Regardless of What Kind of Spin Is Put On By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK, 19 May 2023 (IDN) — My recent article entitled “An Occupying Power Cannot Be a Beacon of Democracy” engendered both criticism and compliments. Given the severity of the Israeli occupation and the need to end it under conditions of peace, I […]
How Myanmar’s Arms Purchases Circumvent Sanctions
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 18 May 2023 (IDN) — The much-maligned military regime in Myanmar, accused of genocide and human rights abuses, is being sustained by nearly a billion dollars’ worth of arms—plus raw materials to manufacture weapons—originating primarily from China and Russia, two permanent members of the Security Council, along with Singapore, Thailand […]
The Speech That Biden Should Give: ‘I’ve Changed My Mind’
By Norman Solomon* SAN FRANCISCO, 18 May 2023 (IDN) — My fellow Americans: I’ve changed my mind. With a heavy heart, I am announcing that I will not seek or accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in 2024. The poll numbers indicate that I would be a burden on the party’s national ticket next […]
New UN Report Shows How to Drastically Slash Plastic Pollution
By J Nastranis NEW YORK, 17 May 2023 (IDN) — A new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report says countries and companies could reduce plastic pollution by 80 percent by 2040 using existing technologies. According to UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen, “the way we produce, use, and dispose of plastics pollutes ecosystems, poses health risks, and […]
India: PM Modi’s BJP Ousted in Key Karnataka State Elections
By Devinder Kumar NEW DELHI, 17 May 2023 (IDN) — The opposition Indian National Congress (INC), which appeared to have sunk into oblivion, scored a decisive victory in the southern state of Karnataka over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the legislative assembly elections on 10 May. Karnataka is the […]
Making the World More Equal Is a Hard Nut to Crack
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden, 16 May 2023 (IDN) — Maybe, after all, there is an argument for saying that the world needs more violence not less if we are to make its societies more equal. This is one conclusion we can derive from Walter Scheidel’s important book, “The Great Leveller”. He starts from what […]
Thai People Want Change. And the Conservative-Military Elite?
By Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS, 16 May 2023 (IPS) — 39.5 million (or 75% of registered) Thai voters flocked to the polls on 14 May in a hotly contested election that will determine whether Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, the general who seized power in a 2014 coup, will be overthrown by his rivals. There is a […]
Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT: It’s Potential & Its Dangers
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 16 May 2023 (IDN) — The world is currently experiencing one of the fastest advances in modern technology: the AI Chat GPT search engine, which has generated both curiosity and skepticism. At a White House May 4 meeting of executives from Google, Microsoft, Anthropic and OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, […]
After Historic Apology, Fiji Moves to Build a New Nation
By Kalinga Seneviratne SUVA, Fiji, 15 May 2023 (IDN) — In an emotionally charged “Reconciliation and Thanksgiving” service organized by Fiji’s Methodist Church—the country’s largest Christian denomination—the President of the church Reverend Ili Vunisuwai and Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka apologized to the Indo-Fijian community for the suffering and insults they have endured in Fiji’s post- […]
African Migrants Finding Sanctuary in US Maine
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 15 May 2023 (IDN) — An African migrant crisis in southern Maine, the easternmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States? Newly arrived asylum seekers have been overwhelming several Maine cities, straining municipal budgets to the breaking point. Surprising to some, many of […]