BRUSSELS | 27 October 2023 (IDN) — UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Dr. Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, has expressed “great concern” that almost a year after the signature of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), “Eritrean families continue to […]
The New EU List of Tax Havens: Much Ado About Nothing
By Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS | 25 October 2023 (IDN) — The European Finance Ministers recently revised the European list of tax havens. They added Antigua, Barbuda, Belize and Seychelles to the blacklist and removed the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Cayman Islands and the Marshall Islands. The list includes Russia, Panama, and other […]
Schengen Is Extinct Because the EU Border Is Rather Porous
By Aurora Weiss VIENNA | 25 October 2023 (IDN) — Slovenians claim that the entry of the Republic of Croatia into Schengen* resulted in a record number of illegal migrants. Since the beginning of 2023, 40,000 illicit entries have been registered from the Croatian side. But the actual numbers are believed to be much higher. […]
Look Again at That Dot—That is us
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 24 October 2023 (IDN) — “Suppose aliens existed and that some had been watching our planet for its entire forty-five million centuries; what would they have seen? Over most of that vast timespan, Earth’s appearance altered very gradually. Continents drifted; ice-cover waxed and waned; successive species emerged, evolved, and […]
US Likely to Persist with Renewed Pacific Role Despite Island Nations’ Doubts
Viewpoint by Shailendra Bahadur Singh* SUVA, Fiji | 23 October 2023 (IDN) — Pacific Island nations have been skeptical about the recent revival in U.S. interest in the region. Despite those misgivings, likely, Washington is back for the long haul. China’s rise to a major economy—second only to the United States—is reshaping the world, notwithstanding […]
A Milestone in the History of Nuclear Diplomacy
70th Anniversary of President Eisenhower’s Speech on “Atoms for Peace” By Leonam dos Santos Guimarâes *The writer is a Nuclear and naval engineer (PhD) member of the Brazilian National Academy of Engineering. CEO of Eletronuclear S.A. Coordinator, Brazilian Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program. RIO DE JANEIRO | 23 October 2023 (IDN) — On 8 December 1953, […]
Caribbean SIDS Set Key Priorities for UN Climate Conference
By Linda Hutchinson-Jafar PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad | 20 October 2023 (IDN) — In the lead-up to the 28th UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, Caribbean leaders representing Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have revealed their critical priorities, which emphasized the immediate necessity for climate action and the crucial support from developed nations. These priorities […]
Analysis: Israel’s Hefty Military Might Heavily Reinforced by US Weapons
By Thalif Deen* UNITED NATIONS | 18 October 2023 (IDN) —The ongoing battle between Israel and Hamas is overwhelmingly one-sided—the most powerful military in the Middle East, armed with some of most sophisticated and state-of-the-art American weapons systems vs a ragtag guerrilla force armed largely with shoulder-borne rocket launchers, mortars, drones and small arms. Adding […]
Why the Ugly American?
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 17 October 2023 (IDN) — American foreign policymakers often wonder aloud why much of the world has such an anti-American reflex. Why the “Ugly American”? Graham Greene would never have written a novel entitled “Ugly Russian” or even “Ugly German”. Not just Iran considers the US the “Great Satan.” […]
New Museum Head Concerned About Human Remains Taken from Graves
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 16 October 2023 (IDN) — Sean M. Decatur, recently appointed to head the American Museum of Natural History, is well aware of the obstacles that could await him in his new job. It’s clear from an essay he wrote for the Chronicle of Higher Education titled […]