By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 27 November 2024 (IDN) — American foreign policy makers often wonder aloud why it is that much of the world has such an anti-American reflex. Why the “Ugly American”? Graham Greene would never have written a novel entitled the “Ugly Russian” or even the “Ugly German”. It is not […]
Ukraine War: The Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile Strike Is A Strong Warning
By Stephen Bryen* This article was issued by Weapons and Strategy and is being republished with their permission. WASHINGTON, D.C. | 26 November 2024 (IDN) —The Ukrainians, NATO and the United States have been alarmed about Russia’s use of the Oreshnik Intermediate Range Ballistic missile on a defense manufacturing plant in Dnipro (formerly Dnipropetrovsk). The […]
Ailing America Needs Multiple and Overlapping Remedies
By Jeffrey D. Sachs* This article was published in Common Dreams and is being republished with the author’s permission. NEW YORK | 24 November 2024 (IDN) — America is a country of undoubted vast strengths—technological, economic, and cultural—yet its government is profoundly failing its own citizens and the world. Trump’s victory is very easy to […]
COP29: A Staggering Betrayal of the World’s Most Vulnerable
By the Group of Least Developed Countries BAKU, Azerbaijan | 24 November 2024 (IDN) — The Group of world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs) on Climate Change is outraged and deeply hurt by the outcome of COP29. “Once again, the countries most responsible for the climate crisis have failed us. We leave Baku without an ambitious […]
COP29 Ends with “Atrocious” New Climate Finance Goal
By the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) BAKU, Azerbaijan | 24 November 2024 (IDN) —The 29th UN Climate Conference (COP29) concluded 23 November, with an atrocious new climate finance goal of $300 billion, after wealthy nations refused to pay up in line with their legal obligations to provide sufficient climate finance to the Global […]
Volkswagen: Is a German Industrial Myth Coming to an End?
By Frédéric Fréry* The Conversation published this article under a Creative Commons licence. PARIS | 23 November 2024 (IDN) — In late October 2024, Volkswagen’s works council announced that the group’s management was considering closing three factories in Germany, which would lead to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and a general salary […]
What Trump’s Return to Power Implies for the EU and the Balkans
By Dr. Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 22 November 2024 (IDN) — The return of Trump to the United States presidency raises legitimate concerns for both the European Union and the Balkans. These concerns primarily revolve around national dynamics, economic implications, and the solidification of nationalist attitudes and inter-political combustion within the Balkan states It […]
Russia Launches A New Missile at Ukraine While U.S. Provides New Tactical Weapons
By C. Todd Lopez, DoD WASHINGON. D.C. | 21 November 2024 (IDN) — The Russians today launched a new kind of missile at Ukraine, what the Defense Department is calling an “intermediate-range ballistic missile,” or IRBM, said the deputy Pentagon press secretary. “I can confirm that Russia did launch an experimental intermediate range ballistic missile,” […]
US, Under Fire, for Vetoing Resolutions Demanding Ceasefire in Gaza
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 20 November 2024 (IDN) — The US veto on a Security Council (UNSC) resolution—demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza—was highly predictable. The resolution, which was vetoed November 20, also called for the release of all hostages and full humanitarian access for civilians. Since 1945, a total […]
Ukraine War: UN Peace Forces as Part of a Comprehensive Peace Deal?
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 20 November 2024 (IDN) — To its credit the Soviet Union and its successor state, Russia, has long supported UN peacekeeping, a practice that originated in 1960 in the time of UN Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjold, who evolved the concept during the great Congolese civil war when it was in […]