Viewpoint by Sam Fowles* LONDON (IDN) – The UK has left the EU and plunged into a third lockdown (the latter some two weeks after doing so was recommended by the government’s medical advisers), while, in the US, right-wing terrorists stormed the Capitol. Strangely, all three provoked responses along the lines of “Boris Johnson is […]
The Politicisation of “White Victimhood” Nothing New to Trump’s Presidency
Viewpoint by Lee Bebout* TEMPE, Arizona (IDN) – Despite failed lawsuits, recounts and formal confirmation that President-elect Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, President Donald Trump and his supporters continue to maintain that the election was rigged and that he and the American people are victims of massive voter fraud. This politicisation of victimhood is nothing new […]
How Will Africa Remember Donald Trump? Here Is How.
Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA (IDN) – US President Donald Trump may have lost re-election but he would be escorted out of the White House on January 19 night with a special prize: Africa’s worst friend in modern times. Not that […]
As A Tigrayan, My Bond with Ethiopia Feels Beyond Repair
Viewpoint by Temesgen Kahsay The author is an Assistant Professor at the Norwegian School of Leadership and Theology. The following appeared first in ‘African Arguments’ on January 12, 2021. OSLO (IDN) – We’re told the war is not with ordinary Tigrayans. Yet as thousands suffer and our compatriots remain silent, that’s how it feels. As […]
Whither the G20 in a World of Declining Multilateralism: Part 2
Viewpoint by Roberto Savio* ROME (IDN | OtherNews) – A decision on the debt issue is now expected from the next G20 Summit in Rome, in November. But before that, the Global Health Summit called by the G20 together with the EU in May will be the occasion to verify what will happen with vaccines. […]
Whither the G20 in a World of Declining Multilateralism: Part 1
Viewpoint by Roberto Savio* ROME (IDN | OtherNews) – For 2021, Italy has been given chairmanship of the Group of 20, which brings together the world’s 20 most important countries. On paper, they represent 60 percent of the world’s population and 80 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While the shaky Italian government will […]
The Rationale for Scotland Returning to the European Union
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Trump wants to get in. Scotland wants to get out. That sounds a bit odd. Let me explain. A few days ago, the first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, said she’d heard that one of the White House’s planes had asked for permission to land in Glasgow […]
The Assault on the Citadel of US Democracy
Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa* NEW YORK (IDN) – On January 6, Americans and the world watched in disbelief, horror and disgust as President Donald Trump’s fiercest supporters, stoked by the commander in chief himself, stormed, smashed windows, and desecrated the Capitol building that hasn’t been breached since the War of 1812, when British soldiers burned […]
Why We Care
By Ramu Damodaran The writer is Chief, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted in the Department of Global Communications. This OpEd first appeared in the UNAI Weekly Newsletter – January 8. NEW YORK (IDN | UNAI) – Graffiti is terse but truthful and even if I failed in identifying the specific trigger for a carefully […]
Capitol Hill Insurrection Demonstrates What the US Does Abroad
Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) – While protestors were occupying Washington DC’s Capitol Hill and ransacking the Congress Chambers – the centre of American power – President-elect Joe Biden addressing the nation said that the attempted insurrection was “not what we are”, perhaps unintentionally conveying the first ‘lie’ of his presidential reign beginning January […]