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Viewpoint by Charlotte Munns
Charlotte Munns is a London-based freelance writer who has specialized in English Literature and Middle Eastern Studies at Columbia University, New York
LONDON (IDN) – John Bolton's 'The Room Where It Happened' opens with a bizarre epigraph touting the British triumph over Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo. To liken Bolton's 'tell-all' memoir of the Trump administration to the actions that destroyed an empire is a stretch, to say the least.
Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene
The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.
ABUJA (IDN) – After three and a half years of his presidency, US President Donald Trump appears to have exhausted all surprises in the bag, except, of course, the next one. And that next one could be the big one: Will Trump leave the White House if he loses the presidency on November 3?
Discussions about it first started in hushed tones and informal offline chats. But as poll after poll predicted a bleak future for Trump, discussions about his reaction to a possible defeat have been forced into the open.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW (IDN) – Russia and the United States, since the end of the Cold War, have had confrontations on many issues, and it is highly unlikely if both will ever find something in common. There have been differences on regional issues from the Middle East and North Africa through Asia to Europe. Now the latest, that has drawn both global leaders into sharp antagonism is the proposed [re]deployment of US military forces from Germany to Poland.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – A brilliant red sky at dusk can be seen in states along the Atlantic but the eye-popping show should be watched with some caveats. Things to consider when it comes to the dust cloud include the size of the particles, the concentration and the composition of the particles.
When it comes to size, approximately 30 per cent of the dust coming from the Sahara is considered to be "fine". "Typically, the smaller particles can penetrate deeper into the lungs and the health impacts become more [serious]," says Dr. K. Max Zhang from Cornell University's School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
By Jaya Ramachandran
GENEVA (IDN) – Governor Denny Tamaki of Okinawa district has rejected the U.S. plans to base on the island missiles capable of threatening China – apparently as part of President Donald Trump's move to challenge Beijing and upgrade the importance of Taiwan, 500 kilometres away from the island. If a plan for Okinawa to host such missiles were to develop, Tamaki said: "I can easily imagine fierce opposition from Okinawa residents."
Society doesn't need a large group with a license to kill.
Viewpoint by Justin Podur *
Justin Podur is a Toronto-based writer and a writing fellow at Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute. You can find him on his website at podur.org and on Twitter @justinpodur. He teaches at York University in the Faculty of Environmental Studies. He is the author of the novel Siegebreakers.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW (IDN) – The rescheduling of the Group of Seven (G7) summit from late June to September and Russia's participation alongside with South Korea, Australia, India and South Korea has sparked discussions among both Russian officials and experts.
The Kremlin reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump had discussed in a telephone call, at the initiative of the U.S., the situation concerning Covid-19 pandemic, the Crew Dragon spacecraft launch, the Group of Seven (G7) summit as well as the situation on the oil market.
Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Jainendra Karn *
NEW DELHI (IDN) – Thomas Friedman first put forward the Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention in 1996 which claimed that no two countries that both had McDonald's had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald's.
However, life has its own logic and cannot be interpreted in binaries. The Western logic is rooted in the Greek traditions and is binary, whereas the logic in the Eastern traditions can be multi-dimensional such as the four valued Chatushkoti logic of the Vedas or Buddhism used by scholars like Patanjali and Panini, or seven valued Saptabhangi of the Jainas. It helps one get a bigger, better and richer picture of life.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – A world court designed to investigate allegations of human rights violations has found itself in the crosshairs of the President of the United States.
A new Trump executive order threatening the court’s operations has been condemned by prominent global institutions and individuals as it appears to give cover to human rights abuses committed in the course of U.S. foreign wars while demanding accountability from foreign countries in similar circumstances.
Viewpoint by René Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens
GENEVA (IDN) — "For nearly a half a century — almost as long as the United Nations has been in existence — the General Assembly has recognized the need to establish such a court to prosecute and punish persons responsible for crimes such as genocide. Many thought that the horrors of the Second World War — the camps, the cruelty, the exterminations, the Holocaust — could never happen again. And yet they have.
"In Cambodia, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Rwanda. Our time — this decade even— has shown us that man’s capacity for evil knows no limits. Genocide is now a word of our time too, a heinous reality that calls for a historic response." — Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General from January 1997 to December 2006.
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