Author: Kontrast.at

Norway has had a wealth tax for more than 130 years – and it still enjoys broad public support today. In this interview, Roger Bjørnstad, chief economist of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, explains why. He talks about disinformation campaigns run by wealthy opponents and about the shift in media coverage, as outlets ultimately […]

Since December 2025, thousands of people in Iran have once again taken to the streets. The regime has responded with brutal repression. Amnesty International speaks of massacres of protesters. What began as protests against inflation rates of nearly 50 percent, corruption and economic hardship has long since turned into an open uprising against the Islamic […]

With the abduction of Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro, the United States under Donald Trump is returning to a power-based logic of influence in Latin America—one that many in the region believed had long been overcome. In this interview, political scientist Ulrich Brand analyzes why Latin America is once again becoming a geopolitical priority in the […]

Tech billionaires Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are financing Donald Trump’s authoritarian political project—and in return, they receive lucrative government contracts. High-tech companies like Palantir, Anduril, or the Israeli NSO Group are taking over ever more responsibilities within the state’s security and surveillance apparatus. “Security policy,” meaning state surveillance, is increasingly outsourced to private firms, […]

By 2040, a train ride from Vienna to Berlin should take no longer than a long movie night: four and a half hours. Today, the journey takes over eight hours. The EU wants high-speed trains like these to become the new normal — bringing Europe’s cities closer together than ever before. To achieve this, it […]

In Norway’s parliamentary elections in September 2025, the social-democratic Labour Party emerged as the winner — partly because it campaigned to preserve the country’s wealth tax. The Scandinavian state demonstrates how a tax on the richest can function effectively. Norway has had a wealth tax for over 130 years The formuesskatt (wealth tax) has existed […]

To Abd’s Mother, Rahmeh. It‘s been 22 years. It‘s been two years. It’s been 22 years since your son, Abd, committed an act of terror against civilians. He was 18 years old and had his whole life ahead. On June 11, 2003, news articles say that Abd was studying for an English exam when he […]

Good news from the stratosphere: the ozone hole is smaller this year than it has been in many years – and well below the long-term average. Forty years ago, the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol laid the foundation for banning ozone-depleting substances. Back then, countries around the world made a collective decision for climate […]

In recent decades, China has massively expanded its influence on the global stage—with the goal of reshaping the international order. But what exactly lies behind this claim, and what consequences does it have for Europe, the global power USA, and global power distribution? Kontrast spoke with sinologist Doris Vogl, who analyzes different facets of this […]

Vered Berman grew up in West Jerusalem, has lived in Berlin for 22 years, and has been committed to peace since her youth. In 2003, she lost her mother in a Hamas suicide bombing. Twenty years later, she wrote a letter to the attacker’s family. In this interview with Kontrast, she shares what moved her […]