Viewpoint by Bill Dahl* This is the second in a series of four articles. Click here for the first in the series. QUERETARO, Mexico (IDN) — If Covid-19 has taught us one lesson, it is that the creativity within the scientific community led to effective vaccine development in a timeframe nobody anticipated. Frankly, humanity got […]
Climate: The Cognition, Collaboration and Creativity Crisis
Viewpoint by Bill Dahl* This is the first in a series of four articles. QUERETARO, Mexico (IDN) — The climate crisis is the most daunting challenge ever confronted by humankind. At the present time, mankind is losing the battle. This article explores the first of three dimensions of our inept response; cognition. As a point […]
China and Russia Build a Central Asian Exclusion Zone
Viewpoint by Emil Avdaliani* TBILISI, Georgia (IDN) — State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted the China+Central Asia (C+C5) Foreign Ministers’ meeting in the Chinese city of Xi’an on May 12. This is the second such meeting, which increasingly focuses (with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan) on geopolitical issues. More broadly, it signals […]
A Seismic Event in US-Russia Relations
Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa* NEW YORK (IDN) — The President of the United States Joseph Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin met on June 16 in Geneva at a time when the two countries are engrossed in an antagonistic confrontation over many issues—historically, the worst ever relations between the two countries.
Majority of UN Members Refuse to Fund UNHRC’s Sri Lanka Probe
But would the West Respect the Majority Will? Viewpoint by Sugeeswara Senadhira COLOMBO (IDN) — Majority of members of the UN, especially from the Global South, have refused to donate funds to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC’s) move to set up a separate secretariat to enforce matters relating to the Resolution it passed […]
Aid Does Not Necessarily Foster Stability
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The biggest war at the moment is the civil war in Somalia, started in 1991. It has claimed over half a million lives. Second, is the civil war in Syria which has led to about 400,000 deaths. Third, is South Sudan where approximately 400,000 have been killed. […]
Decentralisation Vital to Achieving the UN’s Global Goals
Viewpoint by Yossef Ben-Meir The writer is a former Peace Corps Volunteer and president of the High Atlas Foundation. MARRAKECH (IDN) — The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are aspirationally universal, addressing globally relevant issues with earnest objectives. Despite the profound good that they represent, fundamental problems exist with the Goals. They lack prescriptiveness, […]
US Withdrawal from Afghanistan and National Security
Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Jainendra Karn Manish Uprety is an ex-diplomat & ALCAP’s Special Advisor for Asia & Africa and Jainendra Karn is a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News. NEW […]
No Bold Actions Yet to Stop the Flows of Dirty Money
Viewpoint by Maíra Martini * NEW YORK (IDN) — Governments gathered for the first-ever UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) against corruption June 2-4, 2021. This could have been an opportunity for the more and the less advanced economies to come to the table and discuss bold improvements to the current international anti-corruption framework and […]
What Twitter Ban Teaches the World About Nigeria
Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA (IDN) — The Nigerian government thinks Twitter is the greatest source of its misery. After straining at the leash for months, it couldn’t resist swatting the microblogging platform with a ban last week. But what does the […]