By Ahmed Bayram The writer is an Amman-based Middle East Media Adviser of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). AMMAN, Jordan (IDN) — Farming communities in Iraq have seen their wheat, vegetable, and fruit harvests decline for the second year in a row because of severe drought conditions. Households throughout the country will be increasingly vulnerable […]
Israel Reaches Out to China, Again
This article was issued by the Indian Punchline. Viewpoint by M. K. Bhadrakumar* NEW DELHI (IDN) — The phone call to the Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on April 6 by Israel’s alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid adds to the tectonic shifts in the geopolitics of the Middle East […]
First-Ever Summit on Israeli Soil Dismissed as A “Summit of Shame”
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — When the United States joined hands with Israel, Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to hold “the first ever multilateral Arab-Israeli summit on Israeli soil”, there was one potential participant described as MIA—the Palestinians, missing in action. One of the Palestinian demonstrators outside the hotel, […]
Pandemic Pushes SDGs Further Out of Reach of Asia and The Pacific
Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana BANGKOK (IDN) — 2022 marks the second anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, and while an end to the pandemic is in sight, it is far from over and the consequences will be felt for decades to come. At the same time, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is becoming increasingly […]
Will a Holy Land Confederation Help Resolve the Long Simmering Palestinian-Israeli Dispute?
Only a political solution will end the “senseless and costly cycles of violence” between Israelis and Palestinians, UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland said at a briefing to the Security Council in 2021. By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which dates back to 1948, is one of the longstanding disputes which has […]
The Greater Maghreb Is One of The Most Volatile Geopolitical Frontiers
By Kester Kenn Klomegah* Interviews Middle East Expert Dr. Chatou Mohamed MOSCOW | RABAT (IDN) — For several decades, the Maghreb region has been a multifaceted conflict region. It is also a gateway to Europe and to sub-Saharan Africa. Historically, the states of the region have different deep-seated political differences but are tightly bonded by […]
Amnesty International, In A Landmark Report, Accuses Israel of Apartheid
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The term “apartheid”, describing institutionalized racial discrimination, was widely prevalent both in white-ruled South Africa and in Southwest Africa (now Namibia), beginning in 1948 until it ended with the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994 in Pretoria. But elsewhere it was treated as a four-letter word—and largely shunned […]
Devastating Loss of Civilian Lives in a Middle East War Fuelled by Western Arms
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen on January 21, which killed at least 70 civilians, has shifted the focus once again to the festering seven-year-old conflict in the Middle East, which the UN has described as “the world’s worst humanitarian disaster”. The disproportionate retaliation was a response to a […]
Middle East Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone, Long Elusive, is Making Progress, say Experts
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — A longstanding proposal for a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the politically and militarily volatile Middle East remains elusive. Since 1967, five nuclear-weapon-free zones (NWFZ) have been established worldwide—in Latin America and the Caribbean, South Pacific, Southeast Asia, Africa and Central Asia. Speaking at the second “UN Conference on the […]
The Future of Iran Nuclear Deal Remains Uncertain
By Kelsey Davenport, Julia Masterson, and Sang-Min Kim While Kelsey Davenport is director for nonproliferation policy, Julia Masterson is research associate, and Sang-Min Kim is Scoville Fellow at the Arms Control Association. This article first appeared in Arms Control Now of the Association on August 11, 2021. WAHINGTON, DC (IDN) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi […]