By Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury DHAKA | 17 December 2023 (IDN) — Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina emerges as a beacon of fortitude, foresight, and resolute determination in the intricate tapestry of global leadership. Her tenure as the longest-serving female Prime Minister in any Muslim nation embodies her endurance and profound impact on Bangladesh’s transformation […]
The Suicidal Fallout of a Nuclear Attack in the Middle East
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 16 December 2023 (IDN) — When a junior minister proposed dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza as “one way of dealing with the threat of Hamas”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instantly shot down the proposal and took the unusual step of suspending the politically far-right minister. Netanyahu’s swift […]
Iran Deal Off the Table as Nuclear Tensions Rise
By Kelsey Davenport The writer is the director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association (ACA). This article first appeared in ‘Arms Control Now’ of the ACA and is being reproduced with their permission. WASHINGTON, D.C. | 14 December 2023 (IDN) — A top U.S. official said that restoring the 2015 nuclear deal with […]
COP28: Little to Celebrate, More to Lament
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 13 December 2023 (IDN) — When the much-ballyhooed climate change “conference of parties” —COP28—concluded on December 12 in the bustling Emirati city of Dubai, it reflected an old Greek proverb: the mountain that laboured to produce a mouse. The London-based Nafkote Dabi, Climate Change Policy Lead at Oxfam International, […]
Exposing the Emerging Orientalist Narrative of Peace and Security for Afghanistan — Part II
By Bashir Mobasher and Zakira Rasooli* Toda Peace Institute issued this article, which is being republished with their permission. INDIANA, USA | DOHAN, Qatar | 12 December 2023 (IDN) — Edward Said defines Orientalism as a series of representations of the ‘East,’ in the form of ‘knowledge’ (and beyond), which does not reflect the intrinsic […]
Exposing the Emerging Orientalist Narrative of Peace and Security for Afghanistan — Part I
By Bashir Mobasher and Zakira Rasooli* Toda Peace Institute issued this article, which is being republished with their permission. INDIANA, USA | DOHAN, Qatar | 11 December 2023 (IDN) — In July 2023, Tobias Ellwood, a UK parliamentarian and former Government Minister in the Ministry of Defense, released a video of himself stating that “security […]
The Future of Human Civilization Is at Stake
By Franz Baumann This article was issued by Meer and is being republished with the author’s permission. NEW YORK | 11 December 2023 (IDN) — A Freudian Slip is a revealing blunder: saying what one really thinks rather than what is expected, polite, or politically correct. A textbook example is Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber’s claim, […]
COP29 Will Explore the Negatives of Eating Meat
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 10 December 2023 (IDN) — As the Dubai conference on climate winds up, some difficult issues may remain on the table for future debates—namely fossil fuel controversies and geopolitical tensions. The central debate among countries is whether to “phase out” or “phase down” fossil fuels. Despite […]
Myanmar’s Civil War Blowing Up India’s Act East Policy
Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne SINGAPORE | 9 December 2023 (IDN) — After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, India has accelerated its ‘Act East Policy’ (AEP) to link more closely with its Southeast Asian neighbours to consolidate its geo-political power through trade and infrastructure development that reflects China’s Belt and Road […]
US Stands Alone—and Isolated—in its Support for Israel at the UN
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 9 December 2023 (IDN) — The US veto against a Security Council resolution for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza was highly predictable. Like the longstanding pro-Israeli foreign policy of successive US administrations, President Joe Biden said last week that he “stands with Israel—right or wrong—prompting one Middle Eastern diplomat […]