By Kalinga Seneviratne SINGAPORE | 28 December 2023 (IDN) — India’s national Parliament—known as Lok Sabha (Lower House of the People)—has become a “mockery of democracy,” says the main opposition party Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge following a splurge of expulsions of their members from the chambers before important criminal law reform bills were debated and […]
Bosnia and Herzegovina: The German High Representative Is Sowing Conflict
By Aurora Weiss VIENNA | 28 December 2023 (IDN) — To be convinced of the legal position of the High Representative Christian Schmidt, we asked for a review of the resolution and vote in the UN Security Council. We spoke with President Milorad Dodik, the famous lawyer Anto Nobilo, and many others to find out […]
Ideologues and Military-Industrial Complex Hack US Foreign Policy
By Jeffrey D. Sachs* This article was published in Common Dreams and is being republished with the author’s permission. NEW YORK | 28 December 2023 (IDN) — US foreign policy seems to be utterly irrational. The US gets into one disastrous war after another—Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and Gaza. In recent days, the US […]
Sheikh Hasina Has Elevated Bangladesh’s Geopolitical Significance
By Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury* DHAKA | 26 December 2023 (IDN) — Bangladesh, a land woven with resilience, heritage, and a drapery of culture, stands at a crucial juncture in the contemporary geopolitical landscape. At the wheel of this dynamic nation is Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, an indomitable leader, whose statesmanship has wielded an influential […]
Homicide Is a Bigger Killer Than Armed Conflict and Terrorism Combined
By Aurora Weiss VIENNA | 26 December 2023 (IDN) — More people were killed due to homicide than armed conflict and terrorism combined. It is estimated that there were roughly 458,000 victims of intentional homicide worldwide in 2021, meaning that an average of 52 individuals lost their lives to homicidal violence every single hour around […]
Journalists an Endangered Species in War Zones
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 23 December 2023 (IDN) — The devastating war in Gaza has proved once again that journalists are an endangered species—particularly when covering civil wars and military conflicts—where scores have been targeted or killed. Perhaps it is the second most dangerous profession after the military, followed by UN peacekeepers and […]
UN’s Forced Retreat from Countries Mired in Deadly Conflicts Shows Limitations
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 […]