By Dr. Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 23 January 2024 (IDN) — Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti, who needs to maintain public calm, should not casually talk about a potential war against Serbia. This only heightens internal tension in Kosovo when there is no reason to assume that war will break out A couple of […]
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. […]
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 […]
How the US Has Darkened the Nuclear Cloud Over Humanity
By Norman Solomon* This article was originally published by The Nation. SAN FRANCISCO | 6 December 2023 (IDN) — Forty years ago, across a dozen pages of The Nation magazine, I was in a debate with the English historian E. P. Thompson about the US-Soviet nuclear arms race, the relative culpability of both governments and […]
Ukraine War: A Steppingstone to Something Worse and More All-embracing?
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 29 November 2023 (IDN) — Trotsky, the one-time close comrade of Lenin, reportedly said, “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you”. In a time when there is talk of using nuclear weapons, we should pause to think about this. This is how it […]
Russia, Not Just Putin, Is in A Very Assertive Mood
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 22 November 2023 (IDN) — President Vladimir Putin is often painted as an ogre in the world’s media. The seemingly eternal president of Russia has an iron grip on his nation and a foreign policy to match. Yet a large majority of Russians give him their support. Is it […]
Nuclear Tensions Loom Over War Zones
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 9 November 2023 (IDN) — The two ongoing military conflicts in Europe and the Middle East are pitting two nuclear powers—Russia and Israel—against a non-nuclear state (Ukraine) and a non-nuclear militant armed force (Hamas). The military might is overwhelmingly in favor of both Russia and Israel in the two […]
A Russian Region is an Alternative to Jewish Settlements in Palestine
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 7 November 2023 (IDN) — Could this century-long upheaval between Israel and the Palestinians have been avoided? There were alternative places for the Jews to create their own state—some in the Jewish leadership in the early years of the last century thought Uganda and Argentina were possibilities. At that […]
Russia’s Decision to Revoke Ratification of CTBT Comes Under Fire
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 1 November 2023 (IDN) — A decision by the Russian parliament to pass a bill on 18 October to revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) has come under heavy fire. Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he was “dismayed” by the Duma’s decision to revoke […]
NATO Secretary General Will Tell You Who Started the Ukraine War
By Benjamin Abelow* MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY, USA | 15 October 2023 (IDN | Independent Media Institute) — There are two competing narratives about the origins of the Ukraine War. According to one narrative, Vladimir Putin is a Hitler-like aggressor. He wants to reestablish the Soviet empire by swallowing Ukraine and threatening the Baltic countries, Poland, […]