USA and Canada

Photo: Prime Minister meets Xi Jinping, President of China on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2018 in Qingdao on June 9. Credit: India's Ministry of External Affairs.

India-U.S. Strong Partnership Not Endorsement of Washington-led Regional Order

Viewpoint by Jagannath Panda

The writer is a Research Fellow and Centre Coordinator for East Asia at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi. He is also the Series Editor for Routledge Studies on Think Asia. This article was first published in East Asia Forum on September 23, 2018.

NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) – Despite U.S. President Donald Trump's cold approach, the strategic partnership between India and the United States is deepening. The civil nuclear agreement signed in October 2008 marked a new beginning. And both the 2016 Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement and the 2018 Communication, Compatibility, Security Agreement have strengthened the relationship further. The U.S. decision to rename the Pacific Command the Indo-Pacific Command also gave a symbolic nod to India’s centrality in the region.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 26 September 2018

Photo: Flood waters rush around a house in Long Island, New York. Credit: U.S. Geological Survey

When Climate Change Dishes Up a 'Toxic Stew'

By William S. Becker*

MILWAUKEE, USA (IDN) – It happened in July 2016. A flash flood roared through Ellicott City, Maryland, killed two people and caused tens of millions of dollars in damages to the historic buildings along Main Street. The experts said it was one of those rare 1,000-year flood events. The city set about the job of rebuilding. It takes a long time – often years – for a community to recover from a devastating flood.

Then in May 2018, while Ellicott City was still getting over the 2016 disaster, it happened again, another one of those “extremely rare” 1,000-year floods.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 22 September 2018

Photo: Nikki R. Haley, U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN and President of the Security Council for the month of September, chairs the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East (Syria). 06 September 2018. UN Photo/Manuel Elias.

U.S. Continues Iran Bashing as Trump Prepares to Chair Security Council

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley has announced that President Donald Trump will chair a Security Council meeting on Iran later this month to spotlight its "violations of international law" during the high-level week of the UN General Assembly.

Haley who holds the Council's rotating monthly presidency said, Trump will kick off a high-level event on the global call to action on the world drug problem on September 24, and preside over a meeting relating to Iran on September 26. Trump would chair the meeting "to address Iran's violations of international law and the general instability Iran sows throughout the entire Middle East region," she added.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 09 September 2018

Photo: U.S. Air Force maintenance technicians assigned to the 509th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron work on a B-2 stealth bomber at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. on March 19, 2011. The unit maintains aircraft tasked with strategic nuclear deterrence and global strike operations. Credit: Kenny Holston/U.S. Air Force

Uncertainty About Whether the U.S. and Russia Can Avert a New Arms Race

By Daryl G. Kimball

The United States and Russia are rushing forward with costly, ambitious plans to upgrade their Cold War nuclear arsenals and develop new types of destabilizing nuclear weapon, writes Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association in the September issue of Arms Control Today. The editorial appeared with the caption 'Can the U.S. and Russia Avert a New Arms Race?'

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – Five long years have passed since U.S. President Barack Obama proposed and Russian President Vladimir Putin unfortunately rejected negotiations designed to cut their excessive nuclear stockpiles by one-third below the limits set by the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).

: Daryl G. Kimball; OPINION; 02 September 2018

Photo: A Palestine refugee woman receives food assistance at the UNRWA Khan Younis Distribution Centre in Gaza. UNRWA/Tamer Hamam.

EU Slates U.S. for Slashing Aid Funding to Palestinian Refugees, UN Urges Increased Assistance

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Nearly three months after the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in its 2017 Annual Report warned about the deteriorating state of health across the agency’s five areas of operation – Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza, and Syria – the United States has announced its decision to stop funding the agency, worsening the situation further.

In the absence of a solution to the Palestine refugee problem, the UN General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA's mandate, most recently extending it until June 30, 2020.

: J Nastranis; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 01 September 2018

Photo: California State Capitol. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

California Leads the Way in Support of Nuclear Disarmament

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – The State Senate of California, the most populous state in the United States, has adopted Assembly Joint Resolution 33 (AJR 33), which calls upon the federal government to embrace the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, make nuclear disarmament the centerpiece of national security policy, and spearhead a global effort to prevent nuclear war.

Santa Barbara's State Assembly member Monique Limón introduced the Resolution emphasizing that since the height of the Cold War, the United States and Russia have dismantled more than 50,000 nuclear warheads, but 15,000 of these weapons still exist and pose an intolerable risk to human survival.

: J C Suresh; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 August 2018

Photo: A young boy runs with his tyre past buildings damaged by air strikes in Saada Old Town. Credit: Giles Clarke/OCHA

Memories of Iraq-Iran War Haunt U.S. Involvement in Yemen

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The evidence that has come out from the UN and NGOs makes clear, without any reservation or ambiguity, that on August 9, 2018 dozens of school children on a bus in Yemen were killed by a Saudi Arabian air-strike, and that American supplied weapons had been used, and probably British too. Criticism of Saudi Arabia and its partner in crime, the United Arab Emirates, has been increasing over the last year.

The U.S. is not a partner in the actual fighting but, started by President Barack Obama and continued on a larger scale by President Donald Trump, the U.S. doesn't only provide weapons but also it has provided intelligence, warplane refueling and guidance technology for missiles and bombs.

: Jonathan Power; THE WORLD; Middle East & North Africa; 28 August 2018

Photo: President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump pose for members of the media with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his wife Margaret Kenyatta as they arrive at the White House, August 27, 2018, in Washington. Credit: U.S. Department of State.

Kenya Signs Deal with U.S. to Finance Wind Power

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) - Kenya has signed agreements with a U.S. wind energy company, providing a major boost for wind power and food security.

President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya said the 'Big Four agenda' projects – boosting manufacturing industry, promoting food security, providing affordable housing and universal healthcare coverage – present major opportunities for local and foreign investors.

The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and Kipeto Wind Energy Company signed documents to close a $232 million deal in financing the construction and operation of a 100-megawatt grid-connected wind power plant south of Nairobi.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 August 2018

EU-U.S. Tussle Over Iran Sanctions and the Aftermath

By Kelsey Davenport

The author is Director for Non-Proliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association (ACA). This analysis is being reproduced from ACA's Special Newsletter of August 24, 2018. – The Editor.

WASHINGON. D.C. (IDN-INPS) – During an August 19-22 trip to Israel, National Security Advisor John Bolton said U.S. sanctions reimposed on Iran are having economic effects “even stronger than we anticipated” and that the United States expects that Europeans will see that the “choice between doing business with Iran or doing business with the United States is very clear.”

Iran figured prominently in discussions between Bolton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 24 August 2018

U.S. Goes for 'Space Force All the Way'

Viewpoint by Alice Slater*, The Hill

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – […] Vice-President Mike Pence announced the Trump administration’s plan for a new military command, the U.S. Space Force, emphasizing President Donald Trump’s urging that “It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space: we must have American dominance in space.” Pence’s announcement was greeted by Trump, tweeting in response, “Space Force all the way!”

Pence’s rationale for this disturbing expansion of U.S. militarization to the heavens is that “our adversaries”, Russia and China, “have been working to bring new weapons of war into space itself” that pose a threat to American satellites.