By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY | 8 September 2024 (IDN) — At the recent Pacific Island Forum (PIF) meeting in Tonga, the regional leaders adopted a controversial agreement known as the ‘Pacific Policing Initiative’ (PPI), which seems focused on blocking China from participating in any security arrangements in the vast South Pacific Ocean region. Typhoons and […]
Kazakhstan Proposes a Digital Solutions Centre for Sustainable Development
By Aar Jay BERLIN | ASTANA | 6 September 2024 (IDN) — The Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan has proposed the establishment of a Digital Solutions Centre for Sustainable Development at a high-level conference organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Government of Kazakhstan. The […]
Africa: Agricultural Future Lies in Agroecology
By Million Belay* This article was orignally published in a dossier from the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and Alameda. BRUSSELS | ADDIS ABABA | 5 September 2024 (IDN) — A premise which has its roots in traditional knowledge and ecological principles, some people may find the term agroecology mysterious or esoteric. However, far from being an […]
Holding the Press and White House Accountable: An Afterword on the Gaza War
By Marcy Winograd* SANTA BARBARA, California | 4 September 2024 (IDN) — In Norman Solomon’s new Afterword in the paperback edition of his book War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, the author excoriates the White House for arming a genocide with assistance from a negligent press. Solomon tracks […]
UN Chief Assures Support as Timor-Leste Marks 25 Years of Self-Determination
By Michele Zaccheo* DILILI, Timor-Leste | 2 September 2024 (IDN) — UN Secretary-General António Guterres told parliamentarians in Timor-Leste on 30 September the world has much to learn from their inspirational struggle for self-rule, 25 years to the day since the historic referendum which paved the way for independence in 2002. In a surprise move, […]
A Sign that Beckoned Coming Sustainable Development
By Yossef Ben-Meir* MARRAKECH | 28 August 2024 (IDN) — I do not know if it is a rule or commonplace as to whether a small act in the area of social development can launch thousands, even countless, small and large acts of sustainable change and growth. In Morocco, there may have been such a […]
Reading The Tea Leaves in Hong Kong
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 27 August 2024 (IDN) — In 1995 in a little remembered event Li Ruthuan, a member of the Chinese Politburo (containing the top seven in the government), made a speech likening the Chinese take-over of Hong Kong to the case of a lady who had agreed to sell a […]
Ukraine Blackmails Hungary and Slovakia
By Peter G. Feher* WASHINGTON, D.C. | 26 August 2024 (IDN) — Ukraine blackmails Hungary and Slovakia in a vile way. The quarrel between Hungary and Slovakia, as well as Ukraine, has been going on for more than two months. Indeed, on June 24, without any prior warning, Kyiv prohibited the privately owned Russian oil […]
World’s Largest Regional Security Organization Launches New Initiative
By Jane Kinninmont and Maria Branea* LONDON | 24 August 2024 (IDN) — The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world’s largest regional security organization, with 57 participating states in Europe, Asia, and North America. This year, the OSCE launched a new initiative—The Expert Networks on the Organization for Security and […]
Genocide is Genocide is Genocide
By James E. Jennings* ATLANTA | 24 August 2024 (IDN) — There’s an ongoing dispute about the meaning of Genocide, which is important because the case against Israel’s war in Gaza is scheduled to be decided soon by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). It’s actually not that complicated. Confucius allegedly said, “The naming of […]