Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — What does ex-president Donald Trump think about NATO? Twice during his campaigning, he rubbished it publicly, saying it was “obsolete”. Three years ago the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said NATO was “brain-dead. Is it obsolete or brain-dead or both?
Russia Battles Its Own Weapon Systems in Ukraine — As US Provides Over A $Billion in Arms
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — Perhaps one of the biggest ironies of the current military conflict is that Ukraine may be using mostly Soviet-era weapons against the Russians, including combat helicopters, T-64 battle tanks and AT-6 anti-tank missiles acquired from the former USSR. But that military scenario is expected to change significantly with […]
Ukraine-Russia: Analysis Briefs
By Aar Jay NEW YORK (IDN) — “Over the past six months, Russia has steadily built up forces along the frontier as Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington have traded barbs,” writes Robert Farley in ‘1945‘ on January 3, 2022. Russia’s immediate concerns involve the Ukrainian acquisition and use of Turkish drones along its border regions, along […]
S.N. Goenka: Spreading Buddha’s Teaching Around the World
By Dr Asoka Bandarage The writer, a scholar and practitioner, has taught at Yale, Brandeis, Mount Holyoke (where she received tenure), Georgetown, American and other universities, and colleges in the U.S. and abroad. COLOMBO (IDN) — Fear and distress prevail. Although less reported, there are developments bringing peace and happiness to people’s lives. One such […]
Ukraine: UN Chief Keen to Help Defuse Tensions Between Russia and the Western Countries of NATO
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) — UN Secretary-General António Guterres has made his “good offices” available for a peaceful solution to the looming “disastrous confrontation over Ukraine between Russia and Western countries of the NATO alliance”, pledging he “will remain fully engaged in the hours and days to come” and will “leave no stone […]
West’s Double Standards on Human Rights Undermines UN Human Rights Council
Viewpoint by Sugeeswara Senadhira COLOMBO (IDN) — The United States, Britain, Canada and a few other Western so-called champions of human rights will press their unreasonable demand at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) next month to initiate an international probe into alleged human rights violations in the last phase of the separatist war […]
Tikkun Olam: Preserving the Planet through Cultural Celebrations
By Ikbale Bouziane MARRAKECH (IDN) — It is common that each religion has its own new year celebrations that mark events or simply cherish the divine orders of days and months. These festivities usually mark the end or beginnings of new cycles of prosperity and being thankful for God’s blessings. However, the Jewish culture celebrates […]
Historic Verdict in Germany’s Prosecution of a Syrian for Crimes Against Humanity
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) — The German city of Koblenz on the banks of the river Rhine has made history. The Higher Regional Court there has convicted a former senior Syrian intelligence officer, for crimes against humanity. The man, known as was charged with complicity in the torture of thousands of people between 2011 […]
Sustainable Development Observer Issue 4 Focuses on Global Health Crisis
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — This fourth issue of Sustainable Development Observer focuses on the global health crisis that has been exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and pharmaceutical industry’s greed—at the cost of peoples’ health. While the world’s media has gone berserk about a new “Omicron” variant of the COVID virus, the World Trade […]
Arrest of Popular Benin Leader Evokes Protests of Lawyers for Democratic Opposition
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Reckya Madougou, one of the strongest challengers to Benin’s autocratic leader, Patrice Talon, will be observing the next election from her cell in jail. The 47-year-old activist was found guilty of conspiring to assassinate political figures and sentenced to 20 years behind bars. Madougou was […]