By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 13 December 2023 (IDN) — By 1914 Europeans ruled 84% of the globe. How did they do it? Eleven hundred years ago, Europe was a backwater. There were no grand cities, apart from Muslim Cordoba in Spain, and the remnants of Rome and Athens. The Middle East, India and […]
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 […]
Gaza War: A Moment of Honor for the UN and Shame for the US
By Jeffrey D. Sachs* This article was published in Common Dreams and is being republished with the author’s permission. NEW YORK | 12 December 2023 (IDN) — The nearly unanimous vote in the UN Security Council on Friday (8 December) calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza is a moment of honor for the United Nations […]
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, […]
Nigeria: Tudun Biri A Dark Spot in The Military’s Campaign Against Terror
By Kola King* LAGOS, Nigeria | 9 December 2023 (IDN) — Outrage, anger and shock have greeted the killing of 85 persons including women and children in Tudun Biri, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State by Army drone strikes targeting suspected terrorists, but which accidentally hit innocent persons celebrating Maulud, the birth of Prophet […]
What Kind of World Do We Want to Live In?
By Michael von der Schulenburg* This article is based on a speech at the “Never Again War — lay down your arms” rally in front of Berlin’s historic Brandenburg Gate on 25 November 2023. BERLIN | 8 December 2023 (IDN) — Today, we live in a world that is increasingly caught in the stranglehold of […]
Political Upheaval Haunts Bangladesh Ahead of January Polls
By M. A. Hossain* DHAKA, Bangladesh | 7 December 2023 (IDN) — The political milieu in Bangladesh has been fraught with tension, climaxing in weeks of protests and violent clashes, casting a shadow of apprehension as the scheduled general election on 7 January 2024 approaches. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), reinvigorated as the main opposition […]
COP28’s Delinquent Emitter: The US Military-Industrial Complex
By Mirabai Venkatesh* OAKLAND, California | 7 December 2023 (IDN) — As the world watches COP28 in Dubai amidst an accelerating climate crisis, a critical blind spot in global climate agreements remains. Despite being the world’s largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gases, the US military is completely exempt from international reporting obligations, significantly undermining global […]
Israel-Hamas War: A Two-State Solution Is Indispensable
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 7 December 2023 (IDN) — Unless Israel establishes an endgame strategy that will lead to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war against Hamas will only be another brutal violent episode that will prepare the ground for the next conflagration engulfing the West Bank and potentially set […]