Belén Fernández

Belén Fernández

Belén Fernández is the author of The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work, released by Verso in 2011. She is a member of the Jacobin Magazine editorial board, and her articles have appeared in the London Review of Books blog, Al Akhbar English and many other publications.

Articles by this author

A Syrian refugee hugs her children following their arrival on an overcrowded dinghy in rough sea on the Greek island of Lesbos, October 2, 2015 (Photo: Dimitris Michalakis/Reuters) Views
Friday, February 07, 2020
Child Suicide Is a Symptom of Our Traumatised World
In early January, as the world waited to see whether the United States 's addiction to carnage and destruction would lead to all-out war with Iran , US congresswoman Ilhan Omar remarked : "[E]very time I hear conversations around war, I find myself being stricken with PTSD [post-traumatic stress...
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While the US arms industry is presumably feeling pretty secure right about now, it is safe to say many people in "safe third countries" are not. (Photo: Edgard Garrido/Reuters) Views
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
How the US Made the So-Called 'Safe Third Countries' Unsafe
This year, US President and xenophobe-in-chief Donald Trump finagled " safe third country agreements " with Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, allowing the United States to deport aspiring asylum seekers to the very region many of them are fleeing in the first place. Even Salvadoran President...
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Iranians walk in Valiasr Street in northern Tehran on 8 May. (Photo: AFP/Getty) Views
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Has the New York Times Declared War on Iran?
Once upon a time, the United States launched a war on Iraq with the help of false allegations of WMD. The corporate media—and most memorably the US newspaper of record, the New York Times —thrust itself onto the PR frontlines by presenting as reality the unhinged claims of the George W Bush...
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US Special Envoy for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, speaks during a media availability at the State Department on February 7, 2019, in Washington (Photo: Alex Brandon/AP) Views
Friday, February 22, 2019
Cold Warrior Elliott Abrams Returns to Battle in Venezuela
Shortly after right-wing figure Juan Guaido auto-proclaimed himself interim president of Venezuela in January - to the immediate applause of US President Donald Trump - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the appointment of a special envoy to "help the Venezuelan people fully restore...
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Sunday, January 06, 2019
How Capitalism Is Killing Us
Hitchhiking through Venezuela some years ago, a friend and I availed ourselves of the novel opportunity to receive free medical care at health clinics established by late President Hugo Chavez , a much-vilified enemy of the international capitalist order. I had never experienced the danger of free...
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A migrant girl from Central America cries next to the border wall while she tries to cross with her family from Mexico to the US, in Tijuana, Mexico, December 11, 2018 (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters) Views
Friday, December 21, 2018
'Barbed Wire-Plus': Borders Know No Love
During a Thanksgiving Day teleconference with members of the US armed forces, US President Donald Trump took the opportunity to exult over the intensified militarisation of the nation's southern border in response to the US-bound Central American migrant and refugee caravan: "We have the concertina...
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Jose Garcia, a migrant from Honduras en route to the US, rests in a public square as he waits to regroup with more migrants, in Tecun Uman, Guatemala October 25, 2018 (Photo: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters) Views
Monday, October 29, 2018
The Inconvenient Truth About the US-Bound Migrant Caravan
In mid-October, what has come to be known as the " migrant caravan " departed Honduras for a weeks-long trek through Guatemala and Mexico to the United States. The size of the caravan has fluctuated, but the United Nations calculated that, as of 22 October, some 7,200 people had joined up - many of...
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Monday, October 22, 2018
The West Enabled Khashoggi's Demise - Not To Mention All the Other Saudi Crimes
On 2 October, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi , a contributing columnist for the Washington Post, entered Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, never to be seen again. After multiple denials, Saudi Arabia confirmed on 19 October that Khashoggi had been killed inside the building. In a statement on...
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An unmanned Delta 4 Heavy rocket, the largest booster in in the US fleet, lifts off from an air force base in California to put a classified satellite into orbit (Photo: Gene Blevins/Reuters) Views
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Trump's Astronomically Misguided 'Space Force'
Speaking to an audience of military personnel in California earlier this year, United States President Donald Trump unveiled his scheme to create a sixth branch of the US military: the "space force". According to Trump's version of the story, the idea had unfolded as follows: "I was saying it the...
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"A primary function of this Contra War was to punish Nicaragua for dropping the ball on the anti-communist front and daring to defy US politico-corporate interests in the United States' self-declared backyard." (Photo: Screenshot/Al Jazeera) Views
Tuesday, May 08, 2018
A Nicaraguan Spring or Imperial Spring Cleaning?
In April, Nicaragua saw intense clashes between protesters and government forces that reportedly left dozens dead. The protests were initially set off by proposed adjustments to the national social security system, which have now been cancelled by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. Journalist and...
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