By Jan Servaes BRUSSELS | 8 July 2026 (IDN) — For the average global citizen, the level of democracy today has regressed to that of 1978. This means that all the democratic gains of the so-called ‘third wave of democratization’—which began with Portugal’s Carnation Revolution in 1974—have either vanished or been significantly eroded. This is […]
Can the World Still Work Together?
Hamburg and the Future of International Cooperation “The United Nations was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell.” – — Dag Hammarskjöld By Ramesh Jaura This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 7 July 2026 (IDN) — Eighty years after the founding of the United Nations, the […]
My Conversation With Karl Marx About Donald Trump
By Norman Solomon* SAN FRANCISCO | 7 July 2026 (IDN) — The following has been edited for clarity and length. Norman Solomon: You’ve downplayed the importance of the individual in history. But the United States now has as president an individual who transformed power relations and the political landscape. Karl Marx: I can assure you that […]
1776 Against 1787: Constituent Power and the Forgotten Meaning of American Democracy
By Sam Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 6 July 2026 (IDN) — On Saturday, July 4, Americans celebrated the nation’s 250th anniversary with the familiar fanfare: fireworks, flags, patriotic speeches, and ritual invocations of liberty. Yet at this extraordinary milestone, when the country is more deeply divided than at any time in recent memory over the […]
EEPA reports on Egypt and Eritrea strengthen bilateral relations
BRUSSELS | 6 July 2026 (IDN | EEPA) — The following are the situation reports on Sudan, Ethiopia, 8 candidates for the position of UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Eritrea and Egypt and Eritrea strengthen bilateral relations. Situation in Sudan (per 6 July) The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched attacks on six villages […]
Battle Intensifies Over UN Eritrea Rights Mandate
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA | 6 July 2026 (IDN) — For thousands of Eritreans worldwide, the UN Special Rapporteur’s office is more than an international appointment. It remains one of the few channels for victims, political prisoners, and families separated by exile to reach the international community. For this reason, the Worldwide Eritrean Community has […]
Africa’s Security at a Crossroads: A Continent Confronts a Changing Worl
By Ramesh Jaura This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com/ BERLIN | 4 July 2026 (IDN) — There was a time when Africa was often portrayed as standing at the margins of international politics—its conflicts treated as regional crises, its development challenges largely divorced from the wider currents shaping the global order. That perception no […]
America at 250: A Reckoning and a Call to Conscience
By Dr Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 3 July 2026 (IDN) — As the United States marks its 250th anniversary—a testament to endurance, sacrifice, and democratic aspiration—it does so under a dark and foreboding shadow. At this defining moment, the nation finds itself led not by steadiness or vision, but by a figure whose erratic conduct, […]
From Utopia to Branding: What Happened to the Fairy Tale?
By Sam Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 3 July 2026 (IDN) — Never has fantasy been more commercially successful. Yet it is not obvious that it has become more imaginative. Long before the rise of the modern novel, fairy tales provided generations of listeners and readers with images of transformation, justice, adventure, and hope. They offered something […]
Durable Solutions Must Be Defined by Those Who Live Them
By Shabnam Baloch The writer is the Country Director at Oxfam in South Sudan. JUBA, South Sudan | 2 July 2026 (IDN) — As experts gathered in New York earlier this month to discuss the future of the humanitarian landscape and durable solutions for displaced people, the conversations touched on linking humanitarian response to long-term […]