By Era Dabla-Norris, Vitor Gaspar, Marcos Poplawski-Ribeiro WASHINGTON, D.C. | 26 April 2025 (IDN) — Major policy shifts underway have heightened global uncertainty. The series of recent tariff announcements by the United States, and countermeasures by other countries have increased financial market volatility, weakened growth prospects, and increased risks. They come in the context of […]
Stickergate: A Bell that Tolls for All
By Tisaranee Gunasekara* “This isn’t just about Palestine, it’s about everyone’s right to dissent…” Clare Hinchcliffe (Middle East Eye, 20.3.2025). COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 26 April 2025 (IDN) — Zoë Rogers is 21, English, a dog-lover. In August 2024, she, together with five others, crashed a modified prison van into Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons […]
America: The End of Democracy and into the Abyss?
By Seevali Abeysekera* LONDON | 25 April 2025 (IDN) — Before the American presidential election in 2020, I published an article, ”America — the end is nigh”, whose last sentences were: ”A civil war and disintegration of America is thus a real possibility. History has shown us that great empires eventually collapse due to their […]
AUKUS and the Strategic Reconfiguration of the South China Sea: The Emerging Role of HMAS Stirling
By Leonam dos Santos Guimarães* RIO DE JANEIRO | 25 April 2025 (IDN) — The establishment of the AUKUS trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States in 2021 constitutes a profound reconfiguration of the strategic landscape in the South China Sea and the broader Indo-Pacific region. Aimed at enhancing Australia’s […]
Emerging Risks to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Test Ban Regime
By Leonam dos Santos Guimarães* RIO DE JANEIRO | 24 April 2025 (IDN) — Since 2020, the international nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear test ban regime has encountered unprecedented and systemic challenges. The resurgence of geopolitical rivalries, the modernization and expansion of nuclear arsenals, and the erosion of long-standing arms control commitments have brought nuclear weapons […]
The End of Democracy?
By Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS | 24 April 2025 (IDN) — The Trump administration is rapidly destroying American democracy. In previous contributions, based on the writings of Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, we have already warned about this. Recently, professors Jennifer McCoy (of Georgia State University), Rachel Beatty Riedl and Kenneth Roberts (of Cornell […]
Close the US Military Bases in Asia
The best strategy for the superpowers is to stay out of each other’s lanes. By Jeffrey D. Sachs* This article was published in Other News and is being republished with the author’s permission. NEW YORK | 22 April 2025 (IDN) — President Donald Trump is again loudly complaining that the US military bases in Asia […]
Does ISIS Target a Chinese Research Vessel? The Easter Attacks, Cover-up Investigations and Geopolitics
By Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake* COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 21 April 2025 (IDN) — Leaders of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka have again called for a proper investigation into the Easter attacks of six years ago. Meanwhile, a local political blame game starring Pillayan has ramped up to conceal the foreign fingerprints and geopolitical motives of […]
Africa’s Agenda 2063: A Long-Term Vision with a Long Road Ahead
By Fredrick Nzwili* This opinion article first appeared as a blog for the Bertelmann Stiftung Transformation Index (BTI). NAIROBI, Kenya | 20 April 2025 (IDN) — With Agenda 2063, the recent African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa focused on a plan that outlines the vision of a fully integrated, prosperous, and peaceful Africa. However, cooperation […]
Towards A New International Order? India, Sri Lanka and The New Cold War
By Dr. Asoka Bandarage* COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 19 April 2025 (IDN) — Will a peaceful and sustainable multipolar world be born when the rising economic weight of emerging economies is matched with rising geopolitical weight, as argued by renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs in his recent Other News article?[1] There is no question that, as […]