By Dr. Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 5 February 2025 (IDN) — Most Kosovars hope that the February national election and the formation of a new coalition government will usher in a promising new era that will substantially improve the day-to-day lives of ordinary people. Will the new government be in tune to meet much […]
Russia Delivers Military Hardware to Mali — After the Fall of Assad Regime
By Guy Martin* The premier online African defence and security news publication defenceWeb issued this article. It is being republished with their permission. RHODES, South Africa | 5 February 2025 (IDN) — Russia has delivered over 100 military vehicles to Mali, including tanks, trucks, and infantry fighting vehicles. It is suspected the shipment may have […]
Summit Pledges to Connect 300 million Africans to Electricity by 2030
By Lakshmi Thor DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania | 3 February 2025 (IDN) — Ahead of the African Union Summit on 17-18 February in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, thirty African Heads of State and government have committed to concrete reforms and actions to expand access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity to power economic growth, improve […]
Stories of Resilience and Renewal in Aghbar
By Mariam Ait Hfid* MARRAKECH, Morocco | 1 February 2025 (IDN) — In response to the devastating earthquake, the High Atlas Foundation has launched vital initiatives to provide psychosocial support and empower affected communities. Among these efforts is a transformative three- to four-day workshop, inspired by the Foundation’s signature IMAGINE program, which lies at the […]
Syria Should Realise That Only Way Forward Is Through Talks
By Manish Rai* SYDNEY | 1 February 2025 (IDN) — Turkey’s proxy groups like the Syrian National Army (SNA) which is also part of a coalition of Syrian opposition groups led by Hayat Taheer Al-Sham (HTS) have been attacking the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in North Syrian since December 2024. In particular, fierce fighting […]
Reform Credit Ratings to Fix Africa’s Debt Crisis
By Daniel Cash The writer is Associate Professor at Aston University and Senior Fellow at the UN University Centre for Policy Research NEW YORK | 30 January 2025 (IDN) — Africa is in a debt crisis. On the continent, interest payments on debt have risen by 132% over the past decade. Thirty-two African countries now […]
Social Media and Politics in Southeast Asia
By Jan Servaes* BANGKOK, Thailand | 29 January 2025 (IDN) — Southeast Asia exhibits a wide range of political structures, cultural systems, depths of political engagement, and histories. Nearly four decades since the advent of the Internet in the region, the online population has grown substantially, hand in hand with increased government capacity to exert […]
The US Should Not Hold Provocative War Games Near China
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 28 January 2025 (IDN) — When Donald Trump was last elected as president his secretary of defence, Jim Mattis, declared a new era: “There has been a return of great power competition……great power competition- not terrorism- is now the primary focus of US security”. In the then new national […]
Can Hamas Redeem Itself?
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 27 January 2025 (IDN) — Now that the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire is in place, with some ongoing hiccups, the question is, will the second phase follow, and what lesson, if any, has Hamas learned following 15 months of horrendous death and destruction? The current first phase […]
Kenya Deploys 200 More Police Officers to Haiti as Crisis Escalates
By Nicholas Mwangi* NAIROBI | 27 January 2025 (IDN) — Kenya has deployed another batch of 217 police officers to Haiti, adding to the 400 sent last year as part of a “multinational mission” aimed at addressing the country’s deepening crisis of gang violence. The intervention aims to protect critical infrastructure and conduct “targeted operations” […]