By Thalif Deen* This article contains excerpts from a recently-released book* on the United Nations titled “No Comment–and Don’t Quote Me on that” available on Amazon: https://www.rodericgrigson.com/no-comment-by-thalif-deen/ UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — During the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and particularly in the 1960s, the United Nations was […]
Is Europe Sliding into Third World War?
By Boaventura de Sousa Santos* COIMBRA, Portugal (IDN) — A new-old ghost is hovering over Europe—war. The most violent continent in the world in terms of deaths in warfare for the last hundred years (not to go back any further and include the deaths suffered by Europe during religious wars and the deaths inflicted by […]
Russia Urged to Comply with New START Inspections
By Arms Control Association (ACA) WASHINGTON DC (IDN) — Experts from the Arms Control Association called upon Russia to comply with its obligations to allow for on-site inspections to verify compliance with the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and to engage in further nuclear disarmament diplomacy with the United States.
UN Asks Libya to Address Serious Rights Violations
Independent Experts Were on Fact-Finding Mission By Reinhardt Jacobsen BRUSSELS | TRIPOLI (IDN) — Libyan authorities must take decisive steps to provide justice and redress to the vast number of victims suffering from longstanding violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Libya said after its final visit […]
Crossing Russia’s Red Lines on NATO Expansion
U.S. Officials Were Aware of the Risks Viewpoint by Branko Marcetic This article is distributed by Globetrotter in partnership with the American Committee for U.S.-Russia Accord. Branko Marcetic is a Jacobin staff writer and the author of Yesterday’s Man: The Case Against Joe Biden. CHICAGO (IDN) — Nearly a year in, the war in […]
Australian FM Urges Britain to Confront Its Colonial Past in Asia
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — In a landmark speech at King’s College London, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong has urged Britain to confront its colonial past if it wanted to strengthen and build new ties in the Indo-Pacific. Malaysian-born Wong said that Britain and other countries should strive to shed staying “sheltered in narrower […]
African Leaders Unite in Pledge to End AIDS In Children
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) — Every five minutes, a child dies from AIDS-related causes. While three-quarters of adults (76 per cent) are on life-saving treatment, only half (52 per cent) of children living with HIV are receiving antiretrovirals. Despite the fact that only 4 per cent of the total number of people living with […]
In Focus: Gender Empowerment and the SDGs
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — The latest available Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 data shows that the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030. It will take perhaps another three centuries to close the global gender gap. Almost 1 in 3 women have experienced physical or sexual violence at least […]
Thailand: ‘Seeds of Hope’ Aims to Ensure Community Food Security
By Pattama Vilailert KAEN MAKROOD, Thailand (IDN) — With the belief that without seeds, there is no hope of sustaining food security to accommodate the global population, the ‘Seeds of Hope’ (SOH) project in Thailand aims to mobilize the community to be self-reliant in their farming methods and protect themselves from predatory agri-business companies. The […]
History Does Not Justify Either Israel or Palestine
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN) — To be blunt, there is no Israel and no Palestine. At least not in a continuous historical sense, as there is a France or an Egypt, a China or a Thailand or an Ethiopia. Without the British there would be neither a modern Israel nor Palestine. The […]