It is essential to point out the colossal damage and fatalities caused by just six devastating events over the past four years alone, among many other disastrous climate-change-related storms in the US—Hurricane Laura in August 2020, massive firestorms across California, Oregon, and Washington from August to December 2020, Hurricane Ida in August 2021, a historic cold wave and winter storm across most of the US in February 2021, causing massive devastation particularly in Texas, Hurricane Helene in September 2024, and Hurricane Milton in October 2024. These six climate change-related storms, plus the LA fires, caused the deaths of 722 and cost more than $523 billion in damages, coupled with the unimaginable pain and anguish of thousands who lost a loved one and the hundreds of thousands who suffered from dislocations and the torturous and costly process of rebuilding their lives.
Learn more in my latest article; link in bio.
#ClimateChange #Wildfires #Hurricanes #ExtremeWeather
Returning to the status quo that existed before October 7 will be impossible. New political, psychological, and factual regional conditions have been created that cannot be ignored, as they directly impacted not only Israeli-Palestinian relations for a generation but also the regional stability fed by power dynamics and rivalries between the states in the area.
#IsraeliPalestinianConflict #October7 #IsraelHamasWar #Gaza #Israel #Palestinians
It is hard to overstate the colossal task that al-Sharaa and the new government in Syria must undertake on all fronts to stabilize the country and avoid violence internally and externally. It should be noted that Syria cannot tackle this monumental task alone. The US, the EU, the Arab states, and Israel have a vested interest in maintaining regional stability and security and need to collaborate with the new Syrian regime to achieve their mutual objectives, starting by lifting the designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as a terrorist organization and bestowing legitimacy on its governing authority. Thus far, all signs point to the new Syrian government`s commitment to executing its publicly stated goal of ending suffering and forging a new path to peace and security, which the Syrian people desperately long for.
Read more in my latest article; link in bio.
#Syria #MiddleEast #SyrianCivilWar #USForeignPolicy
The cruel conflict in Sudan has displaced over 11 million people and killed tens of thousands since April 2023, creating what the UN warns could become the world’s largest-ever humanitarian crisis. Women, in particular, are suffering the most from this violence, targeted with rape and brutality as a tool of war.
#Sudan #HumanRights
Climate change deniers, including President Trump, insist that there is no such thing as climate change and that measures taken to combat it only decrease economic productivity and stifle growth. In fact, the opposite is true; a plethora of scientific evidence suggests that such measures increase overall productivity and create millions of new jobs, which Trump should embrace.
Learn more in my latest article: alonben-meir.com/writing/addressing-climate-change-strengthens-rather-than-stifles-economic-growth/
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National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s threats to withdraw from the government if the ceasefire agreement with Hamas is signed are empty, and his efforts to convince Finance Minister Smotrich to join him are a fool’s errand. Neither Ben-Gvir nor Smotrich would ever in reality withdraw from the government; they have both finally attained the power they are so hungry for and would not in reality give that up without a fight. And while their previous threats have enabled them to gain some concessions from Netanyahu, with the latest addition to the coalition of Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope Party, the government now has 68 seats, enough to withstand the potential loss of 6 seats from Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party (Smotrich has not pledged to withdraw his party’s 7 seats at this point, even if they vote against the deal). The ceasefire deal is critical to the safety and security of Israelis and Palestinians alike, and Netanyahu should not allow these empty threats to derail this essential agreement.
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The new Syrian government should call on Russia to withdraw its forces from Syria. The government has already demanded that Russia withdraw its military contingent by mid-February and can now take advantage of Russia’s limited military capabilities due to the continuing war in Ukraine. The Syrian government should also abolish the Astana process that allowed Russia and Iran to use their militaries to ensure the survival of Assad’s regime while serving their strategic regional interests. Furthermore, the government should assert that the two countries can develop an alternate mutually beneficial relationship in many spheres, including economic development.
Read more from my latest article here: alonben-meir.com/writing/the-herculean-task-facing-the-new-syrian-government/
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An official inquiry into allegations of war crimes by the UK’s Ministry of Defense found that British armed forces created a culture of impunity toward killings of Afghans, including ordering Afghan fighters to fetch British soldiers’ weapons from impossible circumstances, “…thereby setting the conditions for their execution…,” as one soldier posed in a question to a supervisor. This attitude is most disturbingly demonstrated in an email between UK SAS (Special Air Services) officers, in which one stated, “these Afghans are so stupid they deserve to die.” Sadly, such allegations are not new nor exclusive to UK troops; American soldiers have for years been accused of committing war crimes in Afghanistan as well. It is a positive sign that the Ministry of Defense is investigating these allegations, for which they have received hundreds of pages as evidence, but the inquiry must have consequences for those who have committed gross violations of Afghans’ basic human rights.
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