By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 20 May 2024 (IDN) — A despairing picture of the Democratic Republic of Congo was recently captured by a group of local bishops who condemned how “the dignity of the Congolese people is being undermined.” “The situation in and around (the capital city of) Goma is […]
Swiss Court Convicts a Former Gambian Minister for Crimes Against Humanity
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 17 May 2024 (IDN) — A former minister of the West African nation of The Gambia has been found guilty of multiple crimes against humanity during the brutal regime of President Yahya Jammeh. The verdict came from the top court of Switzerland whose law recognizes universal […]
Latin America and the Caribbean: Initiative to Empower Young People in Arms Control, Peacebuilding
By Rodney Reynolds NEW YORK | 15 May 24 (IDN) — The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) has launched the first edition of GenerAcción Paz: building dreams, disarming violence (GenerAcción Paz: armando sueños, desarmando la violencia), which aspires to empower young people to create […]
US Declassified Documents Reveal How Concocted Lies Trigger Wars
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 15 May 2024 (IDN) — President Barack Obama once observed, “ISIS [Islamic State] is a direct outgrowth of Al Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion—which is an example of unintended consequences—which is why we should generally aim before we shoot”. Many of us, looking back at […]
U.S. Weapons to Israel are an Arsenal of Genocide
By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK | 14 May 2024 (IDN) — On May 8, 2024, as Israel escalated its brutal assault on Rafah, President Biden announced that he had “paused” a delivery of 1,700 500-pound and 1,800 2,000-pound bombs, and threatened to withhold more shipments if Israel went ahead with its full-scale […]
Lawyer Defies President of Tunisia as He Cracks Down on Free Speech
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 12 May 2024 (IDN) — Authorities in Tunisia are tightening a noose around the necks of its citizens, persecuting those who criticize the government and jailing dozens of Tunisians on dubious and political charges. A slender country wedged between Libya and Algeria; Tunisia faces a severe […]
Germany-European Elections: Will Lowering the Voting Age to 16 Benefit the Right Extremists?
By Gabriele Abels* The Conversation issued this article. TÜBINGEN, Germany | 9 May 2024 (IDN) — Ahead of the European Parliament elections on 6 June, Germany has lowered the age limit on participation to 16. This makes it the largest of just a handful of states in the EU to allow people under the age […]
UN Peacekeepers Killed in Civil Wars – Where Nothing is Civil
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 7 May 2024 (IDN) —The UN’s peacekeepers and its humanitarian workers are increasingly victims of killings in war zones—in the midst of civil wars and military conflicts. As a former UN Secretary-General once famously remarked: there is nothing civil about civil wars, where hundreds have been killed mostly in […]
EU Will Not Promote Democracy with Patronising Speeches and Paternalistic Funds
By Jan Zielonka* This article has been issued jointly by Social Europe and IPS-Journal OXFORD | 7 May 2024 (IDN) — In a recent interview for the New Statesman, a former head of Israel’s internal-security service, Ami Ayalon, disarmingly confessed: ‘We have to assume we shall have a war with Hezbollah not because we want […]
South Africans Mark ‘Freedom Day’ Recalling ANC Victory 30 Years Ago
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 29 April 2024 (IDN) — South Africans marked on 27 April the 30th anniversary of a momentous vote, when millions of Black South Africans, young and old, brought apartheid to a close. It was the first all-race election, and the previously banned African National Congress won […]