Brussels Has Yet to Learn Lessons This article first appeared on https://rjaura.substack.com By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | 22 October 2025 (IDN) —Since the 1960s, India has prioritised strategic autonomy in its foreign policy, consistently avoiding alliances that could compromise its sovereignty. Western partners often overestimate their influence, overlooking India’s strong commitment to independence. For India, autonomy […]
Trump’s Assault on the UN is Self-Defeating
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | October 22 2025 (IDN) — It is hard to imagine that there is not a single adult in Trump’s orbit to tell him that withdrawing from the many UN agencies that provide critical humanitarian services undermines rather than advances the United States’ national interest and global standing. There is […]
Trump’s CIA and Its Practices
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 21 October 2025 (IDN) — In Charles Dickens’s novel “A Tale of Two Cities”, set during the French revolution of 1789, he draws the character of Madame Defarge. She along with other members of the Tricoteuse, the knitting women, perch every day next to the guillotine, knitting into hats […]
Latest UN Resolution Puts Sri Lanka’s Commitment To The Test
By A.L.A. Azeez* This article was first published on Daily FT. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 19 October 2025 (IDN) — Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath made a statement in Parliament on Thursday, explaining Sri Lanka’s position at the 60th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC). On 8 September 2025, he delivered the country statement during consideration of the comprehensive report […]
How Island Nations Are Rewriting Climate Finance
Caribbean states are pioneering bold financial reforms to survive climate change. This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 18 October 2025 (IDN) — When hurricanes strike the Caribbean, they leave behind more than just destruction. They also leave debt. Small island developing states (SIDS) often have to borrow large sums at high interest […]
The World Needs Compassion with Urgency to Eradicate Poverty
By Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai The writer is Chairman, World Forum for Peace & Justice. NEW YORK | 17 October 2025 (IDN) — The 33rd commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP 2025) on October 17, 2025, in the ECOSOC Chamber at UN Headquarters in New York City. The event was jointly organised […]
UN Experts Urge Germany to End Crackdown on Palestinian Solidarity Protests
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA | 17 October 2025 (IDN) — A group of United Nations human rights experts has called on Germany to stop criminalising and using police violence against pro-Palestinian activists, warning that Berlin’s actions risk undermining fundamental democratic freedoms. In a strongly worded statement, the five independent experts said they were “alarmed by […]
Of Trump, Peace Deals and the Day After
By Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP and the author of the new book Writing for Media and Monetising It. ABUJA, Nigeria | 16 October 2025 (IDN) — U.S. President Donald Trump may be getting ahead of himself with the encouraging signs that, following the ceasefire in Gaza, the world might have […]
Would Trump Use Nuclear Weapons?
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 14 October 2025 (IDN) — I’m just out of the cinema having seen Kathryn Bigelow’s masterful film, A House of Dynamite, about a nuclear missile found on radar to be heading towards America. The film ends with the destruction of Chicago, and the U.S. president is unsure what to […]
Germany Redefines Development Cooperation with the Global South
A Legacy of Nobel Peace Laureate Willy Brandt By Ramesh Jaura This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 14 October 2025 (IDN) — More than forty years ago, former German Chancellor Willy Brandt—winner of the 1971 Nobel Peace Prize—warned that prosperity in the North and hardship in the South were two sides of […]