Mitchel Stuffers
Assistant Editor at CIGH Exeter & PhD Candidate in History, University of Exeter

From Iranian Americans reacting to Trump’s military strikes to the launch of an AI ethics consortium in the UK, here are this week’s top picks in imperial and global history.

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Iranian Americans divided in reactions to US attacks

Sarah D. Wire & Eduardo Cuevas
USA Today

Military strikes in Iran have highlighted deep chasms between Iranian Americans seeking to overthrow the country’s oppressive government and others who wanted a peaceful resolution through negotiations.

The United States and Israel launched military strikes and “major combat operations” against Iran on Feb. 28, President Donald Trump said, targeting the country’s missile capabilities. The attack follows weeks of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear and missile development programs. “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” Trump said, calling the strikes “a massive and ongoing operation.” [Continue reading]

Pakistan declares “open war” with Afghanistan amid unprecedented escalation between the neighbors

Editorial Team
CBS News

Pakistan bombed major cities in Afghanistan Friday, including the capital Kabul, with Islamabad’s defense minister declaring the neighbors at “open war” following months of tit-for-tat clashes. The dramatic declaration came as Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers claimed to have carried out unprecedented aerial attacks on multiple locations in Pakistan, including its capital Islamabad. 

The Taliban-run Afghan Ministry of Defense said Friday that “strikes were carried out in response to the aerial incursions conducted by last night by Pakistani forces in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia.” The Taliban said its strikes targeted key Pakistani military bases, command centers and strategic facilities in multiple locations.  The Taliban did not say what weapons it used, but its claimed aerial attack on Pakistani territory was unprecedented, marking a significant escalation in a long-simmering conflict between the two South Asian neighbors. [Continue reading]

What a viral speech in Ireland reveals about colonial history and Caribbean English

Nadine White
The Guardian

When the politician Thomas Gould rose to speak in the Irish parliament recently, few expected a lesson in colonial linguistics. Yet clips of his speech began circulating online last week, with some viewers saying he sounded unmistakably Jamaican. The reaction was animated, particularly among Jamaican heritage communities.

Responding to the Cork politician’s viral moment, one person wrote online: “The influence the Irish have on the Jamaican accent is uncanny.” Gould, a Sinn Féin TD, said he had been overwhelmed by the response he received after the speech in January, particularly from Jamaica. [Continue reading]

Colonialism in Africa: archaeology offers a deeper view

Timothy Clack & Shadreck Chirikure
The Conversation

Colonialism has been a central part of history around the world, differing only in form over time and space. After all, whenever people have moved from one place to another, they have colonised spaces and other people or forms of life. In Africa, colonialism has mostly been studied as something imposed from outside, for example from Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. A recent special issue of the journal Azania sought to address this. Scholars looked at the topic from an angle that’s so far been neglected – the archaeology and history of colonialism from within Africa.

We introduced the journal issue with an essay revisiting basic ideas, reviewing literature and presenting new case studies. We note, for example, that colonialism has a deep and complex history. There have been different kinds and degrees of colonialism. [Continue reading]

UK Universities Launch Landmark AI Ethics Consortium With Industry Sponsorship

News Team
Financial News co uk

With their laptops tucked under their arms, students in Manchester traverse Oxford Road on a rainy afternoon, scuttling into lecture halls and cafés as the wind pushes drizzle sideways across the pavement. The tone of discussions about artificial intelligence has changed from just a few years ago inside one of the university’s older buildings, which has narrow corridors, brick walls, and slightly creaking staircases.

Not more rapid algorithms. not larger data centers. Morals. With the help of tech firms and business sponsors, a consortium of UK universities has established what they are calling a historic AI ethics consortium. The objective seems straightforward enough: determine the proper behavior of artificial intelligence before the technology advances too far beyond society’s capacity to regulate it. [Continue reading]