OPINION

Image: The U.S.-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership being signed by U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken (right) and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Washington, D.C. on November 10, 2021.

Ukraine Conflict: Why Won’t Europe Call for an End to This War?

Viewpoint by Boaventura de Sousa Santos

This article was produced by Globetrotter. Boaventura de Sousa Santos is the emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Coimbra in Portugal. His most recent book is Decolonizing the University: The Challenge of Deep Cognitive Justice.

COIMBRA, Portugal (IDN) — The North Atlantic media is entangled in an unprecedented information war. It is characterized by a relentless erosion of the distinction between facts and the manipulation of emotions and perceptions, between conjectures and unassailable truths.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 04 May 2022

“Debt Shaming” Has Dampened Democracy

Viewpoint by India Walton*

BUFFALO, NEW YORK (IDN) — When I ran for mayor of Buffalo, New York, last year, my past-due parking tickets became a major reason for reduced favorability among voters. When Stacy Abrams ran for governor of Georgia in 2018, there was a lot of talk in the mainstream media about how much debt she was in.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 04 May 2022

Climate Action Is a Matter of Global Justice

By Annalena Baerbock

Following is the text of a speech by Germany's Minister of Foreign Affairs at the “Sustaining Peace amidst the Climate Crisis: The Role of Data Science, Technology & Innovation" Conference on May 2-3 in Berlin.

BERLIN (IDN) — The climate crisis is a threat to our world, to our lives.

Many of you have known this for years.

Many of us in Germany realised that vividly last year, when deadly floods killed almost two hundred people in our country.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 03 May 2022

Image: Swedish and NATO flags. Source: NATO

Sweden Is Playing with Fire as It Plans to Join NATO

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

This article builds on a column of 1974 the author wrote for the New York Times. It was the most prominent article printed that day on the op-ed page. Over a long career, he has developed those ideas and the following is the result.

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Sweden has been a different land from almost every other. If we overlook Sweden’s military contribution on the side of the US in Afghanistan when it deployed a mere 500 troops, it’s been 206 years since it went to war—and lost to Norway, which then achieved its independence. Immediately before that, it lost two wars to Russia—in 1790 and earlier in 1721.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 03 May 2022

Photo: Congressional Progressive Caucus. Credit: progressivegov.org

US Progressives Can’t Depend on the Congressional Progressive Caucus

By Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon*

SAN FRANCISCO, USA (IDN) — Sometimes one decision speaks volumes. And so it was when the Congressional Progressive Caucus—with 98 members in the House—recently chose to have its PAC endorse a corporate “moderate” against the strong progressive candidate Nina Turner.

In the process, the Progressive Caucus underscored its loyalty to establishment Democrats while damaging its credibility among progressives nationwide.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 03 May 2022

Image: March 1, 1954 "Castle Bravo" Thermonuclear Explosion on Bikini Atoll. Credit: Peacecorpsonline.com

Blown to Hell: America’s Deadly Betrayal of the Marshall Islanders

Reviewed by Desmond Narain Doulatram*

The book by Walter Pincus (Diversion Books, November 2021) was reviewed in Arms Control Today.

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (IDN) — Many researchers have written extensively on the nuclear history of the Marshall Islands, but these publications have not benefited the indigenous Marshallese population justly. Ultimately, it is the Marshallese, not outsiders, who live with the consequences of these circulated narratives, which focus on the environmental and human impact of more than 60 nuclear tests conducted by the United States in their region from 1946 to 1958.¹

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 02 May 2022

The Ukraine Conflict Is Leading to the Suicide of Reason

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio *

This article was issued by Meer and is being re-published with the author's permission.

ROME (IDN) — It seems to me that after six weeks of conflict we have to take stock of the conflict, looking at which of the actors have got any profit: the famous latin cui prodest... and we see clearly that nobody has gained anything, and that we are in a period of the suicide of reason.

: Roberto Savio; OPINION; 28 April 2022

Photo: Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III poses for his official portrait (cropped). Credit: Pentagon, Jan 23, 2021.

US Strategic Goal Of "Weakening Russia" Is Playing with Fire

Viewpoint by John Burroughs

This article was issued by Common Dreams and is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. The author is a Senior Analyst for the New York City-based Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy.

NEW YORK (IDN) — Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin provided a revealing and disturbing glimpse into a darker element of US policy at a press conference held on April 25 at the Poland/Ukraine border. The press event followed a trip to Kyiv by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Austin.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 27 April 2022

Image source: Young Partnership for Peace and Development

The Media Needs a Total Reformation—Not Just a Reform Here and There

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

This article builds on a column of 1974 the author wrote for the New York Times. It was the most prominent article printed that day on the op-ed page. Over a long career, he has developed those ideas and the following is the result.

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — A famous Fleet Street press lord once pinned up a notice in his paper's newsroom. It read: “One Englishman is a story. Ten Frenchmen is a story. One hundred Germans is a story. One thousand Indians is a story. Nothing ever happens in Chile.”

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 27 April 2022

Image: President Biden speaks with the media at the conclusion of the U.S-Russia Summit in Geneva, June 2021. Credit: U.S. Embassy Bern Switzerland / Flickr, Creative Commons

Russian and US Parallel Pathways to a Nuclear Conflict

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

Viewpoint by Ramesh Thakur

CANBERRA, Australia (IDN) — In the 2020 election, President Donald Trump’s supporters looked beyond manifest character flaws to domestic and foreign policy results but opponents couldn’t overlook his character to assess any policy achievements. Joe Biden became president as much because Americans voted against Trump as for Biden. The buyers’ remorse evident in opinion polls suggests that perhaps voters should have been careful what they wished for.