By Kalinga Seneviratne Sydney, Australia | 10 June 2026 (IDN) — At the Foreign Ministers’ meeting of the QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) in New Delhi late May, a grand “aid” scheme to develop ports in the South Pacific was announced, starting with Fiji Islands. As QUAD looks for relevance in an environment in […]
Skyward Haven: A Thoughtful Novel for an Uncertain Age
By Jaya Ramachandran NEW YORK | 7 June 2026 (IDN) — Every generation produces books that capture the anxieties of its time. Some do so through realism, others through satire, and still others through speculative imagination. Skyward Haven belongs firmly in the latter category. Yet unlike many works of speculative fiction that rely on dramatic […]
Has the Democratic Party Lost Its Way Regarding Russia and China?
By Jan Servaes MIAMI | 6 May 2026 (IDN) — Anyone visiting a reputable U.S. bookstore today in search of an analysis of the position the United States occupies on the global stage under President Trump will immediately spot the hefty 534-page tome: Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder by Michael McFaul. […]
An Alternative Nobel Prize for Trump?
A Bold Proposal Worth Considering By Ramesh Jaura This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 5 June 2026 (IDN) — Imagine Donald Trump receiving a Nobel Prize—not for championing peace, democracy, or global unity, but for inadvertently reminding the world just how vital those ideals truly are. This is the daring idea from veteran […]
Ex British Prime Minister Tony Blair Should be Prosecuted Over Iraq
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 3 June 2026 (IDN) — President Barack Obama was not a war criminal despite US involvement in wars in Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan and against ISIS. They were legitimate if wrong-headed interventions. His predecessor George W. Bush was a war criminal. Apart from anything else his administration tortured captives, and […]
Civilization Unmasked: The Persistence of Human Brutality
By Alon Ben-Meir* We are not merely witnessing human suffering—we are learning to endure it without outrage. When atrocity no longer shocks the conscience, it is not only humanity that is under assault—it is our very capacity to remain human. NEW YORK | 3 June 2026 (IDN) — To my utter chagrin, the scale, frequency, […]
Ethiopia: Managed Competition in the 7th General Election
Prosperity Party Left 75 Seats to the Opposition in Bid to Legitimize Elections By Daniel Tesfa, Filmon Gebremikael, Shim Masha, Kristína Melicherová, Mirjam van Reisen and Joëlle Stocker ADDIS ABEBA, Ethiopia | 2 June 2026 (IDN) — The 7th Ethiopian general election, being conducted on 1st June 2026, represents one of the most administratively expansive […]
The Animal That Therefore I Am: The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Genesis Façade
By Sam Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 2 June 2026 (IDN) — Approaching the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one encounters not heroes, founders, or allegories of civilizational ascent, but animals—four of them—standing upright against the stone authority of the façade. A squirrel, a coyote, a deer, and a hawk occupy the Genesis Facade, not as emblems, […]
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: HIistory Will Not Yield to Power
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 30 May 2026 (IDN) — Israeli-Palestinian conflict, examining it from historical, religious, psychological, and geostrategic perspectives, as well as through the hard realities on the ground. After all this, one conclusion has remained inescapable: there will be no peace—none—unless it is anchored in a viable two-state solution. Nearly six […]
The Long Shadow of Slavery
50 million Modern Slaves and America’s Battle Over Historical Memory By Ramesh Jaura This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 30 May 2026 (IDN) — More than 50 million people around the world are living in modern slavery today, according to the latest estimates from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United […]