Articles by Thalif Deen, IPS

We found 21 results.


Mideast Arms Build-up Negative Fallout from Iran Nuclear Deal
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Jul 2015

Jul 23 2015 – The nuclear agreement concluded last week between Iran and six big powers, the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, is threatening to trigger a new Middle East military build-up – not with nuclear weapons but with conventional arms, including fighter planes, combat helicopters, warships, missiles, battle tanks and heavy artillery.

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Civilian Killings? West Literally Gets Away with Murder
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jul 2015

Jul 16 2015 – The United Nations continues to come under heavy fire for singling out mostly non-Western states for human rights violations while ignoring the misdeeds of Western nations or big powers.

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Democracy on the Retreat in Over 96 of the 193 U.N. Member States, Says New Study
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Jun 2015

“Legitimate civil society activities are worryingly under threat in a huge number of countries in the global North and South, democratic and authoritarian, on all continents.”

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Security Council Action on Gaza War Crimes a Non-Starter
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Jun 2015

The chances of Security Council action are remote because of the traditional U.S. commitment to stand by Israel – right or wrong, mostly wrong. “When Israeli officials are put in the dock, U.S. officials ought to be right in there with them. Their conduct is inexcusable.”

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Donors Pledge Over 4.4 Billion Dollars to Nepal – But With a Caveat
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Jun 2015

“It is critical that the international community and Nepal learn from the mistakes of past emergencies, where up to half of pledges are never delivered on.”

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Minorities Threatened More by Governments than Terrorist Groups, Says Study
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 May 2015

A new study released Wednesday [20 May 2015] by the London-based Minority Rights Group International says populations in the region were more at risk from their own governments.

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NGOs Urge Commission of Inquiry to Probe Sexual Abuse in U.N. Peacekeeping
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 May 2015

“The truth is startling and simple: No new mechanisms, no new methods of operation, no new policies can ever work in practice to prevent or punish sex abusers on staff who commit sexual offenses at present, because the U.N. bureaucracy responsible for implementing changes is completely dysfunctional.” — Paula Donovan, co-director at AIDS-Free World

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U.S. Hosts Arms Bazaar at White House Arab Summit
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 May 2015

According to Colin Kahl, national security advisor to Vice-President Joe Biden, the United Arab Emirates flies the most advanced U.S.-made F-16 fighter planes in the world. “They’re more advanced than the ones our Air Force flies,” he told reporters, without going into specifics.

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Middle East Conflicts Give Hefty Boost to Arms Merchants
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Apr 2015

The ongoing conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen have helped spiral arms sales upwards to the Middle East, according to a study released Monday [Mar 16 2015] by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

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Hold the Super Rich Accountable, Say OXFAM at the WSF
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Mar 2015

London-based charity Oxfam unveiled a report with an alarming statistic: the world’s richest one percent will own more than 50 percent of the world’s wealth by 2016. And just 80 of the world’s richest will control as much wealth as 3.5 billion people: half the world’s population.

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Israel’s Obsession for Monopoly on Middle East Nuclear Power
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 Feb 2015

Feb 13 2015 – As the Iranian nuclear talks hurtle towards a Mar. 24 deadline, there is renewed debate about the blatant Western double standards underlying the resurrection of a longstanding proposal for a Middle East free from weapons of mass destruction.

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U.N. Helpless as Saudi Flogging Flouts Torture Convention
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Jan 2015

“His flogging [1000 lashes, 50/week] and 10-year sentence are testament to the extreme lengths to which the Saudi Arabian authorities will go in order to crush dissent.”

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U.S. Twists Arms to Help Defeat Resolution on Palestine
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Jan 2015

31 Dec 2014 – The United States re-asserted its political and economic clout – and its ability to twist arms and perhaps metaphorically break kneecaps – when it successfully lobbied to help defeat a crucial Security Council resolution on the future of Palestine this week.

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The Day Anti-Castro Forces Tried to Bomb the U.N.
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Dec 2014

When Ernesto Che Guevera was at the UN to address the General Assembly in 1964, the U.N. headquarters came under attack – literally. The anti-Castro forces, backed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), mounted an insidious campaign to stop Che Guevera from speaking. A 3.5-inch bazooka was fired at the 39-storeyed glass house by the East River.

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Cycle of Death, Destruction and Rebuilding Continues in Gaza
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Oct 2014

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon implicitly warned of the futility of the continuing exercise when he said: “We cannot continue to build and destroy – and build and destroy – like this. This should be the last reconstruction conference”. But will it?

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Swamped by Rising Seas, Small Islands Seek a Lifeline
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Aug 2014

11 Aug 2014 – The world’s 52 small island developing states (SIDS), some in danger of being wiped off the face of the earth because of sea-level rise triggered by climate change, will be the focus of an international conference in the South Pacific island nation of Samoa next month.

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After Losing Vote, U.S.-EU Threaten to Undermine Treaty
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Jul 2014

Jun 28 2014 – The USA and the 28-member EU have assiduously promoted – and vigorously preached – one of the basic tenets of Western multi-party democracy: majority rules. But at the United Nations, they have frequently abandoned that principle insisting on “consensus” when they are clearly outvoted.

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Israel in Political Isolation over New Palestinian Government
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Jun 2014

The United States’ decision to “work with” the new Palestinian government has virtually isolated Israel: the only country so far to have publicly rejected the political alliance between Fatah and Hamas.

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Ukraine Coup Lawful, Crimea Referendum Unlawful?
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Mar 2014

For US officials and press to claim that the coup in Ukraine complied with law, while the referendum in Crimea did not, is utter hypocrisy. “Imagine the response from Washington if Russia or China or some other sizable world power had worked hard to build a military and/or political alliance near U.S. borders.” — Norman Solomon

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Nuke Summit Agenda Circumvents Armed Powers
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Feb 2014

When over 50 world leaders meet in the Netherlands next month [March 2014] for a Nuclear Security Summit (NSS), the primary focus will be on a politically-loaded question: how do we prevent non-state actors and terrorists from getting their hands on nuclear weapons or nuclear materials?

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U.N. Will Censure Illegal Spying, But Not U.S.
Thalif Deen, IPS – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Nov 2013

A draft resolution currently in limited circulation – a copy of which was obtained by IPS – criticises “the conduct of extra-territorial surveillance” and the “interception of communications in foreign jurisdictions”. But it refuses to single out the NSA or the United States, which stands accused of spying on foreign governments, including political leaders in Germany, France, Brazil, Spain and Mexico, among some 30 others.

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