By Thalif Deen* When the UN’s four high-level summit meetings take place September 22-30, over 150 world leaders, including Presidents and Prime Ministers, are expected to address the gatherings. Besides the annual high-level General Debate, the focus will also be on the Summit of the Future, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Sea-Level Rise, and on Anti-microbial […]
Land Grabs Target Tamils and Muslims in Sri Lanka
By Rodney Reynolds NEW YORK, 12 September 2024 (IDN) — As the 57th session of the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) addresses the human rights situation in Sri Lanka next week, a new report from the Oakland Institute, Trincomalee Under Siege: Land Grabs Target the Tamil Homeland in Sri Lanka uncovers the rapidly escalating colonization […]
Haiti: Despite Kenyan Presence, Security in the Country Has Not Improved
By Pablo Meriguet* QUITO, Ecuador | 11 September 2024 (IDN | Peoples Dispatch) — On June 25, hundreds of Kenyan police officers landed in Haiti as part of the United Nations’ Multinational Security Support Mission. Thousands of other members of security forces are expected to be deployed to the Caribbean nation from other parts of […]
Undebatable: What Harris and Trump Could Not Say About Israel and Gaza
By Norman Solomon* SAN FRANCISCO | 11 September 2024 (IDN) — Kamala Harris won the debate. People being bombed in Gaza did not. The banner headline across the top of the New York Times home page—“Harris Puts Trump on Defensive in Fierce Debate”— was accurate enough. But despite the good news for people understandably eager for […]
How US Foreign Policy Affected Relations with Russia
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 10 September 2024 (IDN) — Two mistakes, committed on President Barack Obama’s watch, were the triggers for the end of the long post-Cold War period of good relations with Russia. They were the attack on Libya by the US, France and the UK and the subsequent killing of its […]
Pursuing Transitional Justice in the Aftermath of Peace in Nepal
By Simone Galimberti* KATHMANDU, Nepal | 9 September 2024 (IDN) — Ending a civil conflict is always an incredibly daunting task but ensuring a permanent peace that would enable the peace dividend to trickle down can often prove to be even more challenging. The unbalanced power dynamics and the inequities at the foundation of the […]
Kazakhstan Proposes a Digital Solutions Centre for Sustainable Development
By Aar Jay BERLIN | ASTANA | 6 September 2024 (IDN) — The Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan has proposed the establishment of a Digital Solutions Centre for Sustainable Development at a high-level conference organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Government of Kazakhstan. The […]
Ukraine War: A Global Diplomatic Vacuum
By Christos Katsioulis, Walter Kemp* This article was issued by IPS-Journal. VIENNA | 6 September 2024 (IDN) — The recent ‘peace missions’ undertaken by Viktor Orbán, who currently holds the rotating EU presidency, caused much consternation within the European Union. In particular, the question of who speaks for the EU and whether and to what […]
How the Neocons Chose Hegemony Over Peace Beginning in the Early 1990s
By Jeffrey D. Sachs* The following text is from Racket News (plus online discussion) and is being republished with the author’s permission. NEW YORK | 5 September 2024 (IDN) — In 1989 I served as an advisor to the first post-communist government of Poland, and helped to devise a strategy of financial stabilization and economic […]
Who Wants to Kill and Die for the American Empire?
By Nicolas J. S Davies* NEW YORK | 5 September 2024 (IDN) — The Associated Press reports that many of the recruits drafted under Ukraine’s new conscription law lack the motivation and military indoctrination required to actually aim their weapons and fire at Russian soldiers. “Some people don’t want to shoot. They see the enemy in the […]