Category: USA and Canada

Viewpoint by Michele Nobile* This is the fourth of a five-part article looking at US foreign policy in historical context and its global implications under President Donald Trump. BERGAMO, Italy (IDN) – All US administrations between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have experienced considerable fluctuations, both in the face of development of their actions and […]

Viewpoint by Michele Nobile* This is the third of a five-part article looking at US foreign policy in historical context and its global implications under President Donald Trump. BERGAMO, Italy (IDN) – The development of capitalism is global but structurally unequal: its contradictions are also expressed through the hierarchy of the system of States. And, […]

Viewpoint by Michele Nobile* This is the first of a five-part article looking at US foreign policy in historical context and its global implications under President Donald Trump. BERGAMO, Italy (IDN) – During a speech on foreign policy in April 2016, US President Donald Trump thundered: “We are totally predictable. We tell everything. We’re sending […]

By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA (IDN) – Almost half of global investment stock is either located in the United States or owned by American multinationals abroad. The United States ‘Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’, adopted in December 2017, will therefore significantly affect both investment into the U.S. and the investment positions of U.S. firms abroad, according […]

By J C Suresh TORONTO (IDN) – One day after the European Union reiterated its commitment to support “the full and effective implementation of the agreement” with Iran, the Trump Administration announced on January 12 that it will continue to waive sanctions on the Islamic Republic in accordance with U.S. commitments under the 2015 nuclear […]

By Daryl G. Kimball Daryl G. Kimball is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. This article first appeared with the caption ‘Trump’s More Dangerous Nuclear Posture’. WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – Just one year ago, Vice President Joe Biden delivered an address touting the progress achieved during the Obama years to reduce the salience and […]

By J C Suresh TORONTO (IDN) – More than one in every eight Americans, numbering 40 million, equal to 12.7 % of the population, are living in poverty, and almost half of those – 18.5 million – in abysmal poverty, according to a new report. Though the United States is one of the world’s richest, […]

By Jaya Ramachandran BRUSSELS (IDN) – Against the backdrop of growing estrangement between the European Union (EU) and the United States with Donald Trump at the helm of affairs, 23 member states of the European Union (EU) signed up on November 13 for the permanent structured cooperation (PESCO) on defence. In spite of persisting differences, […]

By Alice Slater* NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – NATO’s recent provocative decision to build up its military forces across Europe by sending four new multinational battalions to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland, comes at a time of great turmoil and intense questioning of global security with new forces for both good and evil straining to make […]

By J C Suresh

TORONTO | WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) – A new study throws limelight on the skyrocketing costs of the current plan to sustain and upgrade U.S. nuclear forces and outlines several pragmatic options to maintain a credible, formidable deterrent at less cost.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study published on October 31 estimates that sustaining and upgrading U.S. nuclear forces will cost taxpayers $1.24 trillion in inflation-adjusted dollars between fiscal years 2017 and 2046. When the effects of inflation are included, the CBO expects the 30-year cost to exceed $1.5 trillion. These figures are significantly higher than the previously reported estimates of roughly $1 trillion.