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Photo: © Flickr/fibonacciblue. Source: Strategic Culture Foundation.

How the US Regime ‘Justifies’ the ‘Theft’ of Syria’s Oil

Viewpoint by Eric Zuesse *

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – On October 26, the New York Times headlined “Keep the Oil’: Trump Revives Charged Slogan for New Syria Troop Mission” and opened by saying that “in recent days, Mr. Trump has settled on Syria’s oil reserves as a new rationale for appearing to reverse course and deploy hundreds of additional troops to the war-ravaged country.”

They closed with a statement from Bruce Riedel, retired from the CIA: “‘Let’s say he does do it,’ Mr. Riedel said. ‘Let’s say we establish the precedent that we are in the Middle East to take the oil. The symbolism is really bad.’”

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 31 October 2019

Photo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi with European parliamentarians on October 28, 2019. Source: Countercurrents.

Far-Right European Parliamentarians Visit Kashmir

By Countercurrents Collective

This article is the 9th in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

NEW DELHI (IDN) – The 27-member delegation of European Parliament members visited the troubled region of Jammu and Kashmir. It’s the first foreign delegation allowed to visit Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019.

: South Asia Bureau; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 30 October 2019

Photo: Filipe Nyusi, President, Republic of Mozambique at Chatham House on 17 April 2018. Credit: Suzanne Plunkett 2018

Frelimo, Renamo Tear Up Peace Pact After Elections ‘Tarnished by Fraud’

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Hopes for a lasting peace between longtime rivals Frelimo and Renamo are fading fast as a recent vote for president of the southern African nation of Mozambique has been muddied by claims of fraud, unjustified use of state resources, as well as sporadic violence including the murder of an election observer.

"An unlevel playing field was evident throughout the campaign," a member of the European Mission was reported to say.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 30 October 2019

Photo: Canadian author Margaret Atwood (left) and British author Bernardine Evaristo (right) have split the Booker Prize, after the judging panel ripped up the rule book and refused to name one winner for the prestigious fiction trophy. Source: Screenshot of YouTube of CBC/Radio-Canada.

Anglo-Nigerian Writer Awarded Major Literary Prize

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) - England’s most prestigious literary prize has been awarded to Bernadine Evaristo, an Anglo-Nigerian writer, for her eighth work of fiction, to be shared with Margaret Atwood, author of “The Testaments” in a surprise double award approved by the judging panel.

Of Nigerian and British parentage, Evaristo is the first black woman to win the Booker Prize, which honors the best novel of the year written in English and published in the UK and Ireland.

: Global Information Network; ARTS & CULTURE; 30 October 2019

Bring Women at the Peace Table, Build from the Grassroots to the Tree Tops

“Some people change when they see the light; others when they feel the heat”. – Caroline Schoeder, former U.S. Congress member

Viewpoint by Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

GENEVA (IDN) – The UN Security Council Resolution 1325 of 2000 is a commitment to work resolutely toward greater protection of women and girls in conflict zones, to appoint more women in UN peacekeeping operations and ensuring that women would increasingly become more active participants in decision-making processes, especially at “peace table” negotiations.

: Rene Wadlow; OPINION; 30 October 2019

Photo: Women of Afghanistan stand outside the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Credit: Eric Draper | The White House.

The Afghans Have to Find Their Own Way

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – It’s the most repeated maxim in all the reportage on the war in Afghanistan: “The Americans have the watches, we, the Taliban, have the time.”

“Play it again, Sam” was said in “Casablanca”. It should be played, said and listened to in Kabul and Washington today. This is America’s longest war ever – 18 years and counting. It has cost over one trillion dollars and taken 2,500 American lives. President Barack Obama, blind-sided by the generals, he confided later, pumped up the numbers of troops to 100,000.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 29 October 2019

Argentine Diplomat Is New Head of the UN Nuclear Agency IAEA

By Jamshed Baruah

NEW YORK | VIENNA (IDN) – Nearly three months after the death of Yukiya Amano of Japan, Rafael Mariano Grossi of Argentina has been elected as the sixth Director General of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). His election by the majority of the Agency’s board on October 29 nearly coincides with the election of the Centre-left opposition candidate Alberto Fernández as president of Argentina.

: Jamshed Baruah; UN INSIDER; 29 October 2019

UN’s Chemical Watchdog Bashed for Report on Alleged Chemical Attack in Syria

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – A panel of experts has bashed the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for “unacceptable practices” in the investigation of the alleged chemical attack in Douma in Syrian civil war on April 7, 2018. The panel was convened on October 15, 2019 in Brussels by the Courage Foundation, “an international organisation that supports those who risk life or liberty to make significant contributions to the historical record”.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; Middle East & North Africa; 28 October 2019

Photo credit: Roscongress Foundation | Danila Vorobyov

A Glimpse of Russian Policy of Writing Off African Debts

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – President Vladimir Putin hosted the first Russia-Africa summit on October 23-24 in the greatest display of Moscow's efforts to restore its geopolitical foothold on the continent after the historical collapse of the Soviet era.

Russia had played rather a crucial role in the continent during the Soviet era, supporting independence movements and training government leaders in former Soviet client states such as Angola, Ethiopia and a few others. Moscow's relations with Africa deteriorated after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, with China taking over as the continent's key foreign business partner.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 28 October 2019

ACP-EU-IOM Join to Combat Refugee Crisis Across Africa

By Jeffrey Moyo

CHIPINGE, Zimbabwe (IDN) – When he fled from his country’s 1994 genocide, now 63-year old Iradukunda Nyaruyonga, a Rwandese national had four teenage children whose education he thought had been prematurely ended by the civil war in the home country. Now, despite having grown up in a refugee camp, Nyaruyonga’s children are counted amongst great achievers domiciled in Zimbabwe.