USA and Canada

US Coercive Measures Against Iran Hurting Women

Viewpoint by Azadeh Moaveni and Ali Vaez

The two writers are affiliated to the Crisis Group: Azadeh Moaveni is Project Director, Gender; and Ali Vaez is Iran Project Director. This commentary is being republished by courtesy of the Brussels-based Crisis Group which first carried it on 6 March 2020.

BRUSELS (IDN) – On 21 May 2018, less than two weeks after the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched Washington’s “New Iran Strategy” before an audience at the Heritage Foundation. In his remarks, he insisted that Iranian women’s long struggle for inclusion and equality matters dearly to Washington.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 02 May 2020

Photo: Camden, New Jersey is one of the poorest cities in the United States. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (Created 25 November 2009)

America Should Not Be Number One Because It's A Spent Star

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

The US needs first and foremost to look after itself-– its often counterproductive foreign policy, its poverty, its third rate health services, its misdistribution of income, to save the economy and to save those most hurt by the Coronavirus crisis.

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – It might seem that the world is going to pot in a hand-basket. Not quite true. There are ways out. Asia has shown how to deal with the Coronavirus and how to stay politically stable. Europe, except for wise Sweden, has muddled along, following belatedly the conventional wisdom of its scientific community. As for the United States, President Donald Trump has made a fool of himself and his country, ending up with the highest death rate in the world.

: Jonathan Power; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 28 April 2020

Photo: Chinese Emergency Medical Teams at Wuhan. Credit: World Health Organization.

COVID-19: The Trump Administration's Attack on China and the WHO Is Unfounded

Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad*

This article was produced in partnership by Indian Punchline and Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute where it first appeared. This is the first part of a two-part series. The second is available here.

‎KOLKATA‎, India (IDN) – On April 14, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump addressed a news conference at the White House, where he said that his administration would “halt [all] funding” for the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO, founded in 1948, is the principal United Nations agency tasked with the improvement of the health of the world; it is also widely acknowledged as an agency that is best suited to deal with health emergencies.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 27 April 2020

Photo: The 9th (Extraordinary) OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting was held via webinar, on Thursday, 09 April 2020, under the Chairmanship of Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy. Credit: Saudi Arabia Press Agency.

Why the OPEC+ Deal Is a Many-Splendoured Thing

Viewpoint by M.K. Bhadrakumar

The writer is a former Indian diplomat. This article was produced in partnership by Indian Punchline and Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute where it first appeared.

NEW DELHI (IDN) – A perfect deal is where all protagonists get something out of it. All oil-producing countries stand to gain if the oil price rebounds. In bare-bones, the OPEC+ group led by Saudi Arabia and Russia finalized, in a nail-biting photo finish on April 12, an agreement to steeply cut oil production by a combined 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) for May and June to rebalance the supply and demand in the world market and nudge the prices to go up amid the coronavirus pandemic.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 25 April 2020

Photo: US President Bill Clinton (centre), the architect of NATO's expansion up to Russia's borders, with NATO Secretary General Javier Solana (right) and General Wesley Clark (left), the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000, at NATO headquarters. Credit: NATO.

America Is Sadly in the Grip of 'Exhausted Ideas'

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – The greatest American foreign affairs columnist since Walter Lippmann was William Pfaff of The International Herald Tribune. He wrote in his path-breaking book, "Barbarian Sentiments" that the US political atmosphere was full of "exhausted ideas, like a dead star". Nevertheless, "these ideas remain central to the way certain subjects are discussed and to the formulation of national policy. These are ideas that people want or need to be true".

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 21 April 2020

Photo: Hu Wei (4th R), charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy, attends a ceremony with Sri Lankan Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi (4th left front) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 1, 2020. China has handed over its first donation of humanitarian aid and medical supplies to Sri Lanka to strengthen the solidarity between the two countries as Sri Lanka fights the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: Xinhua/Tang Lu

COVID-19 : An Unprecedented Crisis and Also an Exceptional Opportunity

Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona

The writer is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary.

Henry Kissinger, in one of his infrequent statements said, "When the COVID-19 pandemic is over, many countries' institutions will be perceived as having failed. Whether this judgment is objectively fair is irrelevant. The reality is the world will never be the same after the coronavirus. To argue now about the past only makes it harder to do what has to be done". Countries must adjust and adapt and also move with the times. Responding proactively to the challenge of COVID-19 is key.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; OPINION; 18 April 2020

Photo: WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus briefs virtually on the COVID-19 pandemic in Geneva. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

UN Health Agency Reviewing Impact of U.S. Funding Withdrawal

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – While upholding the importance of international solidarity in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, a "dangerous enemy" to all humanity, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has regretted "the decision of the President of the United States to order a halt in funding" to the UN health agency.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was speaking to journalists on April 15, one day after President Donald Trump announced that it was cutting funding to the UN health agency, pending a review of how the agency responded to the initial outbreak in China that first surfaced at the very end of December.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 16 April 2020

Photo: Joe Biden with Bernie Sanders who has endorsed his presidential candidature. Source: Twitter.

Biden's Foreign Policy Leaves Enough Room for Revamping

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Joseph Biden for president! His main rival for the Democratic Party's nomination, Bernie Sanders, endorsed him on April 13. If the world could vote, the overwhelming majority would vote for Biden, despite some misgivings. My reservations would be on his foreign policy. Like President Barack Obama he would be good on domestic policy but mistaken on much of his foreign policy.

Obama made Biden responsible for dealing with the Ukraine crisis where he fashioned an anti-Russian policy based on little evidence that this was fair to the facts. He writes now of the need to "counter Russian aggression" and that "we must impose real costs on Russia for its violations of international norms".

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 14 April 2020

Photo: Screenshot of YouTube streaming on 8 Apr 2020 by Bernie Sanders announcing his exit from Presidential campaign. Credit: Bernie Sanders' Website.

The End of Bernie Sanders' Socialist Agenda

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Socialist-Democrat Presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, ended his campaign as it lost momentum – and the coronavirus pandemic changed everything. Claiming that he is a democratic socialist, he wanted to stage a political revolution in America.

The dreaded words "socialist" and "revolution" are anathema to Americans even though they may be quite familiar with their modern day color revolutions, regime changes, and Arab Springs abroad – in the name of democracy and freedom.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 April 2020

Photo: President Trump addressing a press conference. Credit: The White House.

COVID-19: Trump's Bizarre Performance Blocked His Emergence as a 'Hero'

Viewpoint by Dr. Alon Ben-Meir

The writer is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.

NEW YORK (IDN) – For a man who is a self-absorbed, power hungry narcissist who wants to be recognized as one of the greatest presidents of the United States while desperately trying to be reelected, Trump failed miserably to rise to the occasion precipitated by the unfortunate advent and spread of the coronavirus.