By Kalinga Seneviratne* Bangkok, Thailand | 7 February 2025 (IDN) — Since President Donald Trump made the shock announcement last week of freezing United States’ (US) foreign aid budget for three months while threatening to close down its main delivery agency, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the multi-million dollar aid industry has been […]
From America First to America Alone: The Lab Meets the Street
By Azu Ishiekwene The writer is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP and author of the new book Writing for Media and Monetising It. ABUJA, Nigeria | 6 February 2025 (IDN) — It’s nearly 20 years since Mark Steyn wrote a non-fiction book, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It. Steyn, a Canadian newspaper columnist, could […]
“Riviera Of the Middle East”: A Paradise Inside a Hornet’s Nest
By Somar Wijayadasa* NEW YORK | 6 February 2025 (IDN) — President Donald Trump’s bombshell proposal that the United States would take over the war-ruined Gaza—that he described as a “demolition zone” – relocate Palestinians to neighboring countries—possibly in Egypt and Jordan – and redevelop the war-torn enclave into what he described as the “Riviera […]
Moving from a Doomsday Clock to a Peace Clock
By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK | 6 February 2025 (IDN) — This year’s Doomsday Clock Statement landed like a damp squib in a Trump-swamped corporate news cycle on January 28th. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists only moved the hands of the Clock forward by one second, from 90 seconds […]
Will The Election Bring a New Dawn to Kosovo?
By Dr. Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 5 February 2025 (IDN) — Most Kosovars hope that the February national election and the formation of a new coalition government will usher in a promising new era that will substantially improve the day-to-day lives of ordinary people. Will the new government be in tune to meet much […]
Russia Delivers Military Hardware to Mali — After the Fall of Assad Regime
By Guy Martin* The premier online African defence and security news publication defenceWeb issued this article. It is being republished with their permission. RHODES, South Africa | 5 February 2025 (IDN) — Russia has delivered over 100 military vehicles to Mali, including tanks, trucks, and infantry fighting vehicles. It is suspected the shipment may have […]
United States Quits UN Tax Convention Process
Eurodad NEW YORK | 5 February 2025 (IDN) — The United States has pulled out of the process to deliver a new UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation. The announcement came during the afternoon on the first day of the Organisational Session, which is taking place at UN Headquarters in New York and runs […]
Arctic Council: Too Important to Be Squeezed Between the Great Powers
By Ingeborg Breines The writer is Norwegian peace educator, former director in UNESCO and former president of the International Peace Bureau-IPB. OSLO, Norway | 04 February 2025 (IDN) — There are many reasons to pay close attention to what is happening in the far north. The Arctic is attracting strong international interest as global warming […]
RFK Jr. vs. Modern Farming: What’s at Stake for America’s Food Supply
By Dan Kelley* NORMAL, Illinois USA | 4 February 2025 (IDN) — “There are people in every time and every land who want to stop history in its tracks,” said Robert F. Kennedy in 1964. Those words resonate today as Congress considers the nomination of his son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for Secretary of Health […]
Sri Lanka: Facades of Independence and Masks of Conquest
Of ‘GLADIO’ Operations, Raj Nostalgia History and Literary Festivals By Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake* COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 3 February 2025 (IDN) — Independence has been a long mirage in geostrategic Ceylon / Sri Lanka, where history seems to repeat itself as tragedy and farce in equal measure. This week, the geostrategic Indian Ocean island is set […]