DECOLONIZATION AND ITS IMPASSES
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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2021 Myanmar coup d'état
12 min read
The article references the 2021 military coup as the catalyst for Myanmar's scam center expansion. Understanding the coup's political context, the military junta's takeover, and the resulting collapse of governance explains how these criminal enterprises could flourish with tacit state support.
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Human trafficking in Southeast Asia
1 min read
The article describes the massive scam factory operations at the Thai-Laos-Myanmar border involving up to 100,000 trafficked workers. This Wikipedia article provides crucial context on the regional trafficking networks, routes, and systemic factors that enable operations of this scale.
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Israeli settler violence
13 min read
The article discusses over 200 settler attacks on Palestinian olive harvesters in one month, often with army support. This topic provides historical and legal context for understanding the systematic nature of this violence and its relationship to occupation policies.
Welcome to the desert of the real!
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What goes on around the world today? Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York is the bright exception to the predominant drift toward more and more of the usual. In the Middle East, we get the usual mix of violence and obscenity. Less than a week ago, Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi was the Israeli military’s top lawyer, tasked with enforcing the rule of law within the nation’s armed forces. Now, in November 2025, she is under arrest as part of a criminal investigation into the leak of a video showing the alleged abuse, including sexual abuse, of Palestinian detainees in a notorious Israeli military prison. She wrote:
“There are things that cannot be done even against the worst of the detainees. Officers of the (legal) unit have faced repeated personal attacks, harsh insults, and even real threats. All of this because they stood guard over the rule of law in the IDF – together with the commanders and alongside them.”1
The last traces of dignity are erased from public life in Israel, a country in which Itamar Bin Gvir, the minister who controls security in the West Bank, is a racist criminal convicted by an Israeli court. Today, his shadow hovers above the terror to which West Bank Palestinians are exposed on a daily basis. The olive harvest in the occupied West Bank has become a season of fear. Brutal settler attacks have marred what should be a time of history, culture, and tradition. More than 200 attacks have occurred within the last month, according to the Palestinian Authority, often with the army’s support. The Israeli military told CNN it “recognizes the importance of the olive harvest in maintaining the fabric of life in the region,” but acknowledged it has restricted entry to certain areas in order to “prevent friction.”2 I agree in principle, but what about restricting the entry of settlers to Palestinian fields with olives?
But this should not blind us to other horrors that are taking place around the world. Just recall how traffickers deep in the Sahara are extorting ransom
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