By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 7 January 2025 (IDN) — An ugly cloud of pessimism hands over many parts of the world. War that seemed to be in retreat, has returned with a vengeance with the second largest military in world, Russia’s, battling a very under-resourced neighbour, Ukraine. It’s getting a lot of people […]
Liberal Democracy Shrinks in India, Turkey and the US
By Rahul Mukherji and Berk Esen* HEIDELBERG, ISTANBIL | 5 January 2025 (IDN) — The elections in India, Turkey and the US in 2024 point to the rapidly shrinking liberal political space in democracies. Despite the enormity of the threat to a secular and inclusive vision of politics, the elections in India and Turkey, however, […]
Israel’s Attacks Have Devastating Impact on Gaza’s Hospitals
By Volker Türk* GENEVA | 4 January 2025 (IDN) — A human rights catastrophe continues to unfold in Gaza before the eyes of the world. Israel’s means and methods of warfare have killed tens of thousands of people, inflicted vast displacement, and laid waste to the territory. This has raised utmost concerns about compliance with […]
Now It Can Be Told . . . After All the Harm Has Been Done
By Norman Solomon* SAN FRANCISCO, USA | 26 December 2024 (IDN) — This week, the New York Times reported that the U.S. government made war in Afghanistan while helping to “recruit, train and pay for lawless bands of militias that pillaged homes and laid waste to entire communities.” Those militias “tortured civilians, kidnapped for ransom, […]
Open Sesame for War Criminals?
By Tisaranee Gunasekara* “Israel today is dynamiting the edifice of the global norms built after 1945.” — Pankaj Mishra (The Shoah after Gaza – London Review of Books – 21.3.2014) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 26 December 2024 (IDN) — In the second decade of the 21st Century, genocide is being televised. 72 Virgins—Uncensored was a […]
UN General Assembly Adopts Landmark Convention on Cybercrime
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | 24 December 2024 (IDN) — The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a new convention to foil and battle cybercrime, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which served as secretariat to the negotiations spanning over a period of five years. The UN Convention against Cybercrime […]
A Day’s Affair of A Jewish and Muslim Calling in Morocco
By Yossef Ben-Meir* MARRAKECH | 24 December 2024 (IDN) — On the 12 December 2024, I set out with four colleagues of the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) to meet with members of the rural community of Tafza (Al Haouz province, Marrakesh region), located in the mountain range that bore the horrendous epicenter of the September […]
Ghana’s Historic Election Is a Vote for Change
By Nicholas Mwangi* NAIROBI, Kenya | 22 December 2024 (IDN) — Ghana’s Electoral Commission declared on December 9 that former President and opposition leader John Dramani Mahama was the winner in the presidential election held on December 7, securing 56.55% of the vote, according to provisional results. The election marked a political comeback for the […]
Internet Governance Forum Weighs Pros and Cons of AI
By Bernhard Schell RIYADH, Saudi Arabia | 19 December (IDN) — More than 11,000 participants gathered at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Riyadh from 15 to 19 December 2024 and addressed the transformative opportunities and risks posed by rapid advancements of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other digital technologies. They agreed that while AI presents […]
The First Element of a North Korean Nuclear Proliferation Network
By Robert Kelley* VIENNA | 13 December 2024 (IDN) — On the night of 6 September 2007 Israeli jets bombed a building in Northen Syria. The building was alleged to be a nuclear reactor under construction to support a nuclear weapons program. The reactor was reported to be a copy of the small plutonium production […]