By Arul Louis UNITED NATIONS | 23 December 2023 (IDN) — While in the outgoing year, attention was focused on the world organisation’s paralysis in Ukraine and Israel, the UN was forced to retreat from other countries riven by deadly conflicts in a stark display of its limitations. Unlike Ukraine and Israel, these were countries […]
Unlike Conformist Media, Noam Chomsky Has Exposed Realities of Power
By Norman Solomon SAN FRANCISCO | 13 December 2023 (IDN) — One of the rare times that Noam Chomsky’s name has been mentioned on a big national NPR program came two months ago. On “Weekend Edition” in mid-October, a week into Israel’s murderous assault on civilians in Gaza, a correspondent reported while visiting a bookstore […]
Why Europe Came Out on Top
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 […]
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 […]
Africa: Instability Slows Down Progress in Sustainable Development
By Jeffrey Moyo HARARE, Zimbabwe | 10 December 2023 (IDN) — For almost two years, Zimbabwe’s opposition politician, Job Sikhala, has remained jailed without conviction after he was arrested in 2021, facing charges of inciting public violence. Another opposition leader, Jacob Ngarivhume, was jailed in April this year for four years on similar charges as […]
Myanmar’s Civil War Blowing Up India’s Act East Policy
Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne SINGAPORE | 9 December 2023 (IDN) — After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, India has accelerated its ‘Act East Policy’ (AEP) to link more closely with its Southeast Asian neighbours to consolidate its geo-political power through trade and infrastructure development that reflects China’s Belt and Road […]
US Vetoes UN Resolution as Gaza Faces a Catastrophic Situation
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | 8 December 2023 (IDN) — As intense Israeli bombardment of Gaza and fighting with Palestinian armed groups continued to impede humanitarian aid operations, reports on the ground of children begging for water and people cutting down telephone poles for firewood indicated that “society is about to break down”, the […]
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 […]