THE WORLD

Image: US President Barrack Obama (left) and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (right) signing the New START Treaty on 8 April 2020 in Prague. Source: White House

US-Russia Nuclear Treaty in Danger of Breaking Down

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The growing nuclear threats from Russia—the last one from President Vladimir Putin himself—have resulted in a negative fallout for a landmark treaty between two of the world’s major nuclear powers.

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1) between the US and the then Soviet Union—on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive weapons—was signed on 31 July 1991, entered into force on 5 December 1994 and later extended through 4 February 2026 heralding a New START Treaty.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 07 February 2023

Image: Congolese carrying signs reading “Saints at Once”. Source: Vatican News

Pope Ends African Journey Calling for End to Gun Violence

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Pope Francis departed from South Sudan along with over 70 journalists aboard the papal plane bound for Rome, marking the conclusion of his 6-day Apostolic Journey to South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

His first public words in DR Congo set the tone for his visit.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 February 2023

Image: Cameroonian President Paul Biya. Credit: Ghana Business News

Africa Confronts an Aged Leadership Unwilling to Retire

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — African leaders serving 20 or more years in office are drawing the attention of critics who question their ability to run a country after so many years.

Suspicions about the stability of Cameroonian President Paul Biya, age 89, were raised in a recent issue of Ghana Business News. According to some observers, Biya, seen in a video at the US-Africa Leadership Summit in Washington DC, appeared listless, absent-minded, confused and unaware of his environment.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 February 2023

Image: Eritrean refugees detained in Libya. Source: Eritrea Hub.

New Study Reveals Awful Human Trafficking Trails to Libya

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) — Eritrean refugees are trafficked and enslaved in Libya, where they are tortured, abused and raped by slave traders to force family members to pay ransom for their release. If they escape and make it to the Mediterranean Sea, they risk being intercepted and sent back to Libya or dying at sea.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 05 February 2023

Image: A scene from Russia-Ukraine War. Credit: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Is Europe Sliding into Third World War?

By Boaventura de Sousa Santos*

COIMBRA, Portugal (IDN) — A new-old ghost is hovering over Europe—war. The most violent continent in the world in terms of deaths in warfare for the last hundred years (not to go back any further and include the deaths suffered by Europe during religious wars and the deaths inflicted by Europeans on peoples subjected to colonialism) is heading for a new war.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Ukraine War; 05 February 2023

Image: Russian Ballistic Missile. Credit: © Ladislav Karpov/TASS

Russia Urged to Comply with New START Inspections

By Arms Control Association (ACA)

WASHINGTON DC (IDN) — Experts from the Arms Control Association called upon Russia to comply with its obligations to allow for on-site inspections to verify compliance with the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and to engage in further nuclear disarmament diplomacy with the United States.

: Arms Control Association; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 03 February 2023

UN Asks Libya to Address Serious Rights Violations

Independent Experts Were on Fact-Finding Mission

By Reinhardt Jacobsen

BRUSSELS | TRIPOLI (IDN) — Libyan authorities must take decisive steps to provide justice and redress to the vast number of victims suffering from longstanding violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Libya said after its final visit to the country.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 03 February 2023

Crossing Russia's Red Lines on NATO Expansion

U.S. Officials Were Aware of the Risks

Viewpoint by Branko Marcetic

This article is distributed by Globetrotter in partnership with the American Committee for U.S.-Russia Accord. Branko Marcetic is a Jacobin staff writer and the author of Yesterday’s Man: The Case Against Joe Biden.

CHICAGO (IDN) — Nearly a year in, the war in Ukraine has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and brought the world to the brink of, in President Joe Biden’s own words, “Armageddon.” Alongside the literal battlefield, there has been a similarly bitter intellectual battle over the war’s causes.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Russia; 03 February 2023

Image: Penny Wong. Source: Foreign Affairs Ministry of Australia

Australian FM Urges Britain to Confront Its Colonial Past in Asia

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — In a landmark speech at King's College London, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong has urged Britain to confront its colonial past if it wanted to strengthen and build new ties in the Indo-Pacific.

Malaysian-born Wong said that Britain and other countries should strive to shed staying "sheltered in narrower versions" of their histories. Recalling that her grandmother worked as a servant to British colonial masters in Borneo, she noted that such stories would sometimes be uncomfortable for both those who tell them and those who hear them.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 02 February 2023

African Leaders Unite in Pledge to End AIDS In Children

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) — Every five minutes, a child dies from AIDS-related causes. While three-quarters of adults (76 per cent) are on life-saving treatment, only half (52 per cent) of children living with HIV are receiving antiretrovirals.

Despite the fact that only 4 per cent of the total number of people living with HIV are children, children account for 15% of all AIDS-related deaths, according to the 2021 figures available to the World Health Organization (WHO).