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 […]
Does It Make Sense to Invest Efforts in Reviving OSCE?
By Somar Wijayadasa* NEW YORK | 6 December 2023 (IDN) — With 57 participating States from North America, Europe and Asia (from Vancouver to Vladivostok), the OSCE—the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian—is the world’s largest regional security organization. Soon, it will be the fiftieth anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act of […]
Faith-based Organizations Warn Nuclear Arms as Worst of all Evils
By Razeena Raheem UNITED NATIONS | 1 December 2023 (IDN) — As the weeklong Second Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons concluded on December 1, a joint statement by a coalition of 115 faith-based and civil society organizations warned of the double violence of climate catastrophe and rampant […]
Ukraine War: A Steppingstone to Something Worse and More All-embracing?
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 29 November 2023 (IDN) — Trotsky, the one-time close comrade of Lenin, reportedly said, “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you”. In a time when there is talk of using nuclear weapons, we should pause to think about this. This is how it […]
A new Global Age of Peace and Sustainable Development
By Jeffrey D. Sachs Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs testifies to the UN Security Council Session on “Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Sustaining Peace through Common Development” in New York on 20 November. UNITED NATIONS | 21 November 2023 (IDN) — In my testimony I will refer to four (wars): the Ukraine War, which started […]
Liberian President George Weah ‘Knocked Out’ in Close Race
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | MONROVIA | 20 November 2023 (IDN) — “I stand before you tonight with a grateful heart and with the utmost respect for the democratic process that has defined our nation.” With those words, star athlete and Liberian President George Manneh Weah began his concession speech, ending […]
Weakness of Europe’s Soft-power is Shameful — Denial of the Call for a Ceasefire
By P.I. Gomes* PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad & Tobago | 19 November 2023 (IDN) — The Israeli brutal bombardment continues into a second month by an unprecedented violation of international humanitarian law. Some 12,000 persons have been killed, that include more than 4000 babies, infants and children. This slaughter of innocent women and children with […]
Gaza Genocide? UN Chief Says International Court Has to Decide
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 17 November 2023 (IDN) — Are the killings of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza an act of genocide or “genocide in the making”? According to a legal definition, genocide includes violent attacks with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious […]
A Framework for Peace in Israel and Palestine
By Jeffrey D. Sachs* This article was published in Common Dreams and OtherNews and is being republished with the author’s permission. NEW YORK | 17 November 2023 (IDN) — It is urgent to free the hostages in Gaza; stop the bloodshed in Israel and Palestine; establish lasting security for both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples; […]
Security Council Vote Fails to Call for a Cease-fire in Gaza
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 15 November 2023 (IDN) — The 15-member Security Council, described as the most powerful body in the United Nations, has remained paralyzed because of a new “cold war” between the five veto-wielding permanent members. The sharp political division—with China and Russia on one side and the US, UK and […]