Opinions

Glasnost means transparency. Gorbachev promoted it in order to lift the veil of secrecy that pervaded the old Soviet Union. The result was the collapse of the system. Some comparisons may be in order. A little story by the Argentinean…

By Jayantha Dhanapal and Paolo Cotta-Ramusino for IDN-InDepth News As an emotional and political roller-coaster about Syria continues, some of the crucial facts and background are being ignored. So that these do not disappear completely from the radar, IDN is…

We started to cover Syria, it was February 2012, because we believed a red line had been crossed: demonstrations against Assad were being swept away by bullets and mortar fire. But confrontation between the regime and the newborn Free Army,…

Welcome to the nuclear renaissance. Entergy Corp., one of the largest nuclear-power producers in the United States, issued a surprise press release Tuesday, saying it plans “to close and decommission its Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station in Vernon, Vt. The…

The recent acts of political violence in the Middle East’s Levant are not unrelated. Car bombings in the predominantly Shia southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh; twin bombings targeting Sunni mosques in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli; an alleged chemical…

The international community, in particular the UN Human Rights Council, must alter its approach towards Sri Lanka from focussing on its human rights record to urging the Sri Lankan Government to deliver on its promises of reconciliation and justice. This…

“David Cameron and Barack Obama moved the west closer to military intervention in Syria on Saturday as they agreed that last week’s alleged chemical weapon attacks by the Assad regime had taken the crisis into a new phase that merited…

By Amy Goodman with Denis Moynihan “There is not a flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people,” wrote the late historian Howard Zinn, author of “A People’s History of the United States.” These words were included…

Recent events in Egypt provide significant food for thought for China policy idealists and realists. The liberal West’s chosen panacea for China—millions of young people taking to the streets and voicing democratic slogans—produced an embarrassing military coup and an appalling…

Democracy Now! Reports: Manning Announces Gender Transition, Name Change. “In a statement just released this morning, Bradley Manning thanked supporters and announced plans to live as a woman under the name Chelsea Manning. Manning said: “As I transition into this…