By Satyarupa Shekhar and Om Prakash Singh* NEW DELHI | 14 December 2024 (IDN) — With the intergovernmental negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty now over, it is opportune to discuss India’s approach to plastic pollution. The single-use plastic ban (SUP ban) by the Indian government came into effect from 1 July 2022. What the country needed […]
The First Element of a North Korean Nuclear Proliferation Network
By Robert Kelley* VIENNA | 13 December 2024 (IDN) — On the night of 6 September 2007 Israeli jets bombed a building in Northen Syria. The building was alleged to be a nuclear reactor under construction to support a nuclear weapons program. The reactor was reported to be a copy of the small plutonium production […]
Syria: They Made a Desert, And Called It Peace
By Jeffrey D. Sachs* This article was published in Common Dreams and is being republished with the author’s permission. NEW YORK | 12 December 2024 (IDN) — In the famous lines of Tacitus, Roman historian, “To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call […]
UN Expects 305 million People to Seek Life Saving Help in 2025
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA | 11 December 2024 (IDN) — A record number of armed conflicts and increased frequency and severity of climate-induced disasters are set to force a staggering 305 million people seek “urgent humanitarian assistance and protection” in 2025. 190 million of them will be facing “life-threatening” needs. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) […]
Colombia: Women-Led Fish Farming Is Offering an Alternative to Drug Crops
By Iñigo Alexander* BOGOTÁ, Colombia | 11 December 2024 (IDN) — The Amazon rainforest in southern Colombia stretches lush and green across the horizon, but beneath its dense canopy lies a shifting reality. The southern province of Putumayo—a remote region bordering Ecuador, at the edge of the country’s Amazon—has long been dominated by coca plantations […]
Sandbagging Trump: Obstacles to a Ukraine Settlement
Manages to Insult Trump After Meeting (After Demanding the Meeting!) By Stephen Bryen* This article was issued by Weapons and Strategy and is being republished with their permission. WASHINGTON, D.C. | 10 December 2024 (IDN) — President Donald Trump reluctantly met with Volodymyr Zelensky and Emanuel Macron in Paris to discuss the way forward in Ukraine. […]
China Completes 3,000-Kilometre Desert Green Belt
By Niu Yuhan* LONDON | 10 December 2024 (IDN) — Workers have planted the final 100 metres of trees along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert, completing a 3,046-kilometre “green belt” encircling China’s largest desert, according to Xinhua. The Taklamakan Desert, covering an area of 337,600 square kilometres—roughly the size of Finland—is the second-largest […]
Syria is the Big Enchilada
By James E. Jennings* ATLANTA, USA | 9 December 2024 (IDN) — In American slang, “the big enchilada” means something of supreme importance, more than any other item among a slew of alternatives. Historical comparisons over long millennia in the Middle East show that Syria, not Iraq or Palestine, is the keystone of the Fertile […]
Syria: UN Relocates Non-critical Staff — Report Unveils Torture in Detention Centres
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | 8 December 2024 (IDN) — More than 300,000 people have been displaced in northwest Syria in recent days following the sudden and massive offensive into Government-controlled areas led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is sanctioned by the UN Security Council as a terrorist group. According to the United […]
Tanzania President Steps in to Cure Maasai Wounds in Ngorongoro
By Kizito Makoye NGORONGORO, Tanzania | 8 December 2024 (IDN) — On the rolling plains of Ngorongoro, 74-year-old Maria Shauri knelt among a sea of red, blue, and purple shawls, her arms raised in prayer. “God, hear us,” she muttered, her breath visible in the cold air. Each word escaped her lips in a puff […]