Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN) — It was the Americans who helped the long-ago-deposed Shah of Iran start Iran’s nuclear power research. He wanted a bomb. The Americans seemed insouciant about where this might lead. After the revolution, the research was bequeathed from the wrong pair of hands to another wrong pair of […]
The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene [1]
Viewpoint by Franz Baumann*, Former UN Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations. This article was first published in Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, Volume 63 Issue 3, May/June 2021 and is being republished with the author’s permission. NEW YORK (IDN) — One must thank UNDP for putting together the 2020 UNDP Human Development Report (HDR). […]
Musings on Jazz and the 30th Anniversary of the 1991 Windhoek Declaration on a Free Press
By Ramu Damodaran The writer is Chief, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted in the Department of Global Communications. Following are excerpts of the OpEd, first published in #WhyWeCare on May 7. NEW YORK (IDN | UNAI) — Last weekend was bookended by two celebratory observances, the International Day of Jazz on April 30, and […]
Europe and the US Need to Talk About Sanctions Against Russia
Viewpoint by Agathe Demarais The writer is Global Forecasting Director at The Economist Intelligence Unit (The EIU). This commentary* was published on the European Leadership Network (ELN) website on May 7. LONDON (IDN) — Convening in London this week (May 3-5), the G7 foreign ministers expressed their interest in standing together in the face of […]
Busybodies Outside the Gates
Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA (IDN) — Bill and Melinda Gates had barely finished saying the “D” word when all kinds of marriage counsellors and grief-mongers besieged social media with suggestions of why they think the couple is breaking up. The sentiments, […]
COVID-19 Accelerates Digitilization of Economies and Societies
Viewpoint by Kaveh Zahedi * A defining feature of the post-COVID world will be the digital transformation of the world, though it might also widen gaps in economic and social development within and between countries. The digital transformation has gone hand in hand with the rise of digital technologies, writes Kaveh Zahedi, the Deputy Executive […]
Avert the Worst Impacts of Climate Disruption
Viewpoint by António Guterres Chancellor Angela Merkel and the German government convened this year’s Petersberg Climate Dialogue virtually on May 6 with Alok Sharma, the UK Chair-designate of 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), in Glasgow, from November 1 to November 12, 2021. UN Secretary-General António Guterres also spoke. Following are major excerpts from […]
Conquering Poverty in America Is Possible
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Adam Smith who in 1776 wrote “The Wealth of Nations”, the Bible of capitalism, which has become the standard economics text for over two centuries, was quick to single out monopolistic tendencies as the most important tool in undermining the virtues of capitalism. It kept the poor […]
The NPT Review Conference: Still Haggling for a Date
“The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over, and then expecting different results”……attributed to Albert Einstein, but first said by Rita Mae Brown (Sudden Death) Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf * VIENNA (IDN) — For more than a year, a vain search has been continuing to find an appropriate date […]
Time to Think Beyond Current NWFZs
Viewpoint by Dr Jargalsaikhan Enkhsaikhan The writer is Chairman of Blue Banner NGO, Former Mongolian Permanent Representative to the United Nations. ULAANBAATAR (IDN) — Post-cold war peace dividend has not realized. Though the number of nuclear weapons of the two largest nuclear weapon holders—Russia and the United States—was reduced but then the reduction process came […]