By Dr Palitha Kohona (Former) Ambassador of Sri Lanka to China and (former) Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, COLOMBO | 25 May 2024 (IDN) — Sri Lanka celebrated the Vesak day 2024 last week with much pomp and ceremony in historic Matale where the Buddha’s teachings were first formally […]
The Automated Fortress Europe: No Place For Human Rights
By Fabio Chiusi* The writer is a Research Associate at the AlgorithmWatch NGO TURIN, Italy | 24 May 2024 (IDN) — 29,000 people have died in the Mediterranean over the past ten years while trying to reach the EU. You would think that the EU wanted this tragedy to stop and scientists across Europe were […]
US Rejects ICC on Afghan War Crimes but Seeks Its Support Against Russia
By Mohammad Ali Salih* LONDON | 23 May 2024 (IDN) — The Americans’ deep anger, official and popular, because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has been leading to: first, decisions to send heavy arms to Ukraine to liberate “every inch’ of its territory; second, increasing sanctions on Russia to make it “suffer forever;” and, […]
ICC Faces Controversies and Allegations of Hypocrisy
By Tajul Islam* DHAKA, Bangladesh | 22 May 2024 (IDN) —The International Criminal Court (ICC) and its chief prosecutor Karim Khan, a Pakistani-British member of the Ahmadiyya community, with deep-rooted connections with Buckingham Palace and UK’s intelligence establishments are hitting headlines in international media in recent days. Criticising ICC, in a recent statement on his […]
How Big Money Finances Indian Politics
By Swagato Sarkar, O.P. Jindal Global University, India in Sonipat* NEW DELHI | 22 May 2024 (IDN) — The business elite funds political parties and elections in return for economic favours or for securing favourable policies for their industry Many years ago in West Bengal, I encountered school-age boys playing Carrom or cricket all day. […]
Europeans Should Part from the US Solitary Foreign Policy
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 21 May 2024 (IDN) — The greatest American foreign affairs columnist since Walter Lippmann was William Pfaff of The International Herald Tribune. He wrote in his path-breaking book, “Barbarian Sentiments”, that the US political atmosphere was full of “exhausted ideas, like a dead star”. Nevertheless, “these ideas remain central […]
The Dead End of Liberal American Zionism
By Abba A. Solomon and Norman Solomon* SAN FRANCISCO | 20 May 2024 (IDN) — In 2014, we wrote an article titled “The Blind Alley of J Street and Liberal American Zionism.” At the time, Benjamin Netanyahu was in his sixth continuous year as Israel’s prime minister, while President Obama was well into his second […]
The Quad, Maritime Security, and Climate Change
By Robert Mizo* This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission. NEW DELHI | 20 May 2024 (IDN) — The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, colloquially known as the Quad, was re-initiated in 2017 after almost a decade-long hiatus. The members of the informal minilateral—Australia, Japan, India, and the […]
Ukraine War Costs the West More Than Two Trillion Dollars
By Nik Martin* BERLIN | 19 May 2024 (IDN) — Governments face increased borrowing, taxes and public sector cuts to finance their soaring military budgets. European NATO members are set to spend a record $380 billion on defence this year—a tough sell to voters. If you want a reminder of the security threats faced by […]
Massachusetts University Arrests: What Would Daniel Ellsberg Do?
By Christian Appy* AMHERST, Massachusetts, USA | 18 May 2024 (IDN) — I have been a history professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst for twenty years. On 7 May, I was one of a handful of faculty members arrested for standing in support of hundreds of students who were engaged in non-violent protest of […]