insight into Bennet who is about to become the new PM of Israel - listen in this episode. If interested in learning more, be free to visit our website thepolinet.com and follow up the whole story. Follow us for new updates and stories from Israel.

This week US President Joe Biden announced a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. We talked about potential consequences and is there a place for optimism to achieve a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine. Another conflict is grabbing international attention because of its importance for regional security and the global economy. The fights in the Mozambique region of Cabo Delgado between government forces and terrorists could include forces from the regional countries on the government's side if they support initiatives from South Africa. On the Venezuelan Colombian border, we have a refugee crisis because of armed fights between the Venezuelan government and Colombian gurrillas. Why now this conflict escalated, and what is the role of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

In this episode, we bring you the story of a country in South America, with great social inequality, which in the end fueled the protests that have started in late April. We are witnessing an excessive use of force from the Colombian government, but Colombians are still on the streets protesting. Our guest, Natalia Herrera, a human rights lawyer explains to us why. Natalia works at the legal corporation and she brings are on the field of information on how dire, in terms of the victims, is the situation. She tells us about the judiciary processes, media, and internet freedoms, and talks about various human rights violations. Moreover, she explains why the change is hard ad what are the obstacles. Still, she believes there is a perspective for a change. Make sure to share the story on social media, so what is happening inside Colombia, can reach more people. That is a low-effort action that all can make, but that can mean a lot as a sign of support to those far away. Visit thepolinet.com for more information or reach us via social media accounts @thepolinet

This week started with escalation of Israeli-Palestinian conflict when Israel and Hamas started launching rockets on each other. This caused many victims on both sides. In the United States, Congresswoman Liz Cheney was removed from her party's leadership because of her criticism of former President Donald Trump. In Columbia massive protests for weeks brought many victims, even though these news fell short under the greatest escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the recent years. These are our top picks from this week. Follos us on social media @thepolinet for more news updates during the week!

In our new episode we talk about Afghanistan, ongoing war, and American withdrawal. With Star and Stripes reporter J.P. Lawrence from Afghanistan, we discuss the historical context of war, different American's approach under four administrations, other sides in conflict, the Doha Deal, upcoming events, and epilogue of presence of US troops.

For today's episode, we came together with professors Marc Cogan, Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan, and we are going to discuss what is happening in Myanmar and in Thailand. Both of these countries have the protests going right now, and the military in power. Protests in Thailand have started in February 2020, and the latest wave started this February. They are student-led protests, and they started exclusively on student campuses. What started as a demand for Prime Minister Prayut Chan o-cha to step down, now became a demand for constitutional reform and reform of monarchy.  In Myanmar, military staged the coup and took the power from Aung San Suu Kyui and her party National League for Democracy. They won the election by the landslide, but the opposition said it was fraudalant. Protests erupted and the new military leader General Min Aung Hlang did everything to silence the protestors. Number of deaths is growing and the regime is becoming more and more brutal.

In today's episode we talked with Luca Nania about Israeli-Palestinian history, conflict, reconciliation and future.  Luca Nania is an MA student in Protection of Human Rights at the University of Bologna (IT) and a PhD Candidate at the University of Sussex (UK). As a young researcher, he investigated various topics in the field of social anthropology, ethno-demography, institutional and corporate violence, as well as peace studies. For many years, he organised initiatives to raise awareness about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its impact on the global scale. He is a huge supporter of gender equality, civil disobedience and nonviolent communication.   We also talked about Palestinian and Israeli narratives about their conflict, Nakba, First and Second Intifada (Uprising against Israel), Israeli-Palestinian peace process and how the world sees the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It's important to say that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most controversial conflicts and if you have some comments/questions, we're open for discussion!

This week the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and Canada sanctions top Chinese officials because of the human rights violation against Uyghurs in Chinese province Xinjiang. Just day after that, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in China and with his Chinese college announced sanctions toward EU. Last week US-Chinese talks in Alaska was unusual, between Secretary Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Chinese top diplomats Yang Jiechi, and Wang Yi. What happened in Alaska, what is going on in Xinjiang, and why sanctions now find out in our new episode.

Exactly 10 years ago, on March 15th the Syrian war started and it is still going on, displacing half the population, killing hundreds of thousands and leaving ruins where once stood buildings of the first civilizations. This war is one of the greatest humanitarian tragedies of this time. It started on the wings of Arab Spring, with first protests taking place in early 2011. The demonstrations turned violent when President Bashar al- Assad sent his forces in order to crack down the democratic civil uprising. It started in the city of Deraa, with anti - government grafitti and few young boys, but it ended up being the bloody conflict which involved dozens of different foces, 2 great powers, few regional powers and some terrorist groups like ISIS and Hezbollah. The demonstrations turned into civil war, and then because of special geopolitical position Syria has, it turned into international mess. Currently, the state is mostly divided between central government of Assad, state of Rojava, and small part of the land held by opposition powers. In today's episode we talked with International Relations Jahja Muhasilovic about this ongoing conflict in Syria, about ots actors, geopolitics of the region, and how it could end. If you have any questions or suggestions be free to contact us via Instagram or Twitter on @thepolinet

In this episode, we talked about conservatism in the United States with a philosophy student from North Carolina - Kate Cruz. She gave us an inside story of how is to be a woman in the South, the differences between conservatism and liberalism in everyday life, and her opinion on the future of that ideology in the United States.