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By J C Suresh
TORONTO | WASHINGTON (IDN) — A former U.S. official has cautioned South Korea against talk of pursuing nuclear weapons. Mr Thomas Countryman, who served as the acting Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security until January 2017, was responding to remarks by South Korea's president Yoon Suk Yeol.
By Kalinga Seneviratne
SYDNEY (IDN) — In April 2020, the then Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an independent inquiry into the origins of Covid-19, which riled the Chinese leadership. China rapidly imposed sanctions on Australian imports, especially on the lucrative barley, wine and wheat trade. They also started looking for new iron ore suppliers, an export to China that has helped Australia’s economic boom in the past three decades.
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The United States has continued to accuse Russia of using scores of Iranian-made drones in its 11-month-old conflict with Ukraine.
But in an ironic twist, the Biden administration is now investigating widespread reports that Iranian drones include American and Western components— despite longstanding economic and military sanctions against Iran.
Viewpoint by Dr Alon Ben-Meir
Dr Alon Ben-Meir, a retired professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU), taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies for over 20 years.
NEW YORK (IDN) — Words from various officials in the know suggest that, although President Biden stated that the Iran Nuclear deal is “dead,” the President would still like the 2015 deal to be revived. However, several obstacles must first be resolved.
By Shastri Ramachandaran
MELBOURNE (IDN) — The unprecedented benefits expected to flow both ways from the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), which came into force on December 30, are by now well-known in the two countries.
Both India and Australia are upbeat about the ECTA, called the Unity Agreement, as a ground-breaking measure for intensifying bilateral commerce across a range of sectors and taking economic cooperation to an altogether new level.
Former Coup leaders Change Roles in Parliamentary Vote
By Ravindra Singh Prasad
SUVA (IDN) — In a parliamentary vote on December 24, former coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka was elected the new Prime Minister by a slim majority of one after a hung parliament. He replaces another former coup leader and twice democracy-elected Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
DUBLIN, Ireland (IDN) — Iran’s Islamic Republic continues to violently suppress ongoing pro-democracy protests, which broke out in September in response to the killing of a young woman who had been arrested for not wearing a proper head covering. According to the NGO Iran Human Rights at least 458 protesters have been killed, including 63 children. Death sentences have been issued to at least 11 people.
By M.K. Bhadrakumar*
This article was produced in partnership with Indian Punchline and Globetrotter.
NEW DELHI (IDN) — The European Union has returned to the ritual of sanctioning Iran to leverage its foreign and security policies. The highlight of the EU Foreign Affairs Council ministerial meeting in Brussels on December 12 was the imposition of sanctions against Iran over a range of issues.
The issues were “the unacceptable repression of the ongoing protests and the worsening human rights situation” in Iran, Iran’s military cooperation with Russia, including the delivery of drones deployed against Ukraine, the prospects of renewal of the JCPOA, and regional security.
By Jan Servaes*
BRUSSELS (IDN) — After nearly three years of fighting Covid-19 tooth and nail with a so-called 'zero-Covid' policy and denouncing Western countries for choosing to live with the virus at the cost of millions of lives, China's rhetoric seems to be moving in a more nuanced direction.
The current number of 5,235 Covid-related 'official' deaths in China is a small fraction of the population of 1.4 billion and, to global benchmarks, extremely low.
By Bryant Harris*
WASHINGTON (IDN) — The U.S. may no longer enjoy a numerical advantage against China in certain elements of its Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program, according to Strategic Command (STRATCOM), which oversees the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
STRATCOM recently sent a classified determination to Congress pursuant to a clause in the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which requires congressional notification if China overtakes the U.S. in at least one of three components regarding its ICBM stockpile.
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