Human vulnerability is exposed nowhere more painfully than in a doctor's consultation room. It is a space presumed to stand for science, empathy, and recovery, but in practice often degenerates into a theater of arrogance, systemic inertia, and dangerous complacency. Exactly one year ago, I, a 79-year-old man with a life full of international experience and a deep respect for knowledge, landed in a medical nightmare that nearly cost me my left foot. What began as intense back pain, through a sequence of medical errors, drug side effects, and professional hubris, degenerated into a life-threatening infection. This personal odyssey, however, is not unique. It is a microcosm of a much larger, Western problem. Our healthcare system, particularly in Belgium, is frozen in a monopoly position protected by the RIZIV, the mutualities, the pharmaceutical industry, and a medical establishment that dismisses any form of external control or criticism as nonsense.
History bears witness to great minds who achieved incredible things. Nicola Tesla, Sir Isaac Newton, Blaise Pascal, Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer, and many others. But when one places the biographies of these exceptional individuals side by side, one striking common denominator stands out: the way they approached social interaction, or rather, how little they actually sought it. Many recognize this feeling. It is the experience of sitting in a room full of people, at a reception or in a crowded café, and instead of feeling energized by the social buzz, feeling drained and exhausted. The only wish that remains is the urge to escape, to retreat into the quiet space where one can read, think, observe, or simply be alone.
The Vietnam War killed over three million people. But the story most of us learned in school — that it was simply about stopping communism — is dangerously incomplete. The real origins stretch back decades before the first American soldier set foot in Southeast Asia, through French colonial rubber plantations where seventeen thousand workers died on a single estate, through a jungle meeting where American spies saved the life of Ho Chi Minh, through eight letters sent to President Truman that were never answered, through a democratic election deliberately sabotaged because the wrong side was going to win, and through a naval attack on a stormy night in the Gulf of Tonkin that declassified NSA documents now confirm almost certainly never happened.
In an era where the Western world presents itself as the guardian of the rule of law, democracy, and freedom of speech, reality reveals an increasingly darker and more authoritarian face. One of the most poignant and simultaneously illuminating testimonies of this decline comes from Colonel Jacques Baud, former Swiss intelligence officer and author. In a recent and devastating conversation with Nima Alkhorshid, Baud not only outlines the inhuman personal price he pays for his freedom of speech but also pinpoints the sore spot of Western strategic thinking. From the Sovietization of Europe to the ideological blindness of Israeli intelligence, and from the desperate acts of the Ukrainian regime to the rational, doctrine-driven warfare of Iran: Baud's analysis is a necessary correction to Western narratives.
When the United States government decided to impose sanctions against the UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, honest defenders of human rights were astonished. The measure, announced in July 2025 by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was presented as a response to what the U.S. government called the expert’s “illegitimate and shameful efforts” to promote actions by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli and American officials.
In a recent conversation on Dialogue Works, former Swiss Army Colonel and intelligence analyst Jacques Baud joined host Nima Alkhorshid for a probing discussion on the transformation of global power structures. Their exchange offers a crystalline articulation of a thesis increasingly echoed by strategic thinkers worldwide: the era of unipolar Western dominance is over, not by declaration, but by the irreversible rise of sovereign, technically capable states that refuse to be coerced.
An obituary in 12 propositions, or the downfall of a phased-out model. Speech at the annual conference "Courage for Ethics" from 29 to 31 August 2025 in Sirnach, Switzerland by Patrik Baab.
The United Kingdom's attitude towards the war with Iran has been a national disgrace and has shown that Britain has a powerless military and non-existent diplomacy. This is symptomatic of the growing ignorance of our British elite, with ministers coming and going so often that they can do nothing useful, while our universities go bankrupt and we struggle to train new talent capable of understanding a complex world.
She watched the Bolsheviks seize power in 1917. By 1918, they were already making the mistakes that would define the next century. One of the most respected Marxists alive, writing from a prison cell in Germany, told them exactly how it would end. They called her a heretic. Then Stalin proved her right. She got every detail right. Her name was Rosa Luxemburg.
The late 18th century in France was a tumultuous time, marked by the rise of revolutionary ideologies. To end the grip of the absolute monarchy, people had to take the matter into their own hands. The result was the French Revolution. One of the most influential groups of the revolution was the Jacobin Club, whose members called for a more equal society. However, the Jacobins became increasingly radical, prosecuting their opponents and introducing the infamous “Reign of Terror.” This article will explain the rise, fall, and ideology of the Jacobins.