By Kester Kenn Klomegah MOSCOW | 12 September 2025 (IDN) — When Donald Trump returned to the White House earlier this year, observers braced for another bout of upheaval in U.S. foreign policy. But what’s unfolding isn’t merely a rerun of his first term. This time around, Trump is deploying geoeconomics—strategic use of economic tools—as […]
The Need for Non-Violence in Ukraine
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 9 September 2025 (IDN) — Is it too late to say non-violence would have served the Ukrainians better? Probably yes, although it shouldn’t be discounted. This war with Russia reminds me of 1968, when the Soviet Union sent its tanks into Budapest to overthrow a reforming (but still communist) […]
Cuba’s Economic Collapse: Inflation, Dollarisation, and a Nation at Breaking Point
By J. C. Suresh TORONTO | Havana | 8 September 2025 (IDN) — For decades, Cuba stood as one of the Caribbean’s most distinctive economies—heavily centralised, politically resilient, and symbolically influential across Latin America. Once a regional reference point for social programs and state-driven development, it now finds itself among the hemisphere’s weakest performers. The […]
Climate change impact on workers’ health explored at Osaka EXPO
By Mahinda Seneviratne* OSAKA, Japan | 8 September 2025 (IDN) — As the sun rose over the picturesque, volcanic mountain region of central Kyushu in Japan, four young women from Myanmar were reporting for work as house maids at a local ryokan (Japanese-style inn). They are part of the growing number of migrant workers evident […]
Humanitarian Response Critically Underfunded as Refugee Numbers Surge in Gambella, Ethiopia
By Daniel Tesfa & Mirjam van Reisen AKSUM | 02 September 2025 (IDN) — The refugee situation in Ethiopia remains one of the most complex and pressing humanitarian challenges in the region. Ethiopia hosts 1,080,563 refugees and Gambella hosts the largest refugee population with 395,470 South Sudanese refugees. Approximately, 79% of the South Sudanese (SS) […]
Is the West accepting Azerbaijan to hold political prisoners?
By Benoit Lannoo* ANTWERP (Belgium) | 02 September 2025 (IDN) — For two years, at least twenty-three Artsakhis are jailed in Baku. Their crime: wanting to be what they are, namely Artsakhis. And what does the European Union do? Nothing! Today, it is Independence Day in Artsakh. But there is nothing to celebrate, since the […]
Sri Lanka: The Beautiful, Besieged Island
By Dr. Asoka Bandarage* COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 31 August 2025 (IDN) — In July 2025, the influential global travel website Big 7 named Sri Lanka the “most beautiful island in the world,” stating that the “teardrop-shaped island off the southern coast of India has it all—golden beaches, terraced tea plantations, timeworn temples, colonial towns, […]
From Guernica to Gaza, Mass Killers Have Been Above It All
By Norman Solomon / TomDispatch SAN FRANCISCO | 31 August 2025 (IDN) — Killing from the sky has long offered the sort of detachment that warfare on the ground can’t match. Far from its victims, air power remains the height of modernity. And yet, as the monk Thomas Merton concluded in a poem, using the […]
Europe Requires a New Approach to Foreign Policy
By Jeffrey D. Sachs* This article was published on CIRSD and is being republished with the author’s permission. NEW YORK | 28 August 2025 (IDN) —The European Union needs a new foreign policy based on Europe’s true economic and security interests. Europe is currently in an economic and security trap of its own making, characterized by its […]
Ethiopia to Host Second Climate Summit: A Call for Global Action
By Atiklit Atnafu Naramo The writer is a Second Secretary at the Ethiopian Embassy in New Delhi, India.. NEW DELHI | 28 August 2025 (IDN) — Ethiopia, a nation with over 3,000 years of civilisation and home to more than 80 ethnic groups, is often referred to as the “Land of Origin” owing to its […]