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A report in the New York Times this week that Donald Trump had asked his military advisers to look at options for an air strike against Iran’s nuclear installations was an ominous warning that, until January 20 at least, the US president still holds the reins to his country’s war machine. The same report sought to reassure readers that Trump’s senior staff had counselled strenuously against such a plan, warning that not only would use of force be illegal, but it could all-too easily spill out into a massive regional conflict. As Christopher Bluth writes, Trump’s Iran policy has done nothing to calm tensions between the two countries. Joe Biden will need to rely heavily on soft power to get the troubled relationship back
on track.
The conflict between the central government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front threatens to cause a humanitarian crisis and could possibly turn into a regional conflict. There’s general agreement that it has its roots in the attempts by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to remake Ethiopian politics, a process which always creates winners and losers. What’s in dispute are Abiy’s motives for reorganising Ethiopian politics and governance. Asafa Jalata argues that Abiy is out to destroy Tigrayan power and has aligned himself with the Amahara, one of Ethiopia’s three major ethnic groups. The other two are the Oromo and Tigrayans. The Tigrayans, who led the movement that ousted Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam in 1991, had dominated Ethiopian politics for
almost three decades.
For Yohannes Gedamu, Abiy has been mending Ethiopia’s fabric, including the creation of an inclusive political environment and overseeing the return of once armed anti-Ethiopian government rebel groups from foreign bases to pursue peaceful political participation. However, his efforts have been stymied by a lack of peace and security, in particular the inter-ethnic clashes and internal displacement of citizens. Tensions that had been
simmering between the Tigrayan front and Abiy’s government eventually boiled over. Gedamu says a political settlement through dialogue and negotiation could be a solution to the conflict.
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How Donald Trump is portrayed in Iran’s popular press.
EPA-EFE: Abedin Taherkenareh
Christoph Bluth, University of Bradford
A new US administration needs to rejoin the nuclear deal and engage in statecraft to improve relations with Tehran.
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Asafa Jalata, University of Tennessee
The Ethiopian premier is manipulating ethnic rivalries to shift the agenda from democratic reform to authoritarianism.
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Yohannes Gedamu, Georgia Gwinnett College
The tensions that had been simmering between the Tigray People's Liberation Front and the Abiy administration eventually boiled over.
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Health + Medicine
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Bryan Paul Morgan, Cardiff University
Anti-complement drugs have shown promise in treating COVID in several small trials. Larger trials are now underway.
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Andrew Garrett, University of Hull
The majority of research on how female athletes should train for the heat is based purely on what works for men.
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Arts + Culture
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Mark Satta, Wayne State University
A philosopher writes about why many of us are feeling tired with the constant onslaught of information coming at us.
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Malcolm Cook, University of Southampton
The film about old toys and new turns 25 this year. Heralded as the first computer animated film, a re-examination indicates it was cautiously innovative rather than a complete break with the past.
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En Français
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Fred Eka, University of Douala
La pandémie de Covid-19 exacerbe les inquiétudes sur la soutenabilité de la dette des pays d'Afrique centrale envers la Chine.
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Lamine Savane, Université de Ségou
Avec la mort de l’ancien président malien malien, Amadou Toumani Touré, appelé « soldat de la démocratie », une grande page de l’histoire politique malienne se referme.
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