By Jan Servaes BANGKOK | 16 May 2026 (IDN) — Following the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a military attack, US President Donald Trump has hinted that Cuba could be his next target. In a presidential decree dated 26 January, 2026, he declared that […]
After Recognition: The UN’s Next Reckoning on Slavery
Will global powers act—or stall—on reparative justice? By Ramesh Jaura This article first appeared on https://rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 2 April 2026 (IDN) — The United Nations’ declaration of the transatlantic slave trade as the “gravest crime against humanity” marked a moment of moral clarity on March 25, 2026. Yet, almost immediately, geopolitical tensions and diverging […]
Nigeria Looks to Brazil: Diaspora Diplomacy and a New South–South Economic Push
By Kester Kenn Klomegah* MOSCOW | BRASILIA | 27 February 2026 (IDN) — Nigeria is quietly recalibrating its South–South diplomacy — and this time, the compass points firmly toward Brazil. At the centre of this renewed engagement is the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Americas (NIDOA)–Brazil chapter, which is positioning itself not merely as a community […]
Suffocating an Island: What the U.S. Blockade Is Doing to Cuba
By Medea Benjamin* NEW YORK | 13 February 2026 (IDN) — Marta Jiménez, a hairdresser in Cuba’s eastern city of Holguín, covered her face with her hands and broke down in tears when I asked her about Trump’s blockade of the island—especially now that the United States is choking off oil shipments. “You can’t imagine […]
Americans Love Watching TV Wars
By James E. Jennings* ATLANTA, USA | 7 January 2026 (IDN) — On January 3, key figures of the American government lined up in front of TV cameras at Florida’s Mar-a-Lago White House and bragged about the latest American whiz-bang overseas war—this time against Venezuela—which included violating the U.S. Constitution, breaking a host of international […]
A Global Piracy For All To See
By Alon Ben-Meir NEW YORK | 7 January 2026 (IDN) — Trump’s actions in Venezuela are morally calamitous, showing a perilous disregard for human dignity and the rights of ordinary Venezuelans to be free from external forces. Although Maduro is a corrupt autocrat who has often ruled by decree, no country has the right to […]
Diving Deep into Natural Disasters: Real or Fake?
By Fathima Kadhija Mohamed* TOKYO | 26 December 2025 (IDN) — The recent rise in natural disasters worldwide has inflicted serious damage on infrastructure and economies across several nations—from typhoons and floods devastating South Asia and Africa to wildfires in Iran, Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean, and spontaneous earthquakes across Asia. Yet while these disasters […]
Can Global Climate Diplomacy Still Deliver?
COP30 and the Amazon Reckoning This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | 28 November 2025 (IDN) — When world leaders arrived in Belém for COP30 on 10 November, the symbolism was clear. Delegates entered a city where the air is thick with humidity, the scent of river mud blends with […]
Venezuela’s Oil, US-led Regime Change, and America’s Gangster Politics
By Jeffrey D. Sachs & Sybil Fares* This article was first published on Common Dreams and is being reproduced with the authors’ permission. NEW YORK | 5 November 2025 (IDN) — The flimsy moral pretext today is the fight against narcotics. Yet, the fundamental objective is to overthrow a sovereign government, and the collateral damage […]
Cuba: International Hotel Chains Allowed to Lease—and Operate—State-Owned Resorts
By Rodrigo Pérez MIAMI, USA | 27 October 2025 (IDN) — In an unexpected step for one of the world’s most tightly managed economies, Cuba has approved a new policy that allows international hotel chains to lease — not merely operate — state-owned hotels. The move marks a historic departure from decades of rigid central control […]