On the Other Hand: On Military Intervention in Iran

Background: During the final days of 2025, the Iranian currency, the rial, collapsed amid severe international sanctions, plunging the country’s economy into uncharted territory. Iranians responded by protesting en masse across all 31 provinces, with economic anxieties mixing with general discontent at the oppressive Islamic Republic regime that has governed the country since 1979. The […]

On the Other Hand: On the Capture of Nicolás Maduro

Background: In 2020, during the first Trump Administration, the US Department of Justice filed a criminal indictment against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Moros. Maduro, who has served as president since the death of Hugo Chávez in 2013, including through disputed elections in 2018 and 2024, stands accused of using his position to lead and accommodate […]

On the Other Hand: On Ranked Choice Voting

Background: On June 24, 2025, New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani overcame frontrunner former Governor Andrew Cuomo to win the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City. While Mamdani secured a clear plurality from the outset, New York City’s application of ranked choice voting (RCV), also known as an instant-runoff system, saw vote tabulations […]

On the Other Hand: On the Current Government Shutdown

On Oct. 1, as congressionally allocated funding for the federal government ran out amid a battle between the parties over current spending levels, the first government shutdown in nearly seven years set in. For more than three weeks, thousands of federal workers have been forced to either continue working or be furloughed, as the government […]