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By Norman Solomon
SAN FRANCISCO, March 17 2023 (IDN) — Vast quantities of lies from top U.S. government officials led up to the Iraq invasion. Now, marking its 20th anniversary, the same media outlets that eagerly boosted those lies are offering retrospectives. Don’t expect them to shed light on the most difficult truths, including their own complicity in pushing for war.
By Azu Ishiekwene
The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.
ABUJA, 16 March 2023 (IDN) — For the third time since 1999, I voted at a general election on February 25 and did so without much hassle. I knew my candidates would lose at the unit where I voted, but that didn’t matter. Voting mattered more.
The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) processed me so quickly it was almost like magic. I had no reason to suspect my experience would not be the norm that day.
By Jim Garamone, DOD News
This article was issued by U.S. Department of Defense.
WASHINGTON, D.C., 16 March 2023 (IDN) — Africa is a tremendously diverse continent with many cultures, languages, threats and opportunities that U.S. planners need to consider, said Marine Corps Gen. Michael Langley, the commander of U.S. Africa Command during an interview.
The nations of the continent do have one big commonality: They prefer to solve African problems with African solutions, the general said.
By Mona Ali Khalil
This article was issued by Passblue and is being reproduced with due acknowledgement.
NEW YORK, 16 March 2023 (IDN) — China launched its 12-point position paper to end the war in Ukraine on the first anniversary of Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine. Some, including the United States, the European Union and NATO have dismissed what they call China’s peace plan as pro-Russian. The US further claimed that “China is seriously exploring supplying arms to Russia.” China has categorically denied the US claims and consistently maintained that it “will continue firmly standing on the side of dialogue and the side of peace.”
By Arul Louis
The writer is a New York-based non-resident senior fellow of the Society for Policy Studies, a New Delhi-based think tank. He can be contacted @arulouis.
UNITED NATIONS, 16 March 2023 (IDN) — After an almost two-year delay during which India’s importance rose for US diplomacy, Washington will finally have an envoy in New Delhi with Eric Garcetti’s nomination clearing the Senate with Republican help on March 15.
![Image: Wang Yi (center), a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, with representatives from Saudi Arabia and Iran in Beijing. [Photo by Wang Jing / China Daily]](/images/saudi-china-iran.jpeg)
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, 15 March 2023 (IDN) — Saudi Arabia and Iran— two archrivals in the Middle East who severed links seven years ago—re-established diplomatic, political and economic relations last week (15 March) in a historic deal brokered by China, one of the world’s major nuclear powers.
Described as a victory for Chinese diplomacy in a volatile region which for long has been the happy hunting grounds of the United States, the rapprochement between a strong ally of the US and a longstanding ally of the Russians and the Chinese was one of the glorious uncertainties of Middle Eastern politics.
By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies*
NEW YORK, 15 March 2023 (IDN) — March 19th marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq. This seminal event in the short history of the 21st century not only continues to plague Iraqi society to this day, but it also looms large over the current crisis in Ukraine, making it impossible for most of the Global South to see the war in Ukraine through the same prism as U.S. and Western politicians.
By John Scales Avery*
COPENHAGEN, 15 March 2023 (IDN) — It appears that the military-industrial complex has complete control of the government of the United States, which recently voted to give the Pentagon roughly a trillion dollars of the taxpayer's money. This was done by cutting back on social programs which would have helped poor working families.
By Greg Fry and Terence Wesley-Smith*
SUVA, Fiji, 15 March 2023 (IDN) — In his recently published article “Sea of many flags”, the head of the ANU National Security College Rory Medcalf makes the case for why Pacific Island states should regard the deep regional involvement of a Western coalition of powers, “quietly” led by Australia, as an effective and attractive “Pacific way to dilute China’s influence”.
By Jonathan Power*
LUND, Sweden, 15 March 2023 (IDN) — “George, you have to understand that Ukraine is not even a country. Part of its territory is in Eastern Europe and the greater part was given to us.” These were the ominous words of President Vladimir Putin of Russia to President George W. Bush in Bucharest, Romania, at a NATO summit in April 2008.
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