By P.I. Gomes *The writer is a former Secretary-General of the Organisation of African, Caribbean & Pacific States (OACPS). PORT OF SPAIN, Tobago. 22 September 2023 (IDN) — When the XVth Summit of the BRICS—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa—concluded with the Johannesburg II Declaration, it agreed that six new members would join the group […]
Respect Laws of Nature by Moving to a Circular Economy
By Sameepa Rajapakse* COLOMBO. 19 September 2023 (IDN) — Against the backdrop of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit at the United Nations headquarters in New York on 18-19 September, it would be an appropriate time for us to focus on moving to a circular economy that respects laws of nature. While poverty and hunger […]
NATO Admits that Ukraine War is The War of NATO Expansion
By Jeffrey D. Sachs* This article was published in Other News and is being republished with the author’s permission. NEW YORK, 20 September 2023 (IDN) — During the disastrous Vietnam War, it was said that the US government treated the public like a mushroom farm: keeping it in the dark and feeding it with manure. […]
Of Cities, Architects, Statesmen, Philosophers, and Human Beings
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden. 19 September 2023 (IDN) — “What did these vain and presumptuous men intend? How did they expect to raise their lofty mass against God, when they had built it above all the mountains and clouds of the earth’s atmosphere?” This is St. Augustine writing about Babylon in his “City of […]
Global Debt Is Rising After Decline in 2022
By Vitor Gaspar, Marcos Poplawski-Ribeiro, Jiae Yoo* WASHINGTON, D.C. 16 September 2023 (IDN) — The global debt burden retreated for the second year in a row, even though it remains above its already-high pre-pandemic level, according to the latest update of our Global Debt Database. The total debt stood at 238 percent of global gross […]
UN Is a Victim of the Mythic Expectations That It Is ‘World Government’
By Arul Louis* UNITED NATIONS. 16 September 2023 (IDN) — A popular myth about the UN is that it is the world government and could unilaterally act to stop wars or punish all nations launching wars—and end the universe’s ill with a fiat. Yet again, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has spectacularly blasted the myth like […]
Banish Nuclear Weapons ‘to History Books, Once and for All’, Urges UN Chief
Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message on the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, observed on 26 September. UNITED NATIONS. 15 September 2023 (IDN | UN) — The International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons reminds us that a peaceful future depends on ending the nuclear threat. Geopolitical mistrust […]
Hillary Clinton’s Legacy of Falsehoods
Viewpoint by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury* DHAKA. 13 September 2023 (IDN) — Hillary Clinton in an interview with PBS, on 8 June 2016, claimed that no American lives were lost in the US intervention in Libya and hinted that “pre-existing rivalries” were the primary cause of the chaos that followed. She said, “After due diligence, […]
Will Man’s Reach Exceed His Grasp?
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden. 12 September 2023 (IDN) — In 1776, Adam Smith published his “Wealth of Nations,” which has guided economists and political thinkers ever since. It marks the start of the Industrial Revolution that began in England and then spread throughout most of the world. That was 237 years ago. It is […]
Globalisation of Markets Without Globalisation of Peace
By Andrea Riccardi Professor Riccardi is a historian and founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio. The following are extensive excerpts from his remarks at the opening of the International Meeting for Peace, ‘THE AUDACITY OF PEACE’. BERLIN. 10 September 2023 (IDN) — It is of significance—for women and men of different religions, who fill their […]