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Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf
This article was issued by Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission
What do the Biden administration's recent lonely foreign and security policy decisions imply for the EU? Perplexity and annoyance in Paris. Consternation in Brussels. Lots of open questions and no answers in Berlin.
Viewpoint by James W. Carden
This article was produced by Globetrotter in partnership with the American Committee for U.S.-Russia Accord. James W. Carden is a writing fellow at Globetrotter and a former adviser to the U.S. State Department. Previously, he was a contributing writer on foreign affairs at the Nation, and his work has also appeared in the Quincy Institute’s Responsible Statecraft, the American Conservative, Asia Times, and more. Source: Globetrotter.
Viewpoint by Jorge Heine
This article was issued by Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.
WATERLOO, ON Canada (IDN) — One joke making the rounds in Kabul’s diplomatic circles these days is that the power transition in Kabul from the Ghani government to that of the Taliban was smoother than the one that took place in Washington D.C. earlier this year. That may be a (slight) exaggeration, but there is little doubt that the swiftness with which the Taliban entered the Afghan capital caught most observers by surprise.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah*
MOSCOW (IDN) — Russian and foreign media have stepped up reports about rising Covid-19 infections. The reports also indicate high deaths in the country. Some new trends are noticeable. Interestingly, Tourism and Travel agencies have revealed that vaccine uptake has lagged in Russia and worse, due largely to mistrust, so many Russians are lining up for vaccine tourism in Serbia, Bulgaria and Germany and a few other foreign countries.
Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies*
NEW YORK (IDN) — President Biden and the Democratic Congress are facing a crisis as the popular domestic agenda they ran on in the 2020 election is held hostage by two corporate Democratic Senators, fossil-fuel consigliere Joe Manchin and payday-lender favorite Kyrsten Sinema.
But the very week before the Dems’ $350 billion-per-year domestic package hit this wall of corporate money-bags, all but 38 House Democrats voted to hand over more than double that amount to the Pentagon. Senator Manchin has hypocritically described the domestic spending bill as “fiscal insanity,” but he has voted for a much larger Pentagon budget every year since 2016.
Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball
The following statement by Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of The Arms Control Association, was issued on October 6, 2021.
WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) — The Biden administration’s decision to declassify updated information on the number of nuclear warheads in the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal is a welcome step that reverses an unwise decision by the Trump administration to classify this information. It also puts pressure on other nuclear armed states that maintain excessive secrecy about their arsenals, and highlights the need for further steps to reduce the number, role, and risk of nuclear weapons in the United States and world’s other eight nuclear-armed states.
Viewpoint by Shastri Ramachandaran*
NEW DELHI (IDN) — Recent developments—such as the pandemic’s impact, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, its nuclear submarine deal with Australia and the release of Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou—once again raise the question of whether the US remains the world’s sole superpower with its hegemony unchallenged. As is the wont in matters concerning the United States, analysts are divided on the subject, as they have been since the global financial crisis of 2008.
The writer, a scholar and practitioner, has taught at Yale, Brandeis, Mount Holyoke (where she received tenure), Georgetown, American and other universities and colleges in the U.S. and abroad.
COLOMBO (IDN) — On September 17, New Fortress Energy (NFE), a U.S.-based energy infrastructure company, signed a momentous legal agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL). The signing apparently took place in the dead of the night, at 12.06 a.m., and the foreigner who came for the signing swiftly returned to the U.S. on a flight at 2 a.m.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN) — On September 15 news broke that North Korea had test-fired two ballistic missiles off its east coast. On the same day, South Korea announced it had successfully tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile. The dangerous arms race between the contestants in what is in effect a civil war was wound up a few more notches. It has been going on for decades. Peace-making initiatives have been and gone. The Biden Administration and its partner (erstwhile?) in this endeavour, the Chinese government, appears to be treading water.
By Thalif Deen
NEW YORK (IDN) — A tripartite deal, under which the US and UK have joined hands, to provide a nuclear-powered submarine to Australia (AUKUS) has prompted anti-nuclear activists to express fears it may eventually lead to a new nuclear power in the region.
The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said the three nations had agreed to “a new enhanced trilateral security partnership”. The new arrangement, he asserted, “does not signal a move towards domestic nuclear power or nuclear weapons”.
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