By J Nastranis NEW YORK | 24 March 2024 (IDN) — A new UN report has warned of an emerging ‘democracy paradox’, aggravating inequality, substantial economic concentration in the hands of the rich few, coupled with protectionism taking the upper hand over multilateralism, and rampant political polarization protection’democracy paradox’ and protectionism coupled with political polarization […]
A Growing Water Crisis Risks Military Conflicts & Undermines UN’s Development Goals
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 23 March 2024 (IDN) — The volatile politics of the Middle East have long been dominated by the fluctuating fortunes of a single treasured commodity: Oil. “Whenever we dig for water in our parched deserts”, a diplomat from the Middle East once confessed, “we end up striking oil”. But […]
UN Greets the Adoption of Robust Blueprint to End Women’s Poverty
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK | 23 March 2024 (IDN) — UN Member States have pledged to boost financing and institutions to eradicate women’s and girls’ poverty. The outcome document (or Agreed Conclusions) of the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) points out that women and girls living in poverty […]
Apologists for Israel’s Mass Murder in Gaza Fall Back on “Antisemitism” Claims
By Norman Solomon* SAN FRANCISCO | 22 March 2024 (IDN) — If we condemn Hamas for its 7 October attacks in Israel, we’re not accused of anti-Arab bigotry. Nor should we be. Nothing could possibly justify the atrocities that Hamas committed against hundreds of civilians, who were the majority of the 1,200 people killed as […]
No China Railway as Marcos Tilts Towards the US
By Kalinga Seneviratne DAVAO, Philippines | 22 March 2023 (IDN)—After being elected to the presidency in a landslide vote in June 2016, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte visited China in October and declared that his country was realigning its foreign policy to move closer to China. He was accompanied by 400 Filipino business executives and returned […]
Human Rights Groups Call for Suspension of US Arms Supplies to Israel
By Thalif Deen NEW YORK | 21 March 2024 (IDN) — As the disproportionate death toll of Palestinian civilians reach over an estimated 30,000—in retaliation for the October 7 killings of 1,200 Israelis by Hamas—there is a continued growing demand for the suspension or restriction of US arms to Israel. The US, which is the […]
US Should Create a Strategic Alliance to Stop Iran in Its Tracks
By Dr Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 21 March 2024 (IDN) — Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, the US has not developed a long-term strategy toward Iran but instead has made tactical moves to deal with the various conflicting issues with Tehran as they arose. Conversely, from the time the clergy assumed power, Iran […]
Photoshopping Princess and The Perils of Manipulation
By Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA | 21 March 2024 (IDN) — The press has been unkind to Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales. I find it hard to understand why, of all the problems at this time, from the cost-of-living crisis to the […]
Sudan Will Soon Be the World’s Worst Hunger Crisis
By Edem Wosornu The author is Director of Operations and Advocacy of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Following are extensive excerpts from his Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Sudan. NEW YORK | 21 March 2024 (IDN) — In resolution 2417, you asked the Secretary-General […]
Small Island Developing States Meet in Antigua and Barbuda in May
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK | 20 March 2024 (IDN)—When the last International Conference on Small Island Developing States was held in 2014, there was no COVID-19 pandemic and no global economic recession and much fewer geopolitical tensions. The climate emergency, while present, had not reached the heights it has today. This year, as the […]