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By James M. Dorsey*
SINGAPORE (IDN) – Climate change, much like war, could prove to be a geopolitical and commercial gold mine. At least, that is the take of DP World, Dubai’s global port operator, and Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.
DP World is partnering with the fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to create an all-year round maritime sea route from Europe to Asia through the Arctic.
By Sean Buchanan
NEW YORK (IDN) – Calling it “not compatible with Israel’s “obligations under international humanitarian law”, the United Nations has condemned Israel's demolition July 22 of 70 homes in an East Jerusalem neighbourhood under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
Israel’s Supreme Court has reportedly ruled that the houses in the Palestinian community of Sur Bahir were built too close to the separation barrier in the occupied West Bank, violating a construction ban.
Trump Scrapped Security Council Endorsed Nuclear Deal
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – There’s never been a full-scale war between two nuclear-armed states. If Iran one day did cross the nuclear threshold the same deterrence will apply. No one rational would want to provoke their own incineration. Columbia university professor, Kenneth Waltz, the distinguished theorist on the conduct of war, wrote in Foreign Affairs that with Israel possessing over 200 nuclear weapons (which the U.S. refuses to publicly admit) Iran having a bomb would bring stability.
Viewpoint by Caleb Tisdale*
MARRAKECH (IDN) – Attracting young people to radical, extremist ideas is not hard. Just ask the ISIS recruiters behind one of the most effective propaganda presences in the world. Extremist groups are so effective at recruitment because the target audience is easily identified and appealed to: those who are at the margins of society. Radical ideologies offer an alternative to social and economic conditions – high unemployment, lack of purpose, social displacement – that have left them vulnerable.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – A sword of Damocles hangs over the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The sword of Netanyahu hangs over Palestine – and Israel. Which will fall first?
A court case approaches. A new election in September approaches. Netanyahu is being accused of a serious crime of corruption. He is fighting not just for his political beliefs but also for his own self-interest. If he wins the election he could seek immunity from prosecution.
Viewpoint by James M. Dorsey
James M. Dorsey – a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture – offered this viewpoint to IDN.
SINGAPORE (IDN) – A recent interview in which Baloch National Movement chairman Khalil Baloch legitimised recent militant attacks on Iranian, Chinese and Pakistani targets is remarkable less for what he said and more for the fact that his remarks were published by a Saudi newspaper.
Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*
NEW YORK (IDN) – A workshop entitled ‘Peace for Prosperity’ to introduce the United States President Donald Trump’s Peace Plan (also known as the ‘Deal of the Century’) for the Palestinians, was held in Bahrain on June 25-26 – hosted by Trump's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner.
According to Kushner, the deal includes: $50 billion in economic aid; extensive infrastructure investment; double the Palestinians' GDP; create over a million jobs; lower unemployment to single digits; and reduce the poverty rate by half – over the next decade.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
New York (IDN) – A shipload of desperate Bangladeshi migrants was told to turn the boat around and go home by Tunisian officials or be deprived of food, water and medicines. The migrants, trapped on a merchant ship off Tunisia for three weeks, were sent back to their home country against their will, according to relatives.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM), an intergovernmental organization linked to the United Nations, said the Bangladeshis “wished to return home”.
By Jaya Ramachandan
NEW YORK (IDN) – UNRWA, officially the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, faces a "serious funding shortfall", the General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés has warned. The agency is $211 million short of the $1.2 billion needed to deliver its aid programmes.
She was speaking at the opening of the 2019 pledging conference for UNRWA on June 25, alongside Secretary-General António Guterres, and the agency’s Commissioner-General, Pierre Krähenbühl.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Egyptian ex-president Mohammed Morsi, persecuted by the current military regime according to rights activists, collapsed on the stand and died after giving testimony in his trial, the state TV reported.
Morsi, 67, had been speaking from the glass “cage” where he was confined during sessions. He warned of “many secrets” he could reveal, when suddenly he collapsed. The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood was stricken by a heart attack, sources said. State TV said Morsi died before he could be taken to the hospital.
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