Viewpoint by Dan Steinbock The writer is the Founder of the Difference Group. The following are extensive excerpts from the article, originally published by China-US Focus on December 16, 2022. NEW YORK (IDN) — In a recent Foreign Affairs commentary, Mohamed A. El-Erian warned that we are not facing just extraordinarily challenging business-cycle fluctuations but […]
Why Not Use Money Power to Wind Back Military Spending?
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The U.S. is not the only well-built actor on the Western stage. Some argue, quite understandably after the missed opportunities and mistaken steps of recent decades, that there is a lot to be said for trying to ignore the U.S. as much as possible or, at least, […]
UNCTAD: This Time is Indifferent
Viewpoint by Alexander Kozul-Wright* The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) hosted its biennial debt management conference on December 5-7. The forum brought together governments, international organizations and academia to share views on the current debt landscape in developing countries. LONDON (IDN) — Covid-19 shuddered the world economy to a halt, and the […]
Strategic Dilemma: Germany in Search of an Effective China Strategy
Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission. BONN (IDN) — German-Chinese relations are currently being reassessed in Germany. This is the result of a longer development that also took place in the EU. The shock of Germany’s dependence on Russian gas, coal […]
Sky Shield & the Spiraling U.S.-NATO Arms Race
Viewpoint by Joseph Gerson The writer is President of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security and Co-Convener of the Peace & Planet International Network. NEW YORK (IDN) — The Biden Administration’s recent National Security Strategy announced that the post-Cold War order is now history, and that the yet to be named new era […]
President Biden Wants to Prevent a Strong Primary Challenge
But He Shouldn’t Get Away with It Viewpoint by Norman Solomon* SAN FRANCISCO (IDN) — Joe Biden has directed the Democratic National Committee to reduce the danger that progressives might effectively challenge him in the 2024 presidential primaries. That’s a key goal of his instructions to the DNC on December 2, when Biden insisted on […]
Washington Should Offer Iran a Nuclear Deal It Cannot Decline
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The policies of Iran’s government are not set in stone, as critics interminably suggest. Only three days ago (on December 4), Iran’s prosecutor-general was reported as saying that the morality police were being disbanded. Clearly, two months of demonstrations, led mainly by women, and now with open […]
Sanctions Hit Russia as Moscow Attempts to Overcome Them
Viewpoint by John P. Ruehl This article was produced by Globetrotter. John P. Ruehl is an Australian-American journalist living in Washington, D.C. He is a contributing editor to Strategic Policy and a contributor to several other foreign affairs publications. He is currently finishing a book on Russia to be published in 2022. WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) […]
Nuclear Risks and Technological Proliferation
Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte The writer is a former High Representative of the United Nations for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. NEW YORK (IDN) — 60 years after the Cuban missile crisis, the spectre of the imminent use of nuclear weapons once again haunts humankind. On that […]
Sri Lanka’s Economic Recovery? False Positive
By Neville de Silva* This article was issued by Asian Affairs (London). LONDON (IDN) — The sense of economic optimism expressed by Sri Lanka’s increasingly despotic president is not shared by the country’s long-suffering people. Presenting his first budget since assuming office as president after his predecessor fled the country, Ranil Wickremesinghe seemed to see […]