International

Neutrality or NATO?

Turning point in Austria – even closer ties with NATO

by Thomas Oysmüller*

(13 September 2024) Austria will come even closer to NATO, that is the plan in the new “security strategy”. This will give Austria a different role than in the first Cold War. The ÖVP-Green government – the most authoritarian government in the founding of the Second Republic of Austria – will soon be history. However, attempts are still being made to set the course on the last legs of the legislative period. Werner Kogler and Karl Nehammer have now presented a “security strategy” on which they have agreed. There was no parliamentary or even public debate on this. The course: move even closer to NATO.

Prospects for relations between USA and China after the US elections in 2024

Kishore Mahbubani* in dialogue

(6 September 2024) Former President of the United Nations Security Council and well-known diplomat and scientist from Singapore, Kishore Mahbubani, explains in simple, honest words the greatest global contest in the history of mankind: between the USA and China. He was invited by the “Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research”** for a dialogue in July 2024.

Southern Lebanon – scorched land

by Karin Leukefeld,* 31 July 2024

(16 August 2024) Travelling to the south of Lebanon requires some preparation. Lebanon and Israel have been at war for decades and there is no official border. The dividing line between the territory that Israel claims for itself – which Lebanon does not recognise – is marked with blue barrels placed there by the UN. They mark the “Blue Line”, a ceasefire line controlled by UNIFIL, a UN Interim Force for Lebanon.

The report is based on the author’s research in southern Lebanon on 18 July 2024.

“To hell with the rest of the world“

Long-term strategy and unipolar claim of the USA

by Wolfgang Bittner* Germany

(9 August 2024) According to its power elites, the United States of America is “the land of the free and the home of the brave”, as the national anthem proclaims. And “God’s Own Country” is called to rule the world. To assert this unipolar claim, it has developed a long-term strategy since the 19th century, which includes maintaining an excessively well-equipped army and establishing around 1,000 military bases around the world.
Venezuela elections

While US politicians call fraud, American election observers endorse results

by Alan MacLeod,*

(9 August 2024) Much to the chagrin of the U.S. government, socialist candidate Nicolas Maduro won a third successive term in office on Sunday [28 July], convincingly beating his U.S.-backed opponents, Edmundo Gonzalez and Maria Corina Machado, by seven points.
ICJ opinion on the Israeli occupation

A historic decision

Commentary by Norman Paech,* Germany

(3 August 2024) This opinion should come as no surprise to anyone. Everyone in government, parliament and the media has known for years that Israel’s occupation, including the settlements, is illegal and must therefore withdraw from the occupied territories. Even in its first judgement in 2004, when the International Court of Justice declared the construction of the wall illegal insofar as it encroached on Palestinian territory, it left no doubt about the illegality of the occupation and the settlements.