Is climate change a form of "violence?" What actually happened when the Spanish conquered Mexico? And was the U.S. intervention in Libya the right call to make? It's Fiery Tuesday, our weekly segment on political and societal news from around the world, with stories addressing these questions and more. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!
Is it accurate to describe climate change as "violence?" That's the argument that The Guardian's Rebecca Solnit makes, citing evidence of links between ecological disasters and extreme weather with political instability, economic inequality, and sectarian violence. You can read her case here.
These days (perhaps inaccurately, as US-Mexico migration now leans toward Mexico rather than away from it) when we talk about immigration we're often talking about Hispanic Americans. But Asian Americans have long composed a large proportion of immigrants to the U.S. as well and like Hispanics have felt generations of prejudice and discrimination. The News Lens takes a look at Asians' immigrants place in American society in the past and today.
Generally speaking, when we think about the conquest of Mexico by Spain it's easy to imagine it ended as soon as the Aztec Empire collapsed. But things are rarely so simple and according to a new book by Barbara Mundy, Aztec institutions and elites lingered on for many more years after their regime's official demise. Fordham News talks with Mundy about her hypothesis of a gradual conquest.
One of the most controversial decisions of Obama's presidency remains his decision to intervene alongside France and other members of NATO in the Libyan Revolution of 2011, when dictator Muammar Gaddafi and supporters of the Arab Spring clashed violently in the North African state. In the wake of Daesh's rise in West Asia and the recent breakdown of social order in Libya many now argue it was the wrong decision. But was it? Arab scholar and writer Shadi Hamid doesn't believe it was.
Part of the benefit of living in a highly developed country like the United States is that we don't have to think too much about what happens to our waste. But we probably should think more about it. German newspaper Der Spiegel takes a look at what happens to "e-waste" (waste produced from the production, use, and disposal of electronic devices) and how it's affecting developing countries like Ghana.