WebPublicaPress (New York) -The political transition in Germany after the full 16 years of tAmgela Merkel rule, the chancellor who did not want to run for that position again, is going well and even with unexpected speed. The goal is forming of the so-called the “Semaphore” coalition between the winning…

By John J. Metzler - Beijing’s communists are good at bullying; look at political crackdowns in prosperous Hong Kong, the suppression of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, and of course China’s ongoing military harassment of Taiwan, a democratically ruled island which the communists claim as part of the People’s Republic of China.   Over the…

By Thalif Deen - NEW YORK (IDN) – North Korea, long dubbed as a “hermit kingdom” has continued to remain cut off from the rest of the world—politically, economically and geographically. But neither rigid sanctions, nor international isolation and growing food insecurities, have prevented the country—officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic…

By Thalif Deen - UNITED NATIONS – A growing diplomatic battle is being played out at the United Nations between Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and one of the world body’s member states: the politically-troubled Ethiopia which is desperately in need of international humanitarian assistance. But the war of words – in an institution…

By John J. Metzler (New York) - Angela Merkel is leaving the political stage.  After sixteen years as Germany’s Chancellor      presiding over amazing growth and stability, her Christian Democratic coalition CDU/CSU hardly gained from her    political coattails in the recent national elections.  Rather her Christian Democrats suffered their biggest electoral drubbing since 1949.  Part of the…

By Thalif Deen – UNITED NATIONS  - When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan during 1996-2001, the United Nations was engaged in a losing battle for women’s rights. And that battle was occasionally led by two senior female UN officials, one of them working for a UN agency providing humanitarian assistance inside unfriendly…

By John J. Metzler - One of the rites of Autumn has been playing out in New York, as the annual UN General Assembly meeting plowed through its list of 193 speakers in under a week.  Just before the session started, the South Korean boy band BTS put on a K-pop song…