By David L. Phillips* OXFORD, UK | 8 October 2026 (IDN) — Israel colluded with Hamas for decades, seeing it as a counterweight to Fatah and the Palestinian Authority. Israel’s approach culminated in the terror attack on October 7, 2023 that killed 1,200 Israelis and 252 hostages. Does Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bear responsibility for the […]
Brazil’s Fateful Election
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 7 October 2026 (IDN) — Since its birth as a nation-state, “Brazil has been a paradise for some, an endless hell for others, and for the rest, a kind of purgatory on earth.” So write two Brazilian historians, Lilla Schwarcz and Heloisa Starling, in their massive volume on Brazil. […]
Two Percent of the Christians in Gaza Killed by the IDF
By Benoit Lannoo* ANTWERP, Belgium | 7 October 2026 (IDN) — On the Instagram account of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa reported early Saturday morning that an airstrike on an apartment building in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City had killed, in addition to three other Palestinians, Maysa Abu Dawood and her […]
Germany’s Unfinished Sovereignty: Is Neutrality Still Possible?
By Wolfgang Bittner* GÖTTINGEN, Germany | 6 October 2026 (IDN) — Recently, there have been calls for Germany to become neutral,[1] as Stalin had already proposed in 1952. At that time, he offered the other three principal victorious powers of the Second World War negotiations on a peace treaty with Germany. The condition was the […]
EEPA reports on ENDF recaptures Mekelle
BRUSSELS | 5 October 2026 (IDN | EEPA) — The following are the situation reports on the situation in Ethiopia, the situation in Sudan, the international and regional situation, ENDF recaptures Mekelle, nighttime ENDF drone strikes target civilian infrastructure across Tigray, WFP trucks attacked in Kordofan Situation in Ethiopia (per 5 October) The Ethiopian National […]
Choosing the UN Chief: The Deals Behind Closed Doors
A study of eight decades of bargaining over senior UN posts raises questions about the independence of António Guterres’s successor. By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | 3 October 2026 (IDN) — The contest to succeed António Guterres as United Nations Secretary-General is gathering pace. Much of the public discussion centres on the candidates, their qualifications and […]
Gaza Shattered the Myth of the “Most Moral Army”
By Alon Ben-Meir* Israel’s claim that the IDF is “the most moral army in the world” did not survive Gaza. What emerged was not moral exceptionalism, but a machinery of devastation so vast that the slogan now stands as an indictment—of power without restraint and conscience without consequences NEW YORK | 3 October 2026 (IDN) […]
Asia, Africa and the Struggle for a New Global Order
By Kester Kenn Klomegah* MOSCOW | NEW YORK | 3 October 2026 (IDN) — The 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations, brought world leaders and delegations to New York in late September 2026. Their speeches addressed political governance, economic development, conflicts, inequality, […]
The Third Man and the Ruins of Modernity
By Sam Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 2 October 2026 (IDN) — Carol Reed’s The Third Man, recently screened at the Park Theatre in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, is routinely described as one of the greatest films noirs ever made. It is certainly that. But to call it a film noir tells us remarkably little about what makes […]
A Council of Warnings in a World at War
From Ukraine and Myanmar to Haiti, the final days of September showed why the United Nations remains necessary and why its decisions so often fall short. By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | NEW YORK | 1 October 2026 (IDN) — The United Nations Security Council ended on 30 September with a record that was neither empty […]