By Kester Kenn Klomegah MOSCOW (IDN) – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa to join Beijing and “stand firm by multilateralism, by the UN-centered international system” and “champion the approach of consultation and cooperation”. China and the four countries comprise BRICS. The group’s member countries collectively represent about […]
Africa Can Still Be on the Top
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Africa is suffering a double whammy after many years of success. The Coronavirus, while not taking down great numbers of people like in Europe, Asia and the Americas, has had a severe impact by curbing its exports in the face of the formers’ severe economic depression. For […]
On the Run Rwanda Genocide Suspect Nabbed in French Hideout
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Twenty-six years after financing the Rwandan genocide, wealthy businessman and most wanted fugitive, Felicien Kabuga, was nabbed in an upscale French hideout. It was a relief for prosecutors of the Rwandan Genocide tribunal who feared the 84-year-old Kabuga could die a free man. He stands […]
Eminent Chomsky Says Trump a ‘Sociopathic Megalomaniac’
By Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams PORTLAND, USA (IDN) – World-renowned intellectual and author Noam Chomsky called U.S. President Donald Trump a “sociopathic megalomaniac” whose leadership drove the U.S. to become “singularly unprepared” for the coronavirus pandemic. Chomsky’s fresh criticism of the president came in an interview with Agence France-Presse published May 25. “The White House,” […]
‘Abolition 2000’ Warns Against Resumption of Nuclear Testing
By Radwan Jakeem NEW YORK (IDN) – “Resumption of nuclear explosive testing is absolutely unacceptable. Even discussing nuclear testing again is dangerously destabilizing,” the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons has warned. Such testing would, in any case, be in contravention of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBTO), signed by the United States, […]
India Pivots to The United States to Balance China
Viewpoint by C Raja Mohan The writer is Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies at The National University of Singapore. This article first appeared on EastAsiaForum on 19 May 2020. A longer version is available in the most recent edition of East Asia Forum Quarterly, ‘Middle Power Game’, Vol. 12 No. 1. SINGAPORE (IDN) […]
COVID-19: How the U.S. Ignored the Chinese and WHO Warnings
Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad* This article was produced by Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute. KOLKATA, India (IDN) – On March 20, just after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic on March 11, the U.S. National Security Council (NSC) sent a cable to U.S. State Department instructing officials how they […]
China Abandons the Strategy of Persuasion and Compromise
Viewpoint by Vijay Gokhale This article by a former Foreign Secretary of India and a former Ambassador to China first appeared on The Hindu on 20 March 2020. It is republished because of an insider’s view of the changing nature of China’s diplomacy characterised by unilateralism and a one-size-fits-all approach. “China, post-COVID-19, will be operating […]
NPT’s 50th Anniversary Encourages 17 Signatories To Remind Five Nuclear-Weapons States of Their Commitments
By UN Bureau NEW YORK (IDN) – The upcoming 2020 Review Conference of a landmark international treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, presents “a timely opportunity for the States Parties to undertake a comprehensive review and assessment” of its current status, says the Joint Communiqué issued on […]
India’s Kerala Is Combating COVID-19 Through Participatory Governance
By Yadul Krishna* NEW DELHI (IDN) – The left-ruled Indian State of Kerala remains in the global spot for its effective and efficient measures in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. The state subjugated the Indian news headlines, projecting its potential, strength and humane approach to the outer world, leaving an operative model that other states can […]