News briefs compiled by Suresh Jaura* TORONTO | NEW DELHI (IDN) – These news briefs deal with: the unstable situation in Afghanistan; Pakistan’s continued support for the Taliban; the deployment of military tracking technology to hunt COVID-19 patients; continued India-Pak tension on the alleged role of Islamabad in terror attacks in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir; […]
Kazakhstan Concludes One Year of Transition With President Tokayev
Viewpoint by Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (IDN) – On June 12, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev completed the first year of his term as President of Kazakhstan, traversing a road to multifarious reforms at home, reflecting the maturity and stable political transition in Central Asia’s biggest nation-state. At the same time, he has been strengthening bilateral […]
Caribbean Leaders Urge Global Response to COVID Pandemic
Call for Addressing Inequality, Unsustainable Debt and Socio-Economic Disparities By Reinhard Jacobsen BRUSSELS | NAIROBI (IDN) – Caribbean leaders have joined the United Nations in calling for solidarity and increased funding, as some of the world’s most vulnerable countries scale up their efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. At a virtual summit in Kenya’s capital […]
Leaders and Media Respond to Police Killing of Shackled Black Man
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – The murder of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis yanked from his car, shackled and suffocated to death by a police officer aided by at least three other officers, was front-page news in most of the major newspapers in the U.S. It was also […]
The Future of Arms Control Hangs in the Balance After US Quits Open Skies Treaty
By Kester Kenn Klomegah MOSCOW (IDN) – President Donald Trump’s surprise decision to withdraw from the 1992 Open Skies Treaty has posed unprecedented challenges, generated extensive debates among Russian politicians and experts. Equally worried are leaders in Europe and Asia. Trump administration notified international partners on May 21 that the US was pulling out of […]
Eminent Chomsky Says Trump a ‘Sociopathic Megalomaniac’
By Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams PORTLAND, USA (IDN) – World-renowned intellectual and author Noam Chomsky called U.S. President Donald Trump a “sociopathic megalomaniac” whose leadership drove the U.S. to become “singularly unprepared” for the coronavirus pandemic. Chomsky’s fresh criticism of the president came in an interview with Agence France-Presse published May 25. “The White House,” […]
‘Abolition 2000’ Warns Against Resumption of Nuclear Testing
By Radwan Jakeem NEW YORK (IDN) – “Resumption of nuclear explosive testing is absolutely unacceptable. Even discussing nuclear testing again is dangerously destabilizing,” the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons has warned. Such testing would, in any case, be in contravention of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBTO), signed by the United States, […]
Examining the Unravelling of Mexico’s National Petroleum Company Pemex
Viewpoint by Bill Dahl The writer is a former Senior Vice President for Bank of America in Los Angeles, CA. He currently resides in Queretaro, MX. His insightful analysis of global economic affairs have been published widely. He is a contributing columnist for Mexico News Daily, IDN-InDepthNews and Wall Street International Magazine. REDMOND, Oregon, USA […]
US Seeks Iran Arms Embargo Extension Riling Europe
By Kelsey Davenport and Julia Masterson While Julia Masterson is research assistant, Kelsey Davenport is director for nonproliferation policy at Arms Control Association. The Association’s website published this analysis on May 15. WASHINGTON (IDN) – The United States is considering a range of options to prevent the October 2020 expiration of a UN embargo that […]
Global Civil Society Demands Bolder Action from NPT States Parties
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) – A diverse network of national and international peace and nuclear disarmament non-governmental organisations has in a joint statement urged government leaders, particularly from the nuclear-armed states and their allies, to act with greater urgency and cooperation to meet unfulfilled promises to reduce nuclear risks and advance progress on disarmament, […]