THE WORLD

$Photo: Sierra Club president Ramón Cruz and director of energy campaigns Kelly Sheehan gather with Sierra Club staff and risk arrest on the White House fence. The protesters want the Biden administration to stop fracked gas exports, end fossil fuel subsidies, build back fossil free, and invest in local communities. | Credit: Dayna Reggero$

Biden Has Doubled Down on Trump’s Dangerous and Destabilizing Policies

Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies*

NEW YORK (IDN) — U.S. President Biden and the Democrats were highly critical of President Trump’s foreign policy, so it was reasonable to expect that Biden would quickly remedy its worst impacts. As a senior member of the Obama administration, Biden surely needed no schooling on Obama’s diplomatic agreements with Cuba and Iran, both of which began to resolve long-standing foreign policy problems and provided models for the renewed emphasis on diplomacy that Biden was promising.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 19 January 2022

Photo: A view of the Palacio de La Moneda (the seat of the President of the Republic of Chile) from the Constitution Square in downtown Santiago. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The New State of Chile Needs a New Army

Viewpoint by Alejandro Kirk*

This article was issued by Other News and is being republished with their permission.

SANTIAGO, Chile (IDN) — The myth that in Chile the military is basically disciplined, professional, non-deliberative and respectful of the democratic decisions of the people seems to be floating again in the country, in relation to the tasks of the Constitutional Convention convened last year to draft Chile’s first ever democratically-conceived Constitution.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 19 January 2022

Photo: After the release of Convention Peoples’ Party (CPP) leaders from prison in 1951. From left to Right: Kojo Botsio, Kwame Nkrumah, Komla Agbeli Gbedemah and Kofi Baako. NB: The PG symbol written on their cap stands for Prison Graduates. It was a popular title for these freedom fighters. Credit: Ghanaian Museum, Sep 8, 2021

Nkrumah’s Prison Cap Left an Indelible Memory With 'MLK'

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in anguish over the extreme violence displayed at the aftermath of the legendary Montgomery bus boycott, found solace in Ghana which he visited with his wife Coretta Scott King at the invitation of the newly installed Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah.

Alongside African American leaders including A. Philip Randolph, Adam Clayton Powell and Ralph Bunch, MLK was there to observe Ghana’s independence ceremony. It was March of 1957.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 18 January 2022

Photo: Some family members had to be carried out of the service after being overcome with grief. Credit: Dean Moses.

Growing Calls for Investigation into Bronx Fire That Took Over a Dozen African Lives

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A smoky building fire that raced through a 19-story building on an early Sunday this month took 17 lives—adults and children, many from the African nation of The Gambia—is raising questions about the building’s reported insufficient heat and automatic doors that should have been shut but weren’t working.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 18 January 2022

The Geo-Political Battle in Asia About Democracy

Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — With the geo-political battle between China and the United States gathering momentum in Asia, whoever can define democracy better and demonstrate that it works for the betterment of the people, could win the battle in coming years.

One may argue that there is no such battle for democracy because it is a battle between democracy and authoritarianism with China clearly in the latter box. But, while the Covid pandemic has been devastating the world, China has moved aggressively to redefine democracy as a development right accusing the West, and the US, of weaponizing human rights and democracy.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 15 January 2022

Photo: The Higher Court in Koblenz. Source: Kanzlei Goldenstein.

Historic Verdict in Germany's Prosecution of a Syrian for Crimes Against Humanity

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) — The German city of Koblenz on the banks of the river Rhine has made history. The Higher Regional Court there has convicted a former senior Syrian intelligence officer, for crimes against humanity.

The man, known as was charged with complicity in the torture of thousands of people between 2011 and 2012 in the Al-Khatib Branch of Syrian General Intelligence in the capital, Damascus. 

: Jamshed Baruah; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 13 January 2022

Photo: Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu. Source: The Guardian Nigeria.

Nigeria’s Police Force Appears to Be Adding Self-Destruction to Its List of Woes

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, would like to close the case of the suspicious death of Sylvester Omoroni Jr., and simply move on to something else. He’s surprised there's pushback and can’t understand why.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 13 January 2022

Photo: First Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russia, in October 2019. Credit: kremlin.ru

Russia Chooses St. Petersburg for Second African Leaders Summit

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) — With high optimism and high desire to strengthen its geopolitical influence, Russian authorities are gearing up to hold the second African leaders' summit in St. Petersburg scheduled early November 2022. The gathering, as expected, will focus on enhancing further constructive cooperation and advancing integration processes within the framework of the African Union and a number of sub-regional structures.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 12 January 2022

Photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin sign the statements on elevating bilateral ties to the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era and on strengthening contemporary global strategic stability, after their talks in Moscow, Russia, June 5, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

21st-Century Chinese-Russian Partnership Unaffected by Historical Differences

Viewpoint by John P. Ruehl

This article was produced by Globetrotter. John P. Ruehl is an Australian-American journalist living in Washington, D.C. He is a contributing editor to Strategic Policy and a contributor to several other foreign affairs publications. He is currently finishing a book on Russia to be published in 2022. Source: Globetrotter.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — The 21st century has seen the forging of “cooperative” relations between China and Russia, with the benefits of this new partnership outweighing the historical differences between these two countries that share a mutual goal to diminish the dominance of the United States in world affairs.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 12 January 2022

Photo: Bethlehem skyline from Church of the Nativity CC BY-SA 3.0

Israel and the Biggest Single Misthink in Western History

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

BETHLEHEM (IDN) — Perhaps the biggest single misthink in Western history is best understood by standing in the town square of Bethlehem, allowing one’s gaze to pass over the roof top of the Church that covers the stable where Jesus was supposedly born, and let one’s eye drift into the blue sky beyond and thinking: