By Radwan Jakeem NEW YORK (IDN) — Disarmament advocates working within the Global Council of the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons have called on the five Nuclear-Weapon States Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to follow up the affirmation made by them in their Joint Statement of January 3, 2022, that […]
Kazakhstan Might Turn Out to Be Russia’s Next Ukraine
Viewpoint by James M. Dorsey* SINGAPORE (IDN) – With Russian troops massing on Ukraine’s borders, it’s not only Ukrainians who worry about what President Vladimir Putin may have in store for them. It’s Kazakhs too. For now, Kazakhs don’t have to be immediately concerned about Russian troop movements. What unsettles them is years of Russian […]
Three African Countries Lose U.S. Trade Benefits Over Rights Violations
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — The Biden administration has cracked down on three African countries accused of serious rights violations, expelling them from AGOA, a duty-free trade program worth millions in benefits. The three countries—Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea—had been warned in November of the threatened action which affects imports and […]
Review Conference on Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Stalled due to Rising COVID-19 Infections
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN)— The United Nations, which has been brought to a virtual standstill because of an upsurge in coronavirus infections in New York City, has been forced to postpone a long-awaited 10th review conference (REVCON) of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), scheduled to take place 4-28 January. Diane Barnes, NGO Liaison […]
Stockholm Initiative Determined to Achieve the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | STOCKHOLM (IDN) — The 16-nation Stockholm Initiative for Nuclear Disarmament has urged the upcoming Tenth Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) from January 4-28, 2022, “to demonstrate political leadership, honour commitments and achievements made under the Treaty, and set ourselves on a decisive path towards a world free […]
Collective Sanctions Isolating Mali in the Sahel Sahara as Russia Rides the Wave of Anticolonialism
By Kester Kenn Klomegah* MOSCOW I BAMAKO (IDN) — The Republic of Mali, a landlocked West African state with an impoverished population, faces increasing isolation from the international community over the political power grab. Even as the African Union (AU), the continental organization, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the regional bloc, […]
India’s Marriage of Convenience with Myanmar
By Niranjan Marjani The writer is an independent researcher and columnist based in Vadodara (formerly Baroda), India. VADODARA, India (IDN) — The November 13 attack on an Assam Rifles convoy by two Manipur insurgent groups—the People’s Liberation Army and Manipur Naga People’s Front—in Churachandpur district of Manipur has the potential to further destabilise Northeast India. […]
Russia Studying the Impact of a New Edition of US Triangular Diplomacy
By Kester Kenn Klomegah* MOSCOW (IDN) — Russian policy experts and academic researchers have been upbeat with heated reactions, especially in the local media on the current state of affairs between the United States, Europe and Russia, and the prospects of moving forward. The focus has been on the key questions dealing with the North […]
Russia Extending its Sphere of Influence in Africa’s Sahel
By Kester Kenn Klomegah* MOSCOW (IDN) — With renewed and full-fledged interest to uproot French domination, Russia has ultimately begun making inroads into the Sahel region, an elongated landlocked territory located between North Africa (Maghreb) and West Africa, and also stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. While it remains largely underdeveloped and […]
Indo-Lanka Ties Back on the Rails
By Sugeeswara Senadhira* COLOMBO (IDN) — Following the recent visit to Delhi by Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, a four-point package agreed to with India to help overcome the island nation’s current economic problems, has put the traditionally close relations between the two South Asian neighbours back on rails. India acceded to Sri Lanka’s […]