By Thalif Deen* UNITED NATIONS. 3 September 2023 (IDN) — The rash of recent military take-overs in Africa was perhaps best described by French President Emmanuel Macron as “an epidemic of coups in the Sahel”—a fast spreading disease in the continent. France, a former colonial power in Africa with access to rich minerals in the […]
Albania, As UNSC Chair, To Launch Private Sector Alliance for Humanitarian Aid
By Arul Louis* United Nations. 2 September 2023 (IDN) — Albania, which holds the presidency of the Security Council this month, is planning to launch a platform for the private sector to work with the world organization in providing humanitarian assistance, according to the nation’s Permanent Representative Ferit Hoxha. On 1 September, he said that […]
Fiji: Outrage at Japan Dumping Fukushima Waters into the Pacific Ocean
By Ravindra Singh Prasad SUVA, Fiji. 26 Aug 2023 (IDN) — With Japan announcing that they will start the process of dumping the contaminated waters from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean starting 24 August, island nations in the Pacific are gripped with fear and outrage with a nation that was seen as […]
The U.S. Has No Alternative to Adjusting to A Multipolar World
By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK. 25 August 2023 (IDN) — In his 1987 book, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, historian Paul Kennedy reassured Americans that the decline the United States was facing after a century of international dominance was “relative and not absolute, and is therefore perfectly natural; […]
U.S. Extends Protected Status as Sudanese Crisis Worsens
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK. 24 August 2023 (IDN) — In a long-awaited acknowledgment of the worsening crisis in Sudan, the United States has extended its temporary protected status to Sudanese nationals for 18 months—from 20 October 2023 through 19 April 2025. Officials of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security cited Sudan’s […]
UN May Seek Accountability for Saudi Killings of Hundreds of Migrants
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS. 23 August 2023 (IDN) — The United Nations has expressed serious concern over the killings of hundreds of migrants, mostly Ethiopians, crossing war-ravaged Yemen trying to reach Saudi Arabia. “I think trying to stop migration using the barrel of a gun is intolerable,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters on […]
International Criminal Court Is No Longer a Paper Tiger
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden. 23 August 2023 (IDN) — There can be no question that if President Bashar al-Assad of Syria falls the International Criminal Court (ICC) will want to put him on trial for war crimes. The long arm of international law will reach him wherever he flees to. The ICC has an […]
UN Dilemma: Terrorists vs Freedom Fighters
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS. 21 August 2023 (IDN) — A former UN Ad Hoc Committee chairman to Eliminate International Terrorism once predicted the UN will never agree on a definition of terrorism because “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”. As someone rightly remarked: to the Indians, it is the Muslims in Kashmir; […]
The UN Charter Must Remain the Heart and Soul of Any New Peace Architecture
By Michael von der Schulenburg* This article is a contribution to the German peace movement’s pamphlet on the occasion of this year’s Anti-War Day on September 1. On this day, 84 years ago, the German Reich marched into Poland and ignited the Second World War, bringing indescribable destruction, misery and suffering to Europe and the […]
UN Security Council Warned of Weapon Transfers to Ukraine War
By J Nastranis NEW YORK. 19 August 2023 (IDN) — Briefing the UN Security Council, United States journalist Danny Haiphong has claimed that many of the weapons transferred to Ukraine have landed on the black market, to drug cartels, criminal organizations, and “neo-Nazi and fascist elements, many of which now make up parts of the […]