By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 5 April 2024 (IDN) — The United Nations has continued a longstanding campaign against female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriages, both still prevalent, mostly in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. According to the UN children’s agency UNICEF, FGM refers to “all procedures involving partial or total removal […]
Latest Huge Transfer of 2,000-Pound Bombs from US to Israel Not Newsworthy to the Times
By Norman Solomon* SAN FRANCISCO | 3 April 2024 (IDN) — When the Washington Post revealed Friday afternoon that “the Biden administration in recent days quietly authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel,” a lot of people cared. Readers of the story posted more than 10,000 comments on […]
US Downhill All the Way in The Middle East
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 2 April 2024 (IDN) — The Middle East is going to hell in a handbasket. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the principle living architect of the repression that has long preceded the war in Gaza. There is now effectively only one state in the old Palestine, yet most […]
No China Railway as Marcos Tilts Towards the US
By Kalinga Seneviratne DAVAO, Philippines | 22 March 2023 (IDN)—After being elected to the presidency in a landslide vote in June 2016, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte visited China in October and declared that his country was realigning its foreign policy to move closer to China. He was accompanied by 400 Filipino business executives and returned […]
US Should Create a Strategic Alliance to Stop Iran in Its Tracks
By Dr Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 21 March 2024 (IDN) — Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, the US has not developed a long-term strategy toward Iran but instead has made tactical moves to deal with the various conflicting issues with Tehran as they arose. Conversely, from the time the clergy assumed power, Iran […]
US Military ‘No Longer Justified’ In Niger, Junta Leaders Say
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 19 March 2024 (IDN) — The West African nation of Niger has suspended military cooperation with Washington after high-level talks to break recent tensions between the two parties collapsed. Speaking for Niger’s military junta, Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane announced on state TV that the U.S. military […]
Ukraine War: European Union May Risk Its Political Future
By Michael von der Schulenburg, Hans-Joachim Funke* BERLIN | 19 March 2024 (IDN) — The deteriorating military situation in Ukraine and the United States’ increasing withdrawal from this war created a situation in which the EU is now pushed to the forefront in dealing with this problem. Probably for the first time since the end […]
The Origin of COVID-19 and US Responsibility
By Jeffrey D. Sachs* This article was published in Common Dreams and is being republished with the author’s permission. A US-funded laboratory origin of COVID-19 would constitute the most significant case of governmental gross negligence in history. The people of the world deserve transparency and factual answers to vital questions. NEW YORK | 18 March […]
Biden’s Balancing Act: Israel’s National Security vs The Palestinians’ Humanitarian Crisis
By Dr Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 15 March 2024 (IDN) — In recent weeks, the Biden administration has found itself facing a serious dilemma as to how to balance its commitment to Israel’s national security along with the humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinians in Gaza. Whereas the United States provides military aid to Israel, […]
Are We Stumbling into World War III in Ukraine?
By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK | 13 March 2024 (IDN) — President Biden began his State of the Union speech with an impassioned warning that failing to pass his 61 billion dollar weapons package for Ukraine “will put Ukraine at risk, Europe at risk, the free world at risk.” But […]