Global Governance


US Poll Predictions and Presidential Politics in the American Polity

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SINGAPORE, Sep 7 2020 (IPS) - The US residential polls are akin to a drama that is staged every four years in which the American are actors on stage and the rest of the world is the audience. With one major difference, however. While in a usual theatrical performance the viewers are there mostly for amusement, though some may be enlightened and enriched by the experience, in the case of the US elections, unlike in others, their fates are inextricably linked to the outcome of the play. This is not predetermined by any playwright, though it can often be predicted. It is not implausible therefore for some on-lookers to want to intervene in what’s happening onstage. It must be done discreetly, and with great circumspection. Take for instance, the Russians in the American elections in 2016. The Russians and President Donald Trump hotly dispute allegations of any such interference.

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The Need, Within the UN, for an Honest Conversation on Racism

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UNITED NATIONS, Jun 10 2020 (IPS) - I want to once again express to all colleagues my enormous appreciation, my enormous gratitude, for your fantastic professionalism, your flexibility and the way you have been able to fully deliver for the people we care for during this period.

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Coronavirus, New Threat for Mexican Migrant Workers in the U.S.

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MEXICO CITY, Apr 21 2020 (IPS) - As the high season for agricultural labour in the United States approaches, tens of thousands of migrant workers from Mexico are getting ready to head to the fields in their northern neighbour to carry out the work that ensures that food makes it to people’s tables.

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Modern Day Slavery Reaches a Far Corner of the World

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UNITED NATIONS, Apr 1 2020 (IPS) - The deadly, fast-spreading coronavirus which upended three key UN conferences—on the empowerment of women, on nuclear disarmament and on indigenous rights—claimed another casualty last week when a commemorative meeting on the transatlantic slave trade was postponed.

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Q&A: ‘Place Gender Equality at the Heart of our Work’

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UNITED NATIONS, Mar 5 2020 (IPS) - Ambassador Mona Juul started her role as the Permanent Representative of Norway to the United Nations in January 2019, and is also the president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). 

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Personal Conviction Versus Fandom: The Case of Mitt Romney

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STOCKHOLM / ROME, Mar 3 2020 (IPS) - The great American impeachment show has ended not with a bang, but with a whimper. The dirt was washed away from President Trump, the perfect Teflon Guy. Maybe his invulnerability comes from the fact that he appears to be more of a brand than a real person, adapted to a frame of mind that increasingly dominates social media – cheap entertainment, shallowness, vulgarity, invectives, and catchy phrases without support in well-founded facts. Trump is all and nothing, a shape shifting trickster pretending to be the role model for voiceless masses.

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Is Iraq Now a Virtual “US-Occupied Territory”?

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan 15 2020 (IPS) - Pat Buchanan, a senior advisor to three US Presidents and twice candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, once infamously described the United States Congress as “Israeli-occupied territory” -– apparently because of its unrelentingly blind support for the Jewish state.

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U.S. Might Pull Troops from West Africa, but Who Will it Affect?

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan 13 2020 (IPS) - While the United States is busy with foreign operations such as killing Qasem Soleimani, a key figure in Middle East Politics, behind the scenes it is reportedly considering a change that experts worry might be of grave concern: a potential withdrawal of troops from West Africa. 

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Hollywood and Business Luminaries Spotlight World’s ‘Stateless’ Woes

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UNITED NATIONS, Oct 8 2019 (IPS) - Movie star Cate Blanchett and businessman Richard Branson spoke up this week for the millions of people around the world who cannot get passports and other papers because they lack an official nationality.

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Wall Street can Free the World’s 40 Million Modern-Day Slaves

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UNITED NATIONS, Oct 2 2019 (IPS) - Financiers in Wall Street, the City of London and other banking centres should play a bigger role in freeing the millions of people who endure slave-like working conditions globally, according to a new study.

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