By Richard Heydarian* This article is republished courtesy of Internatinal Politics and Society. Read original MANILA | 4 August 2024 (IDN) — Following years of intensive negotiations, the Philippines and Japan have consolidated their military cooperation with a new defence pact. Under the recently signed Reciprocal Access Agreement, the two Asian countries will define procedural […]
Seven-Nation Prisoner Swap Shows How Diplomacy, Not Law, Governs Exchanges
By William E. Butler* This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read original. PENNSYLVANIA | 3 August 2024 (IDN) — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and two other Americans were freed from Russia in a prisoner exchange on Aug. 1, 2024. In total, 24 prisoners, including 12 German nationals […]
US Strengthens Military Bonds with Asia—with 500 million USD to Philippines
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 1 August 2024 (IDN) — The US is strengthening its economic and military relationships with Asian allies, including Japan and 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), comprising Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand. Brunei Darussalam, Viet Nam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. As political and military tensions […]
Gaza War: The Smearing of Cori Bush for Being Truthful
By Norman Solomon* SAN FRANCISCO | 1 August 2024 (IDN) — Soon after the Gaza war began 10 months ago, a prominent newspaper columnist denounced Congresswoman Cori Bush under a headline declaring that “anti-Israel comments make her unfit for reelection.” The piece appeared in the newspaper with the second-largest readership in Missouri, the Kansas City […]
Quad Foreign Ministers Creating Tensions in South China Sea
By Wang Qi, Global Times BEIJING | 30 July 2024 (IDN) — Top diplomats from Quad countries held talks on Monday in Tokyo, expressing so-called concerns about the situation in the East and South China Seas and vowing to uphold so-called maritime order in the “Indo-Pacific region,” which analysts viewed as another attempt targeting China’s […]
What Sets China Apart from Traditional Mediators as Peace-Broker
By Fiona Raval* This article was originally published by The Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS). NEW DELHI | 30 July 2024 (IDN) — Ukrainian President Zelenskyy recently identified China as one of the few global actors with enough power and influence to help terminate the war with Russia. China’s peace proposals have garnered […]
Free Speech on Campuses Needs to be Protected, not Attacked, say UN Human Rights Experts
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 29 July 2024 (IDN) — When the Israeli-Hamas conflict kept escalating in Gaza, so did the largely non-violent protests and demonstrations in American campuses—both with pro-Israeli but mostly pro-Palestinian protestors. But one of the biggest and long-drawn-out demonstrations was at Columbia University in New York—a prestigious Ivy League University—which […]
Chinese University Leads with Innovative SDG Summer School
By Viliame Tawanakoro* WUHAN, China | 27 July 2024. (IDN | Wansolwara) — An innovative summer school program by China’s Wuhan University focusing on reporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) concluded on 26 July with its coordinator Professor Ji Li declaring “this will be the first of many more to come”. The Luojlia Global Summer School […]
U.S. Defense Secretary Embarks on His Eleventh Trip to Indo-Pacific
By Joseph Clark, DOD News U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III embarked on his 11th trip to the Indo-Pacific on 26 July amid what officials said is a landmark period for U.S. ties throughout the region. WASHINGTON D C | 27 July 2024 (IDN) — The 10-day series of engagements will include stops […]
Europe Should not Be Pushed by US Influence to Confront Russia
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 25 July 2024 (IDN) — Once the Warsaw Pact closed shop there was no good or honest reason for keeping NATO going. The threat that NATO was created to deter disappeared when the Soviet Union collapsed. The European Union’s influence on the new post-Cold War order has been by […]