By Jan Servaes MIAMI | 23 January 2024 (IDN) — It increasingly looks like Donald Trump will win while American democracy is faltering. This is what Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt contend in their new book “Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point”. In “Tyranny of the Minority,” […]
Behind the Dangerous Resurgence of ‘Al Qaeda’ in Bangladesh
Analysis by Jennifer Hicks* HONGKONG | 22 January 2024 (IDN) — During the Spring of March 2002, Osama bin Laden’s second man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, set foot in Bangladesh at the invitation of leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) that had been attempting to turn the country into a global jihadist launchpad. Giving a detailed […]
How NATO Helped Trigger the War in Ukraine and Then Did Nothing to Foil It
By Leo Ensel* Two years ago, in December 2021, Russia formulated its security interests in separate letters to NATO’s Secretary General Stoltenberg and to US President Biden in no uncertain terms. The West’s reaction: no response! There is much to suggest that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could have been prevented if the West had negotiated […]
US Presidential Election Will Determine the Risk of a Nuclear War
By Daryl G. Kimball The writer is the Executive Director of the Arms Control Association (ACA). The following article appears as the Focus of the January/February 2024 issue of Arms Control Today. WASHINGTON, D.C. | 17 January 2024 (IDN) — As the new year begins, the existential risks posed by nuclear weapons continue to grow. […]
Sheikh Hasina’s Leadership Turns Bangladesh into a Geopolitical Powerhouse
By Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury* DHAKA | 17 January 2024 (IDN) — In the complex chess-game of global geopolitics, Bangladesh has emerged as a significant player under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Over the years, her astute governance and strategic vision have propelled Bangladesh to new heights, making it a key actor in South […]
Middle East: Two-State Solution is the Only Viable Option
By Alon Ben-Meir * NEW YORK | 16 January 2024 (IDN) — Although the two-state solution has been all along the only viable option that best serves Israel’s national security and political interests and meets the Palestinians’ national aspiration for statehood, the Israel-Hamas war has only reaffirmed that there is no other option The Israel-Hamas […]
Iran Can Be Belligerent, But It Doesn’t Help to Confront It Constantly
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 16 January 2024 (IDN) — Of all the present foes of America, it is Iran, which has consistently been, over time, the number one. Since its Islamic Revolution in 1979 that overthrew the secular-minded Shah and supplanted him with a militant, sometimes warlike, Islamic theocracy, it has been America’s […]
Is a “Muscular” India Alienating Neighbours?
Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne SINGAPORE | 16 January 2024 (IDN) — After returning from a week-long trip to China on January 14, the new Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu told journalists in Male: “We may be small, but that doesn’t give you the licence to bully us”. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he […]
EU Enters Political Partnership with 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific States
By P.I Gomes The writer is a Former Cooperative Republic of Guyana Ambassador to the European Union and ACP Group of States, Brussels (2005 -2015) and Secretary-General of the ACP Group of States (2015-2020). PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad & Tobago | 15 January 2024 (IDN) — On 15 November 2023 in Apia, the capital of […]
North Korea: Short on Food but Arms Aplenty
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 14 January 2024 (IDN) — North Korea, which has long suffered a shortage of food and medicine, has made relatively fast progress in cranking out ballistic missiles and emerging as an arms supplier to one of the world’s major nuclear powers: Russia. A joint statement issued on January 10 by […]