By Dr Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 7 December 2024 (IDN) — Trump, who wants an end to the Israeli-Hamas war even before he reassumes the Presidency, must know that denying the Palestinian right to statehood and conceding further Palestinian land in the West Bank and Gaza to Israel is a recipe for the next […]
Berlin Conference: Colonial Legacy Continues 140 Years Later
By Abayomi Azikiwe* From 15 November 1884 until 26 February 1885, the Berlin West Africa Conference was held in Germany where numerous European states convened to carve up the continent based upon their own economic interests. DETROIT, USA | 6 December 2024 (IDN) — Commonly known as the Berlin Conference, the gathering marked the consolidation […]
Volunteerism: The Untapped Force to Help Tackle World’s Problems
By Simone Galimberti International Volunteer Day, commonly known as IVD, is celebrated on 5 December every year. It started as an international observance mandated by the United Nations General Assembly in 1985. It is a day where volunteers are acknowledged, and the spirit of volunteerism is promoted at the local, national and international levels. United […]
Lebanon: Can Diplomacy Rise from the Ruins?
By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK | 4 December 2024 (IDN) — On 26 November, Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement for a 60-day truce, during which Israel and Hezbollah are both supposed to withdraw from the area of Lebanon south of the Litani River. The agreement is based on the […]
Tear Down Those Walls and Fences — Manifestations of Shallow Thinking
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 3 December 2024 (IDN) — At first, I was a bit surprised to find that the English admonition, “Good fences make for good neighbours” exists in many other languages. I shouldn’t have been taken aback. A moment’s reflection should have told me that fences and walls to divide off […]
Africa: Sustained Partnership with Russia in Mutual Interest
By Kester Kenn Klomegah MOSCOW | 2 December 2024 (IDN) — After the first Ministerial Conference on Russia-Africa, Louis Gouend, founder of Hello Africa and founding Executive Director of the African Business Club, noted that instability and security is still fragile across the African continent, but with an innovative and balanced approaches with Russia’s engagement, […]
The BRICS Plan for a New Financial Architecture
By Anuradha Chenoy* This article was published in Economic&Political Weekly (Vol. 59, Issue No. 48, 30 Nov. 2024) and is being republished with the author‘s permission. NEW DELHI | 1 December 2024 (IDN) — The Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) has established itself as a multilateral organisation distinct from others, evident from […]
Sri Lanka: The IMF’s Remarkable Timing and a President’s Mandate for Debt Justice
By Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake* COLOMBO | 30 November 2024 (IDN) — At Annual Meetings in Washington in October, International Monetary Fund head Kristalina Georgieva claimed Sri Lanka as a debt restructuring ‘success’ story.[i] Left unsaid was that Sri Lanka’s external debt had ballooned from $26 billion to a purported whopping $100 billion during two years of […]
Ukraine War: Polls Show Most Ukrainians Now Support a Negotiated Peace
By Stefan Wolff and Tetyana Malyarenko BIRMINGHAM, England | ODESSA, Ukraine (IDN) — The war in Ukraine is at a critical juncture. Kyiv has been given permission to use western-supplied Atacms and Storm Shadow missiles against targets inside Russia. It did so as soon as that permission was granted, with strikes against Russian military facilities […]
Fighting Cybercrime Is No Hack Job
By Abhishek Jain* Governments and businesses need to invest in cybersecurity to combat ever-evolving, sophisticated cybercrimes. GURGAON, India | 29 November 2024 (IDN) — They are going after our drinking water systems. Earlier this year, the US government warned state governors about foreign hackers carrying out disruptive cyberattacks against water and sewage systems. Increasing digitisation […]