By Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS (IDN) — This remarkable quote appears on page 6 of Howard French’s latest book, published in October 2021, “Born in Blackness. Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World. 1471 to the Second World War“. In doing so, he casts a lot of doubt on traditionally held opinions about Africa […]
The Global Corporate Tax Deal–An African Perspective
Viewpoint by Orria Goni and Luckystar Miyandazi Orria Goni is SDG Financing and South-South Cooperation Advisor, UNDP, and Luckystar Miyandazi is Regional Tax Specialist, UNDP. This article was posted on UNDP Blog. NEW YORK (IDN) — On October 30, 2021, the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies, the G20, endorsed a two-pillar blueprint to […]
Gender Inequality Might Explain Why Women Outlive Men
Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA (IDN) — My wife occasionally jokes that my stressful, high-strung lifestyle could mean I’ll die before her. I’ve hardly paid any attention, until recently. Three weeks ago, we both visited a friend who lost his father on […]
Behind Russia’s Security Concerns
Viewpoint by Alexey Gromyko* This article was issued by the European Leadership Network on January 20, 2022. MOSCOW (IDN) — The current discussions between Russia and NATO pivot on Russia’s requirement for the Alliance to provide legally binding security guarantees: specifically, that the alliance will not expand east, which will require revoking the 2008 NATO […]
UN Can Help Defuse the Ukraine Conflict
Viewpoint by Boaventura de Sousa Santos* This article was issued by Other News and is being republished with their permission. COIMBRA, Portugal (IDN) — The difficult challenges facing today’s world—the climate crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, the escalating Cold War, the risk of a nuclear conflict, the increase in human rights violations and the exponential rise […]
Kim Dynasty: Firmly in Control
Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission. BONN (IDN) — When Kim Jong-un took power in North Korea in December 2011, many observers speculated that the young 28-year-old, politically inexperienced son of the late Kim Jong-il and grandson of the first president, […]
Biden Has Doubled Down on Trump’s Dangerous and Destabilizing Policies
Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK (IDN) — U.S. President Biden and the Democrats were highly critical of President Trump’s foreign policy, so it was reasonable to expect that Biden would quickly remedy its worst impacts. As a senior member of the Obama administration, Biden surely needed no schooling on […]
The New State of Chile Needs a New Army
Viewpoint by Alejandro Kirk* This article was issued by Other News and is being republished with their permission. SANTIAGO, Chile (IDN) — The myth that in Chile the military is basically disciplined, professional, non-deliberative and respectful of the democratic decisions of the people seems to be floating again in the country, in relation to the […]
No (Nuclear) War Over Ukraine, Please
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — War over Ukraine? It mustn’t be. Some of us believed that at the end of the Cold War in 1991 American and Soviet nuclear rockets would be left to rust and rot in their silos. Indeed, we actually saw Ukraine, where the Soviets made most of their […]
The Need to Create a New Social Order
Viewpoint by Simone Galimberti Simone Galimberti is the Co-Founder of ENGAGE, an NGO partnering with youths living with disabilities. Opinions expressed are personal. KATHMANDU (IDN) — Amid a constellation of special commemorative days highlighting issues of global concerns, there are three, though officially unrelated to each other, share a common thread.