By Dr. James E. Jennings ATLANTA, USA | 24 September 2025 (IDN) — The barely viable Two-State Solution appears to have made a brief comeback at the United Nations General Assembly. Emmanuel Macron of France and Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine—one young, one old—huffed and puffed in the attempt to put new life into a near-dead […]
Advocating Increased Taxation on Tobacco and Nicotine Products
Reducing Consumption Among Young People in Kenya By Whitney Atieno The writer is a Kamukunji Youth and Tobacco Control Advocate. NAIROBI | 23 September 2025 (IDN) — Tobacco consumption is a significant public health issue in Kenya, causing approximately 12,000 deaths annually and contributing to various cancers and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs). According to the […]
Shades of Collective Self-Defence in the Context of Saudi-Pakistan Agreement
By A.L.A. Azeez* COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 21 September 2025 (IDN) — What does it entail when two states enter into a mutual defence pact? What if one of them is a nuclear-armed state, not party to the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the other an NPT state, not possessing nuclear weapons? That’s exactly the scenario […]
Suspending US-Kosovo Dialogue — A Rude Awakening for Kurti
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 19 September 2025 (IDN) — Although Trump does not necessarily follow logical and practical foreign policy to frame US relations with other countries, his decision to suspend the US-Kosovo dialogue was not entirely misguided. Prime Minister Kurti has failed to demonstrate statesmanship in steering the country in the right […]
Situation Report Horn of Africa: Over 100 Sudanese refugees die in shipwrecks
Situation in Sudan (per 18 September) At least 18 people were killed and 14 kidnapped by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in an attack on El Fasher, North Darfur, on Tuesday. This happened during violent clashes between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). The death toll only accounts for those brought to the […]
Human Rights Council’s Revived Harassment of Sri Lanka, Exposes Double Standards
By Kalinga Seneviratne Colombo | 17 September 2025 (IDN) – With the visit of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Commissioner Volker Turk to Sri Lanka in June and his subsequent report to the 60th session of the UNHRC presented on September 8th, the UN human rights body has revived its 16 year […]
Situation Report Horn of Africa: UN Security Council extends sanctions on Sudan
Situation in Sudan (per 15 September) The UN Security Council (UN SC) has extended sanctions on Sudan for another year, maintaining an arms embargo and targeted sanctions while also prolonging the oversight of a UN Panel of Experts until October 2026. Disagreements emerged among UN SC members, primarily US and European allies, advocating for stronger […]
Trump’s Geoeconomics and Africa’s Fork in the Road
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 […]