Joel Schalit

Wisdom and thoughtful application of journalistic principles -- and some common sense -- in a discussion of AI and the news, from @marketplace.org and my fave Alaska journo, Nathaniel Herz www.marketplace.org/episode/2026...

"If living becomes a luxury, politics has lost its primary function" -- from my brother Joel Schalit's excellent collection of photos of the protests in Torino, Surplus Life thebattleground.eu/photo/surplu...

Space is a shared commons, and treating it as a frontier to be claimed repeats the harms of European colonialism. The question is not whether humanity will use it, but whether it will create a celestial order in which wealth arrives first and law follows. Heather Alonsdottir, for The Battleground.

Did the Zionism is racism motion sink Zack Polanski in London? William Noah Glucroft, Mitchell Plitnick and Josh White weigh the Greens’ by-election defeat, the party’s split over anti-Zionism, and the right-wing media’s culture-war framing. This week, on The Battleground’s Globalists podcast.

Gessica Généus’s Marie Madeleine is a beautiful film about ugliness. While outsiders see Haiti as Dionysian, it offers a fiercely Apollonian vision: yes, the country is poor and troubled, but its people still find ways to enjoy life. Charlie Bertsch, for The Battleground.

Mourning everyone killed was Mamdani’s crime. His 7 October statement honoured Israeli victims and Palestinians killed in Gaza, and Bibi’s American boosters could not forgive him. Ari Paul, for The Battleground.

Nigel Farage promised to unite the British right. But he built the stage for something harder: a mainstream party with an ethno-nationalist core, like Israel’s Likud or Germany’s AfD. Josh White, on why Britain’s version may be closer than anyone admits. Exclusive to The Battleground.

French pupils believed the Republic’s promises about education. The 2026 Lycée protests show what happens when the state doesn’t keep them, and now it’s the students demanding a lesson. John Foster, for The Battleground.

The Gaza War in Europe. In Turin, flyers beg for sympathy. In London, stickers mourn the dead. Without resolution, and without the left, the community still can’t make sense of 7 October. Joel Schalit, with a new photo essay, for The Battleground.

The far right isn't coming. It's already here. From Reform UK's 25%-plus polling to the AfD's place as Germany's 2nd-largest party, and nationalist parties running 7 EU states, the shift is no longer hypothetical. Tech platforms share the responsibility. Joshua Skoczylis, for The Battleground.

10 years. 3 convictions. 0 justice for murder. A Rome court sentenced three Egyptian officials in absentia to ten years for kidnapping Giulio Regeni, but as a fourth walks free, the true killers of the Italian researcher still escape accountability. Heather Alondsdottir, for The Battleground.

Low expectations. Even lower results. The Xi-Trump summit was mostly for show, and it delivered even less. This week on Globalists, William Noah Glucroft and Mitchell Plitnick explain why dropping the enemy mindset may be the only way to get anywhere on AI, Iran, and climate change.

Robert Kraft's campaign against Antisemitism is reshaping what can be said in public life. But it's ordinary Jews, not billionaires, who will bear the consequences. Ari Paul, on the class dynamics at play, for The Battleground.

What happens to Israeli journalists who tell the truth about Gaza? Ask filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, who now face calls to revoke their citizenship over their award-winning documentary NAZA. Ari Paul on the Netanyahu government's backlash, for The Battleground.

Borders returned; the world rearmed. And we barely noticed. The last decade shattered the global order, bringing new walls, new alliances, and new fractures. Then COVID hit, drowning out the conversation before we could process the shift. Heather Alonsdottir on the lost 2010s for The Battleground.

Empire never really ended — it just changed shape. Its fingerprints are everywhere— who we see on screen, who gets a passport, who gets watched and who doesn't. Iolanda Cuomo, for The Battleground.

Netanyahu had advance warning of the October 7 attack. He sat on it. This week on The Battleground's Globalists podcast, Josh White and Mitchell Plitnick unpack the bombshell Haaretz report — and what it means for a reckoning that still isn't over.

Unification won't be the finish line. It'll be the starting gun. Irish unity, if it comes, will only deserve the name if British communities in the north can stay British within it — and if the people celebrating get more than a new flag to march under. John Foster, for The Battleground.

The EU wants to break its dependence on the US for aerial defence — and is turning to Israel to do it. Given Washington’s growing hostility, the logic is clear. But closer military cooperation with Israel creates an entirely different set of problems. Mitchell Plitnick, for The Battleground.

British Jewish leaders acknowledge settler violence — yet fight sanctions on settlements. Why? Blaming settlers, instead of Israeli policy, is safer. Some warn even this step could be branded antisemitic. Are settlements really fringe, or mainstream Israeli politics? Ari Paul, for The Battleground.

Viktor Orbán may have driven Central European University out of Hungary—but he couldn’t erase what happened within its walls. Heather Alonsdottir explores CEU’s lasting legacy, the generation it transformed, and why education remains one of the most powerful antidotes to fascism.

The UK just sanctioned Jewish settlements — and the Israeli government is furious. But strip away the diplomatic drama, and the sanctions are more bark than bite. On this week's Globalists podcast, Josh White and Mitchell Plitnick unpack the real story: criticising Israel is now a political win.

When domination feels worth it — if you get a cut of the power. How Germany's antifascist consensus collapsed, and what it reveals about late capitalism's mix of real fear and the pull of revenge. John Foster, on Alternative für Deutschland’s victory in Sachsen-Anhalt, for The Battleground.

The terrorists won — just not the way you think. 25 years later, it's time to face what 9/11 actually taught us about America's response. Mitchell Plitnick, for The Battleground.

Protecting Jews means protecting everyone vulnerable — that's what an enlightened society does. Which is why Jews should be on the front lines, defending every marginalised group under attack. Ari Paul, on the assault on woke and DEI, for The Battleground.

The Ferret proves you don't need big resources to do big journalism — just the will to actually chase the truth. Josh White on Scotland's scrappiest, sharpest newsroom for The Battleground.

Britain's borders won't last forever. John Foster traces the long road to Irish reunification — and why even Labour is quietly admitting it's not "if," but "when."

A decade on, Brexit has left the UK poorer and more authoritarian. Heather Allansdottir says Iceland's EU referendum shows exactly what Britain got wrong — and why participatory democracy is the only way back.

The world once knew how to punish genocide. Ratko Mladić's death in a Hague cell is a badly needed reminder. So why is Israel cosying up to Serbia and Republika Srpska? Ari Paul, for The Battleground.

The most alienating prime minister ever.

It wasn't supposed to go this well. As July drew to a close, The Battleground reached its highest-ever monthly readership, thanks to a brilliant editorial team firing on all cylinders. Joel Schalit, from Torino.

The Ceuta migrant crisis became a Rorschach test for conspiracy: "Muslim invasion" fantasies on one side, Israeli/American subterfuge theories on the other. Josh White & Mitchell Plitnick examine claims Morocco engineered it — and argue the left needs more than a defensive crouch.

Giorgia Meloni's gambit against Pedro Sánchez has blown up in her face. She went looking for proof that the European left was finished — instead she found a government that understood exactly what was at stake in refusing to fold. John Foster, for The Battleground.

Antiwar movements aren't what they used to be. The Vietnam and Iraq wars each drew record numbers of demonstrators — but the recent U.S.-Israeli military action against Iran has sparked no comparable mobilisation. What gives? Ari Paul, for The Battleground.

Why do prosperous, educated democracies increasingly struggle to sustain faith in democracy? The far right has grasped this with alarming clarity and outflanked the socialist left. John Foster, on the rise of nationalist identity politics, for The Battleground.

The EU's response to Spain's migrant crisis was more than shameful — it was a warning sign. Europe's political consensus is drifting back toward impulses history has already judged harshly. William Noah Glucroft, for The Battleground.

Paradise Metal refuses the flattening gaze that turns unfamiliar traditions into exotic curiosities. Father Dionysios Tabakis's debut channels a lineage of sacred sounds—from Ravi Shankar to Sister Rosetta Tharpe—refracted through the lens of Greek Orthodoxy. Charlie Bertsch, for The Battleground.

It feels like only yesterday Israel advocates claimed criticism of the Israeli government was welcomed because Israelis did it themselves. That changed after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Netanyahu, wanted by the ICC, should face justice. Ari Paul, for The Battleground.