USA and Canada

“Weaponizing Trade” Has Gained New Impetus and Focus

This article was issued by COUNTERCURRENTS and is being republished courtesy of them.

Viewpoint by Anis Chowdhury*

SYDNEY (IDN) — “Weaponising trade”, i.e., using trade as a tool of foreign policy aspirations and marginalising rivals instead of as an opportunity for economic growth, is not new.

It is well known that “the United States bears a good share of responsibility” for increasingly weaponising trade among most countries. The US and its allies have used trade embargoes, and sanctions against countries, such as Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela, and recently against Russia, that have been/are deemed ‘unfriendly’ to them.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 18 July 2022

Photo: Abortion rights demonstrators protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court after the court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision, in Washington, D.C. on June 24, 2022. Credit: Jason Garza for The Texas Tribune

Two Infamous Rulings by the US Supreme Court Put America to Shame

Viewpoint by Alon Ben-Meir

Dr Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations at the 'Center for Global Affairs' at New York University (NYU). He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies for over 20 years.

NEW YORK (IDN) — Recently the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which granted women the constitutional right to abortion, and the other ruling nullified a century-old New York law that forbid New Yorkers from carrying firearms in public. Both rulings are despicable as they will only severely undermine the health and security of millions of Americans.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 02 July 2022

Photo: Protests in Sri Lanka. Source: FAZ

Open Letter to The President of Sri Lanka

By A patriotic group of Los Angeles-based Sri Lankans

It’s not too late!

LOS ANGELES, USA (IDN) — The current state of our beloved nation could be broadly described as a story, a story that is excruciatingly painful to hear, watch and read. The current tragic drama seems to have only villains.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 02 July 2022

Photo: Little Moms of Kibera, Kenya. Credit: storitellah.com

African Abortion Rights Now at Risk After US Supreme Court Decision

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — In Africa, where the risk of dying from an unsafe abortion is the highest in the world, Roe v Wade has long been an important weapon in the arsenal of those fighting to liberalize abortion laws and make the procedure safer for women and girls despite it rarely being invoked by name.

Human rights lawyer Stephanie Musho, a Kenyan, pointed to the case of Tunisia which liberalized their law limiting abortions just nine months after the Roe v Wade ruling—allowing women to access the service on demand.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 27 June 2022

Image source: Asia Pacific Research Network

Asia Pacific Peace Groups Vow to Oppose US-Incited Impending War

By Devinder Kumar

MANILA (IDN) — Peace advocates from Japan, Australia, India, South Korea, and the Philippines, gathered to manifest their unity to oppose all kinds of "imperialist aggression" in the region, have in a global press conference held in Manila on June 24, called for just peace as they sounded the alarm on the intensifying tensions between China and the US superpowers.

: Devinder Kumar; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 26 June 2022

Image: Swedish FFV 028 anti-tank-mines of the German Bundeswehr (inert versions). CC BY-SA 4.0

US Declares an Exception to Its New Policy Against the Use of Landmines

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The anti-landmine treaty, which came into force in 1999, has more than 160 signatories who pledged to ban the use of these weapons, along with the destruction of remaining stocks, and clearance of mined areas, and assistance to victims.

But at least seven key countries—including the US, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, South Korea and North Korea —opted out of the treaty, also known as the Ottawa Convention.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Other WMDs; 25 June 2022

Photo: YouTube Screenshot of Zelensky with Troops. Source. France 24

There’s No Need for War with Russia

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Conflicts have a history of spinning out of control. Trotsky, the one-time close comrade of Lenin, reportedly said, “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you”. The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians were not interested in war until President Volodymyr Zelensky took his counterproductive stance on NATO membership and President Vladimir Putin subsequently launched his invasion and united most of Ukraine’s people against him.

: Jonathan Power; THE WORLD; Russia; 21 June 2022

Photo: Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hold a news conference following the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, June 15, 2022. Credit: Chad J. McNeeley, DOD

More Than 50 Nations Pledge to Help Build Ukraine's Defense

By Jim Garamone

This article was issued by the U.S. Department of Defence and is being republished courtesy of them.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — Representatives from more than 50 nations pledged to get more military capabilities into the hands of Ukrainian forces battling Russian invaders, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said on June 15 in Brussels.

Austin chaired the third meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. The group is looking to get Ukraine what it needs to fight the battle developing in the Donbas region of the country.

: Europe Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 15 June 2022

Photo: Signatories of the nuclear deal with Iran in 2015. The success of the agreement was short-lived: US president Donald Trump withdrew from it three years later. CC BY 4.0, Siamak Ebrahimi/Tasnim News

U.S. Urged to Intensify Diplomacy to Restore Iran Nuclear Deal

By J.C. Suresh

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — Arms Control experts are strongly urging President Joseph Biden to immediately redouble efforts to break the stalemate on talks to restore compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi, for example, has warned that efforts to restore the JCPOA will face a “fatal blow” within three to four weeks, after Iran announced on June 9 that it was disconnecting certain cameras monitoring key nuclear facilities.

: J C Suresh; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 10 June 2022

Photo: National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and Premier Zhou Enlai ahead of President Richard Nixon's 1972 journey to China. Source: USC US-China Institute

War Monger Henry Kissinger Has Become A Peacenik

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Henry Kissinger used to be a totally different kettle of fish than he is these days. It was Kissinger who helped engineer a coup d'état in democratic Chile that led to a great deal of torture and suffering. Second, turn to the war in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, America's biggest war since World War 2, that ended in an ignominious US retreat and defeat. Its people were ravaged beyond description. It was President Richard Nixon and his national security advisor, Kissinger, who had decided “to bomb the hell out of the North Vietnamese”.