Thalif Deen

Civil War In Syria Has Underlying Links To Climate Change, Says Study

A new study by Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory says “a record drought that ravaged Syria in 2006-2010 was likely stoked by ongoing man-made climate change, and that the drought may have helped propel the 2011 Syrian uprising.”

Thalif Deen
By Thalif Deen

Thick smoke from an airstrike by the US-led coalition rise in Kobani, Syria, as seen from a hilltop on the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border, Monday, Oct. 20, 2014 .  Photo: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP UNITED NATIONS - Was the four-year-old military conflict in Syria, which has claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, mostly

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Despite U.N. Treaties, War On Drugs A Losing Battle

“This approach hasn’t reduced drug use or managed to control the illicit drug trade. Instead, it keeps drugs profitable and cartels powerful.” — Catherine Martin of Health Poverty Action

Thalif Deen
By Thalif Deen
Mexico Drug War

Protesters walk under a giant net and with their hands painted red during a march in Mexico City, Nov. 20, 2014. Mexico officially lists more than 22 thousand people as having gone missing since the start of the country's drug war in 2006. UNITED NATIONS  - As the call for the decriminalization of drugs steadily picks up steam worldwide, a

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Top UN Official Says ‘Global War on Terror’ Is Laying Waste To Human Rights

Battling terrorism shouldn’t justify torture or mass surveillance, says Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein

Thalif Deen
By Thalif Deen
In this handout photo released by the U.S. military, Iraqi Army Soldiers of 4th Iraqi Army Division exit a U.S. CH-47 Chinook helicopter in support of Operation Swarmer in Samarra, Iraq,in this file photo from March 16, 2006. (AP Photo/ U.S. Army, Sgt. 1st Class Antony Joseph,File)

The United Nations, which is the legal guardian of scores of human rights treaties banning torture, unlawful imprisonment, degrading treatment of prisoners of war and enforced disappearances, is troubled that an increasing number of countries are justifying violations of U.N. conventions on grounds of fighting terrorism in conflict zones. Taking

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Ushered By US Intervention, Chaos In Yemen Threatens Wider War

Yemen in danger of splitting into two – again.

Thalif Deen
By Thalif Deen
Shia rebels, known as Houthis, carry their weapons as they march to protest against Saudi-led airstrikes, during a rally in Sanaa, Yemen. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed, File)

A Hawthi Shiite rebel holds his weapon while standing guard near a protest site in Sanaa, Yemen, Sept. 19, 2014. UNITED NATIONS - When North and South Yemen merged into a single country under the banner Yemen Arab Republic back in May 1990, a British newspaper remarked with a tinge of sarcasm: “Two poor countries have now become one poor

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The Rise And Fall Of The World’s Poorest Countries

More countries may soon be added to ‘poorest of the poor’ list due to several factors, including the impact of the global economic recession, the long-term effects of the decline in oil prices, reduced purchasing power due to falling national currencies, and in the case of Africa, the spread of Ebola.

Thalif Deen
By Thalif Deen

Cambodian school children head back their home after morning school time at Tnoat Kpoh village in the outskirt of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, March 18, 2013. UNITED NATIONS, Jan 7 2015  - The world’s 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) – a special category of developing nations created by the General Assembly in 1971 but refused

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U.S. Twists Arms To Defeat Resolution On Palestine

“Did [U.S. Secretary of State John] Kerry manage to pull the rug out from under Palestine by convincing supportive Nigeria to abstain during the 13 calls he made to world leaders to torpedo the resolution?”

Thalif Deen
By Thalif Deen

Members of the European Parliament take part in a vote, Wednesday Dec. 17, 2014, in favor of a resolution on recognition of the statehood of Palestine at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France. The European Parliament has stopped short of pushing for outright recognition of a Palestinian state, and instead is urging renewed peace

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The Day CIA Backed Anti-Castro Forces Tried To Bomb The U.N.

The anti-Castro forces in the United States, backed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), had mounted an insidious campaign to stop Che Guevera from speaking.

Thalif Deen
By Thalif Deen
che

Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Minister of Industries of Cuba, addresses the General Assembly on Dec. 11, 1964. UN Photo/TC UNITED NATIONS, - When the politically-charismatic Ernesto Che Guevera, once second-in-command to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, was at the United Nations to address the General Assembly sessions back in 1964, the U.N. headquarters

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