By Fermín Koop* BUENOS AIRES, Argentina | 15 March 2025 (IDN) — Every five years, parties to the Paris Agreement on climate change must submit action plans that increase their level of ambition in meeting its goal: to halt the average global temperature rise at 2C above pre-industrial levels, if not 1.5C. The current slate […]
Diplomatic Pressures and Bangladesh’s Military: Unraveling the Debate
By Mujtoba Ahmed Murshed The writer is an analyst, researcher, and journalist. He has served in Japan and Germany’s foreign ministries and worked as the Advisor at the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). DHAKA, Bangladesh | 14 March 2025 (IDN) — In the aftermath of Bangladesh’s political transition on […]
A Geologist Explains Why Ukraine’s Minerals Are Exceptional
By Munira Raji* PLYMOUTH, Devon, England | 13 March 2025 (IDN) — Ukraine’s minerals have become central to global geopolitics, with the US president, Donald Trump, seeking a deal with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky to access them. But what are these minerals exactly, and why are they sought after? Ukraine is often recognised for its […]
Why South Asian Militaries Need to Reduce Their Carbon Footprint
By Mahmud Hussain* DHAKA, Bangladesh | 12 March 2025 (IDN) — Militaries, which are among the biggest consumers of fuel, account for 5.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. If the world’s militaries were a country, they would have the fourth-highest carbon footprint China, the USA and India. The US Air Force’s F-35 fighter […]
Criticism Of Israel Is Misrepresented as Anti-Semitism
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 11 March 2025 (IDN) — In the New York Times, columnist Roger Cohen argued that anyone who queries the Jewish right to Israel is anti-Semitic. More than that, he accuses us of being racist, even though many of us fought against South African apartheid. He accuses us of “pursuing […]
EU Leaders Miss Chance at Emergency Defense Summit
By Simone Galimberti* KATHMANDU, Nepal | 10 March 2025 (IDN) — Was the emergency meeting of the European Council, held on the 6 March in Brussels, a real “watershed” moment for Europe? The President of European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen defined it as a day in which “history has been written”. Considering the chaos […]
India: Buddhist Administration of Mahabodhi Temple Will Lend Credence to ‘Buddhist’ Diplomacy
Viewpoint by Bhikkhu Sanghasena* LEH, Ladakh, India | 8 March 2025 (IDN) — The ongoing debates surrounding the management of the most sacred place for the Buddhist world, the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, underscore a deeper issue of religious representation and governance in multi-religious India, as the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi promotes […]
National Youth Council of Pakistan: By the Youth, for the Youth
By Bisma Qamar* NEW YORK | ISLAMABAD | 8 March 2025 (IDN) — “The world belongs to those bold enough to shape it. No matter how uncertain the path, progress lies in perseverance. There is a thin line between doing wonders and remaining stagnant, it’s the courage to dream that turns possibilities into reality. Youth […]
Development From Within – Indian University Redefines Development Communication
By Kalinga Seneviratne SHANTINIKETAN, India | 6 March 2025 (IDN) — In the immediate aftermath of the decolonisation process in the 1960s and 1970s, led by Western scholars, development communication was seen as a top-down process where communication could be used to educate the peasants to wean them away from subsistence farming and other livelihoods […]
Third Way and its Regressive Politics Should Have No Place in the Democratic Party
By Sam Rosenthal* WASHINGTON DC | 5 March 2025 (IDN) — Over the weekend, Politico reported that, in early February, a group of Democratic “consultants, campaign staffers, elected officials and party leaders” had convened in Virginia to chart a course forward for the party. The so-called “Comeback Retreat” was organized by the corporate centrist think […]