By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 25 February 2026 (IDN) — Eleven hundred years ago, Europe was a backwater. There were no grand cities, apart from Cordoba in Spain, which was Muslim. The Middle East was much further ahead, still absorbing the intellectual delights and challenges of Greek science, medicine, and architecture, while Europeans were […]
Africa Is Not a Chessboard
Those who recognize this will help shape the future By Ramesh Jaura This article first appeared on rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 24 February 2026 (WorldView) — From a European vantage point, with transatlantic ties on shaky ground, the recent African Union Summit in Addis Ababa felt less like a formal gathering and more like a seismic […]
Implications of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Parliamentary Supermajority
Resurrection of Bushidō into a tool for Japanese ultra-nationalism & military expansionism? By Purnaka L. de Silva* NEW YORK | 22 February 2026 (IDN) — Japan’s acquisition of a parliamentary supermajority under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s landslide election victory marks a qualitative shift in the country’s political trajectory with significant implications for regional security, historical reconciliation, […]
Trump is Intent on Hijacking the Midterm Election
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 21 February 2026 (IDN) — Terrified by the likelihood of losing the Republican majority in the House and facing the prospect of impeachment, Trump is determined to steal the midterm election by any means, however menacing or unconstitutional they may be, to deprive the Democrats of their nearly assured […]
Iran Crisis Exposes the Impotence of America’s Neoliberal War Machine
By Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK | 20 February 2026 (IDN) — After some delays, the United States is dispatching a second aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, from the Caribbean to the Middle East to join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and threaten Iran. This is the third Atlantic crossing […]
Situation Report – Horn of Africa No. 705 – 19 February 2025
SITUATION REPORT – HORN OF AFRICA & NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
No. 705 – 19 February 2026
A ‘Wrecking-ball’ Smashing the International Order
By Somar Wijayadasa* NEW YORK | 19 February 2026 (IDN) — The 62nd Munich Security Conference (MSC), held from February 13–15 in Munich, Germany, convened global leaders at a moment of mounting geopolitical strain. Long regarded as a premier forum for international security dialogue, this year’s conference unfolded against the backdrop of what its organizers […]
Iran, War, and the Illusion of Control
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 18 February 2026 (IDN) — As U.S.–Iran negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program continue under the shadow of possible military action, both Washington and Tehran must weigh carefully the potentially catastrophic regional consequences of failure. If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convinced President Trump during their recent meeting that now is […]
Human Rights and the U.S. Presidency
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 18 February 2026 (IDN) — Jimmy Carter liked to think of himself as a human rights president. Many of us believed he heralded a new spring. Spring is coming again now. Snowdrops and crocuses are pushing through the frost; daffodils are preparing to bloom; trees along the Potomac will […]
Europe Now Needs the Courage to Pursue Peace
A call for peace on the 4th anniversary of the war in Ukraine By Harald Kujat, Michael von der Schulenburg* BRUSSELS | 16 February 2026 (IDN) — The world is currently experiencing one of the most profound geopolitical upheavals since the end of the Second World War – an upheaval in which the European Union […]