By Neville de Silva* This article was issued by Asian Affairs (London). LONDON (IDN) — Not since the British left in 1948, handing over power to its former colony then known as Ceylon, has Sri Lanka suffered such economic calamity and political turmoil as in the year just ended. Struggling to survive under ever weightier […]
No Nuclear Weapon Can Save Iran from its Internal Strife
Viewpoint by Dr Alon Ben-Meir Dr Alon Ben-Meir, a retired professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU), taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies for over 20 years. NEW YORK (IDN) — Words from various officials in the know suggest that, although President Biden stated […]
Ageing Dalai Lama Attracts Huge Crowds to Buddhist Sacred Site
By Kalinga Seneviratne This article is the 51st in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship agency of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous reports. BODHGAYA, India (IDN) — The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, has just concluded a three-day speaking engagement here at Bodhgaya, known as […]
“In 2023, We Need Peace, Now More Than Ever”
By António Guterres, UN Secretary-General NEW YORK (IDN) — Every New Year is a moment of rebirth. We sweep out the ashes of the old year and prepare for a brighter day. In 2022, millions of people around the world literally swept out ashes. From Ukraine to Afghanistan to the Democratic Republic of the Congo […]
UN Concerned About 10 Million People Detained Worldwide
They are Threatened with Torture & ill-Treatment By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — According to a joke that was circulating in Washington political circles in a bygone era, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s notorious torture chamber in the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad—once held up as a symbol of barbarity—was never shut down. After the […]
Russia Mediates Turkish-Syrian Reconciliation Process
Erdogan Avenges the American Betrayal Viewpoint by M.K. Bhadrakumar* This article was produced in partnership with Indian Punchline and Globetrotter. NEW DELHI (IDN) — The curtain is coming down on the brutal 11-year-old Syrian conflict, which former US President and Nobel Laureate Barack Obama initiated as the Arab Spring swept through West Asia two decades […]
India and Australia to Boost Ties Through Unity Agreement
By Shastri Ramachandaran MELBOURNE (IDN) — The unprecedented benefits expected to flow both ways from the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), which came into force on December 30, are by now well-known in the two countries. Both India and Australia are upbeat about the ECTA, called the Unity Agreement, as a ground-breaking measure […]
Is the Iran Nuclear Deal Dead or Alive?
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — U.S. President Joe Biden’s off-the-cuff remark, describing the nuclear deal with Iran as “dead”, has led to widespread speculation about the future of the landmark agreement—and of the potential emergence of new nuclear powers in the horizon. “It is dead, but we’re not going to announce it,” Biden […]
Nigerian Military Performed “Forcible Abortions on Thousands”
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — U.S. security assistance and cooperation programs with Nigeria are facing a review after an investigation by a Reuters news team found evidence of a secret illegal abortion program carried out by the Nigerian military during its war against an insurgency in the largely Muslim northeast […]
The Ukraine War: Paving the Road to a World War with ‘Peace Plans’?
Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK (IDN) — On December 27, 2022, both Russia and Ukraine issued calls for ending the war in Ukraine, but only on non-negotiable terms that they each know the other side would reject. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Kuleba proposed a “peace summit” in February 2023 to […]