By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden, 16 May 2023 (IDN) — Maybe, after all, there is an argument for saying that the world needs more violence not less if we are to make its societies more equal. This is one conclusion we can derive from Walter Scheidel’s important book, “The Great Leveller”. He starts from what […]
Thai People Want Change. And the Conservative-Military Elite?
By Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS, 16 May 2023 (IPS) — 39.5 million (or 75% of registered) Thai voters flocked to the polls on 14 May in a hotly contested election that will determine whether Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, the general who seized power in a 2014 coup, will be overthrown by his rivals. There is a […]
Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT: It’s Potential & Its Dangers
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 16 May 2023 (IDN) — The world is currently experiencing one of the fastest advances in modern technology: the AI Chat GPT search engine, which has generated both curiosity and skepticism. At a White House May 4 meeting of executives from Google, Microsoft, Anthropic and OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, […]
After Historic Apology, Fiji Moves to Build a New Nation
By Kalinga Seneviratne SUVA, Fiji, 15 May 2023 (IDN) — In an emotionally charged “Reconciliation and Thanksgiving” service organized by Fiji’s Methodist Church—the country’s largest Christian denomination—the President of the church Reverend Ili Vunisuwai and Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka apologized to the Indo-Fijian community for the suffering and insults they have endured in Fiji’s post- […]
African Migrants Finding Sanctuary in US Maine
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 15 May 2023 (IDN) — An African migrant crisis in southern Maine, the easternmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States? Newly arrived asylum seekers have been overwhelming several Maine cities, straining municipal budgets to the breaking point. Surprising to some, many of […]
How Hopes for A Sudanese Spring Failed to Take Hold
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 15 May 2023 (IDN) — Since independence six decades earlier, through long stretches of military rule interrupted only by brief spells of democracy, Sudanese citizens began to dream of freedom. They had suffered enough.
Doomsday Cult in Kenya Had White Supremacist Roots
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 15 May 2023 (IDN) — Cults are common in Kenya, which has a religious society. But the toll taken by the lead pastor has horrified Kenyans and governing officials who are set to prosecute Paul Mackenzie for terrorism-related offenses. Mackenzie, his wife and 16 other suspects will […]
A 21st Century Freeze on Nuclear Weapons: Will it be a Reality?
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 13 May 2023 (IDN) — US Senator Edward Markey (Democrat from Massachusetts) announced plans on May 4 to re-introduce legislation that would establish a 21st century freeze on the testing, production, and deployment of nuclear weapons. A former US army reservist and co-president of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament […]
Nuclear Energy: Problem and Solution
By Leonam dos Santos Guimarães Capt. (ret.) Brazilian Navy* Climate change and a third world war are the two main threats looming over humanity today. Nuclear energy is closely linked to these two threats in a paradoxical way: in the first as a solution and in the second as a problem, says the writer. RIO […]
Ukraine War is Impacting the Global Nuclear Energy Market
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN (IDN) — In an effort to dismantle longstanding interdependencies with Russia, the West is disrupting global energy markets because of the Ukraine war. Despite the disruptions affecting most notably the trade in natural gas and oil, they have also impacted the global nuclear energy market, resulting in unpredictable consequences for global […]