By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK | 13 August 2026 (IDN) — According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the United States spent $21 trillion on its military between 2001 and 2024 (in constant 2024 dollars), equal to the combined military spending of the next eighteen countries. Iran barely […]
Thailand and Myanmar Sign Agreement To Tackle Transboundary River Pollution, But Can They Do It Alone?
By Kalinga Seneviratne* BANGKOK, Thailand | 12 August 2026 (IDN) — Witnessed by the visiting Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing and Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, the two ASEAN members signed a Terms of Reference (TOR) on 7th August for the establishment of a joint working group on water quality management for transboundary rivers, such […]
The Battle for Believability
Why Trust Has Become the World’s Most Valuable Strategic Resource By Ramesh Jaura This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com/ BERLIN | 10 August 2026 (IDN) — The most serious problem of the AI age might not lie in the ease with which lies can be produced, but in the increasing difficulty of believing in […]
EEPA reports on Addis Standard raided by Ethiopian authorities
BRUSSELS | 10 August (IDN | EEPA) — The following are the situation reports on Sudan, Ethiopia, SAF repel RSF attack in West Darfur, armed clashes erupt in western Libya and Addis Standard raided by Ethiopian authorities. Situation in Sudan (per 10 August) The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and its allies repelled an attack by […]
The Heartbeat of Resistance, Resilience and Kindness, in Today’s World – The Arbaeen Pilgrimage
By Azza Karam* KARBALA, Iraq | 10 August 2026 (IDN) —There are pilgrimages, and then there is Arbaeen. Each year, millions of people converge on the Iraqi city of Karbala in one of the largest annual religious gatherings anywhere in the world. This year, according to the Governor of Karbala, more than 22 million pilgrims […]
Netanyahu’s Challengers Are Selling The Same Poison
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 9 August 2026 (IDN) — The men who could replace Netanyahu know the truth and refuse to say it. A Palestinian state is not an existential threat to Israel; the endless denial of one is. By reciting the old lie for votes, Israel’s opposition is not offering a new […]
Catholicos Garegin II in court
By Benoit Lannoo* YEREVAN, Armenia | 8 August 2026 (IDN) — Do you remember the Investiture Controversy, when medieval emperors tried to take over the pope’s episcopal appointments? Or the difficult issue of the appointment of bishops in the People’s Republic of China? Well, although Armenia is considered a democratic state in Western chancelleries, respectful […]
Governments Must Act Now to Stop the Tobacco Industry Recruiting the Next Generation of Customers
By Gene Gesite Jr., Juan Herrera, Sama Ghozlan, Sarah Rauzana and Winnie Olwal BANGKOK | 8 August 2026 (IDN) — On International Youth Day (12 August), youth advocates around the world are calling on governments to take stronger action to protect young people from nicotine addiction. In Asia, proposals in the Philippines to raise the […]
The Ugliness of the West: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and the Ideological Closure of Capitalism
By Sam Ben-Meir NEW YORK | 6 August 2026 (IDN) — John le Carré’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy endures not simply as the anti–James Bond film but as something rarer: a diagnosis of Western civilization at the moment it began losing faith in itself. Where the James Bond franchise offered a fantasy of Western vitality—technological mastery, […]
EEPA reports on Traders protest in White Nile
BRUSSELS | 6 August 2026 (IDN | EEPA) — The following are the situation reports on Sudan, Ethiopia, EU agrees to set up maritime center in Benghazi, 3 opposition members arrested in Ethiopia, Traders protest in White Nile. Migration and refugee situation (per 6 August) A Kenyan High Court in Bungoma, Kenya, has reaffirmed that […]