By Alon Ben-Meir* When a president confuses personal loyalty with public duty and self-glorification with leadership, democracy pays the price. Trump’s conduct reveals a disgusting and disturbing pattern: he put the presidency in service of his ego rather than the nation. NEW YORK | 17 October 2026 (IDN) — The damage Trump has inflicted on this […]
Will a Nobel Solve the World’s Trump Problem? The President Thinks So
By Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP and the author of the new book Writing for Media and Monetising It. ABUJA, Nigeria | 16 October 2026 (IDN) — US President Donald Trump doesn’t just think a Nobel will solve the world’s Trump-inflicted problems. He believes it. He has said, quite clearly, that he […]
30 Months After Uproar Over Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar Speech, What Do His Pro-Israel Denouncers Say Now?
By Norman Solomon* SAN FRANCISCO, 15 October 2026 (IDN) — If you understand that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, why read an article focusing on the viewpoints of people who vehemently deny it? I wasn’t sure how to explain why, until I remembered something that screenwriter Frédéric Krivine said when I interviewed him in Paris eight […]
Brexit Will End and Europe Will Come Together Again
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 14 October 2026 (IDN) — At last, a British prime minister who is not afraid to say Europe is good for Britain. After a slow start on the issue, Andy Burnham has now made it fairly clear that Britain will seek to rejoin the European Union. It is not […]
The International Year of Volunteerism: an Opportunity for a Profound Reset
By Simone Galimberti* KATHMANDU, Nepal 14 October 2026 (IDN)— A lost opportunity. I can’t find better words to describe the rollout of the International Year of Volunteerism 2026, a rare opportunity to embed and experience the best humanity can offer. Volunteerism and civic engagement, the latter a broader concept that encompasses a variety of forms […]
Why Shift Mental Halth Care from Institutions to Communities
By Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (WHO Director-General) and Anura Kumara Dissanayake (Sri Lanka President) TIME first published this commentary on 12 October 2026, and it is reproduced with WHO’s permission. GENEVA | 13 October 2026 (IDN) — In recent decades, many countries have made meaningful progress in developing community-based mental health services. Moreover, rights-based approaches […]
UN and The Hague Confront Impunity for War Crimes
By Nicolas J. S. Davies NEW YORK | 12 October 2026 (IDN) — On 9 October 2026, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Navi Pillay, the South African international lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid political prisoners on Robben Island, and went on to serve as a judge on the UN International Criminal […]
A Cultural Turning Point for American Democracy
What artists and religious leaders reveal about the health and future of democracy By Azza Karam NEW YORK, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (IDN) — A concert can tell us more about a country than an election poll can. It can reveal whose suffering people are prepared to acknowledge, what powerful institutions will permit them to say, […]
Books or Bombs? France’s Student Revolt vs. NATO’s Spending Push
By Medea Benjamin NEW YORK | 12 October 2026 (IDN) — For the third week in a row, high school students across France are taking to the streets demanding more investment in their education. They want more teachers, smaller classes, decent school buildings and a public education system that works for poor and working-class students. […]
The Slow-Motion Erasure Of The West Bank
By Dr Alon Ben-Meir* A people are being erased not in a single cataclysm, but through daily terror: bulldozers, armed settlers, night raids, demolished homes, and stolen water. The West Bank’s suffering is not a security policy—it is a warning of Israel’s own moral collapse NEW YORK | 10 October 2026 (IDN) — There are crimes […]