Osama and Trump

Two bookends to the downspin of an empire The end of 2021 and the beginning of a new year is a convenient time to take stock of the causes of America’s decline since this year saw both Washington’s inglorious exit from Afghanistan after 20 years in the country that...

Nation-building

The march of an illusion from the Philippines to Afghanistan In one of his interviews before the Taliban walkover, John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, blamed the American failure in Afghanistan on a change in Washington’s mission from anti-terrorism...

Leila de Lima

Filipino political prisoner refuses to surrender to despotic Duterte Philippine Senator Leila de Lima is one of the world’s best known political prisoners. Framed on false charges of being at the center of the illegal drugs trade and mercilessly flayed by President...