USA and Canada

Photo: North Korea's Kim Jong Un has photo session with newly-elected members of Party and State leadership bodies. Credit: KCNA.

North Korea Stays in Focus Amid Talk About Next Summits

By Kelsey Davenport and Alicia Sanders-Zakre*

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump have both said they are willing to meet for a third summit but are looking for certain conditions to be met ahead of any meeting. Kim said the United States must be more flexible and Trump is looking for North Korea to demonstrate its willingness to give up nuclear weapons.

U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton said in an April 17 interview with Bloomberg that Washington is looking for a “real indication from North Korea that they’ve made the strategic decision to give up nuclear weapons.”

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 19 April 2019

Call for Renewed U.S.-Russian Strategic Dialogue

By Daryl G. Kimball*

WASHINGTON , D.C. (IDN-INPS) – In the latest in a series of expert conferences and dialogues in Moscow and Washington, a group of distinguished U.S. and Russian experts released a public statement calling on U.S. and Russian officials to get back to the arms control negotiating table, with the first order of business being agreement on a five-year extension of the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), as allowed for in Article XIV of the treaty, and talks designed to head-off new arms competition in the wake of the likely termination of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

: Daryl G. Kimball; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 12 April 2019

Photo: Sengalese at cultural parade in Harlem in New York. Photo: Alamy | Richard Levine | Source: Africa Renewal.

African Migrants Strive to Preserve Their Cultural Heritage

By Sharon Birch-Jeffrey*

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – To experience a taste of African culture deep inside the Big Apple, visitors – including many Senegalese – turn to Le Petit Senegal (Little Senegal), a West African neighborhood in West Harlem, New York.

African grocery shops, fabric stores, hair braiding parlors and regional restaurants sit shoulder to shoulder along the streets. The Sandaga Market of Little Senegal showcases a strong blend of African cultures, customs and languages, symbolizing efforts by African immigrants to project and protect their cultural identities.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 08 April 2019

Photo: Kamala Harris announcing her candidacy for the presidency, on January 27, 2019. CC BY 3.0

Democrats Lining Up to Try to Take on President Donald Trump

By Radwan Jakeem

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) – After months of speculation about who might run for president in 2020, the Democratic field appears to be set. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some stragglers who have yet to commit one way or another, but for all intents and purposes it appears we know who’s in the race.

What brought us to this point most recently, really, was the announcement by Beto O’Rourke, the three-term congressman from El Paso who narrowly lost a high-profile senate race to Republican Ted Cruz.

: Jaya Ramachandran; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 05 April 2019

Photo: The Ohio-class USS Nebraska submarine returns to port in Washington in 2018. The Trump administration is seeking funds to complete development of low-yield nuclear warheads for submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Credit: Michael Smith/U.S. Navy.

2020 Trump Budget Aims to Boost U.S. Nuclear Capabilities

Viewpoint by Kingston A. Reif

The writer is director for disarmament and threat reduction policy at Arms Control Association (ACA). This article appeared in Volume 49: April 2019 of the Association's monthly journal 'Arms Control Today'.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN-INPS) – .Consistent with the recommendations of the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2020 budget request would continue plans to expand U.S. nuclear weapon capabilities.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 03 April 2019

Photo: Operation Ajax, a British-funded, American-led coup against Mossadegh in Iran. Credit: Ajay Flickr/Jahangir Razmi

Forthcoming Book on CIA Meat for Global Criminal Court

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The International Criminal Court (ICC) which prosecutes crimes against humanity is under attack again by the Trump Administration for pursuing Americans. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama supported it. George W. Bush tried to close it down but then decided to cooperate with it. Donald Trump is against it and encouraged John Bolton, his National Security Advisor, to publicly savage it.

To be published in May is a revealing book on the CIA, about its paramilitary armies, operators and assassins. The book is still under wraps so I can’t break the embargo by telling you its title and author. All I can say is that it’s meat for the ICC.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 02 April 2019

Photo: Russian President Putin with U.S. counterpart Trump during the G20 Summit in Hamburg on July 7-8, 2017. Credit: en.kremlin.ru

Not Collusion with Russia but Trump’s Confrontational Policies Threaten Peace

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – President Donald Trump has been exonerated of collusion with Russia. As I wrote a while back, I expected this conclusion from the investigation carried out by Robert Mueller.

The big clue lay in Trump’s anti-Russian posture. Trump has continued the expansion of NATO which Russia, more than understandably, sees as a provocative, unfriendly and dangerous move. Then there is the unwillingness to step forward to negotiate an end to the Ukrainian situation.

: Jonathan Power; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 26 March 2019

Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeats threats to ICC. Credit: U.S. Department of State.

U.S. Threats Against International Criminal Court Under Fire

By Shanta Roy

NEW YORK (IDN) – The U.S. threat to penalize and impose economic sanctions against judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) – if they bring charges of war crimes against American troops in Afghanistan – has sparked an avalanche of criticisms from human rights groups, think tanks and civil society organizations (CSOs).

The strong protests have come from the World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy (WFM-IGP), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), among others.

: Shanta Roy; UN INSIDER; 24 March 2019

Photo: President Donald Trump is greeted by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on February 27, 2019, at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi, for their second summit meeting. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

Beyond the U.S.-North Korean Summits in Singapore and Hanoi

By Kelsey Davenport and Alicia Sanders-Zakre

The following appeared in Volume 11, Issue 5 of the Issue Brief of the Arms Control Association. Kelsey Davenport is director for nonproliferation policy, and Alicia Sanders-Zakre, research assistant.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – The second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended abruptly in Hanoi without any agreement on the next steps to advance the shared goals of denuclearization and peacebuilding on the Korean peninsula. While both Trump and Kim described the meeting [February 27-28, 2019] as valuable and appeared committed to continuing dialogue, the future of the diplomatic process is unclear.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 22 March 2019

Photo: Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto (left), French President Emmanuel Macron and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta tour the Nairobi Central Railway station during a briefing tour on the progress of the proposed commuter rail service to JKIA on March 13,2019. Credit: Samuel Miring'u

France and U.S. Striking Different Notes In Africa

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – There were smiles all around in Kenya as French President Emmanuel Macron and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta shook hands over a series of infrastructure deals worth $3.3 billion.

It was the third stop on the French president's East African charm offensive – and the first-ever visit to Kenya by a French head of state.

France wants trade and commercial relationships that are "fair and profitable for the Kenyan people," Macron said. Alluding to Africa’s many relationships with China often freighted with debt, French investments would be respectful of the receiving country's sovereignty and sustainable, he pledged.