Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa* NEW YORK (IDN) — The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) and the Munich Security Conference (MSC) held two meetings virtually on February 19, 2021, as these had to be postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The G7 countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and […]
Still Much to Be Done to Make Immigration More Palatable
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The Mexicans had a joke about ex-President Donald Trump’s planned wall along its border with the US. “It’s not being built to keep Mexicans out of the US; it’s built to keep Trump out of Mexico!” If this be so, then President Joe Biden can relax. No […]
The Ascendency and Mainstay of Participatory Development
Viewpoint by Dr Yossef Ben-Meir The writer is President of the High Atlas Foundation, which is an implementer of the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer Program in Morocco. MARRAKECH (IDN) — Participatory community movements found a contemporary impetus in post-World War II reconstruction of Europe and decolonization, primarily in Africa. The approach of locally managed change, however, was […]
Why the U.S. Should Build A New Base in Eritrea
Viewpoint by Daniel Haile* COLLEGE STATION, Texas | USA (IDN) — The United States should abandon its base in Djibouti and build a new military base in Eritrea after the Communist regime in Asmara falls from power. daniel_haile.jpg The communist regime of 78-year-old dictator Isaias Afwerki has an expiration date. When the current government in […]
Looking Forward to A Pluralistic and Rebalanced World
Viewpoint by S. Jaishankar A return to normalcy in 2021 will mean safer travel, better health, economic revival and digitally-driven services. They will be expressed in new conversations and fresh understandings, writes Dr S. Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs of India and author of “The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World.” The views […]
The Choice of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as WTO Head Makes History
Can This ‘Grandmother’ Save The World Ruled by Gender and Racial Bias? Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA (IDN) — As the World Trade Organization (WTO) formally announced the appointment of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as Director-General on February 15, a Swiss newspaper […]
Global Food Systems Can Only Be Truly Transformed with a People’s Summit
Viewpoint by Agnes Kalibata* NEW YORK (IDN) – Long before the emergence of COVID-19, it was well-accepted that the world was off-course to achieve most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, including ending hunger. But recovering from the pandemic to deliver any of the 17 SDGs relies now more than ever on first feeding the […]
Mass Murders Threaten Colombia’s Peace Agreement
Viewpoint by Camilo Tamayo Gomez* BIRMINGHAM (IDN) – The murder of five students at a farm in Buga, in south-western Colombia, on January 24 highlights the fragility of the 2016 peace deal which brought to an end more than five decades of civil conflict between successive governments and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). […]
MYANMAR: The Complicated Politics & Geopolitics of the Coup
Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad* NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (IDN) — On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military — known as the Tatmadaw — invoked Article 417 of the 2008 constitution, dismissed State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, and arrested her and other members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Condemnation of the coup was swift, although […]
President Biden Should Resurrect the Iran Nuclear Deal
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN) — General Colin Powell should know. He was chief of staff of the US military, and later secretary of state under President George W. Bush. When the Syrian civil war broke out and there was an effort in Congress and the media to persuade President Barack Obama to […]