Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA (IDN) — In journalism proverb, Afghanistan is a convenient shelter, the writer’s fantasy island from topical issues at home. In the current deluge of news from that country, however, that proverb appears to have lost its meaning. […]
After US and NATO Withdrawal, Afghanistan’s Future Is Unclear
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The Soviet Army invaded Afghanistan in December, 1979 and withdrew, exhausted and demoralized, 10 years later. In Moscow a joke had long circulated: “Why are we still in Afghanistan?” Answer: “We are still looking for the people who invited us.” The same is true for the Americans […]
Action on Land Degradation Crucial to Averting the Worst Ravages of Climate Change
By Ibrahim Thiaw UN Under Secretary General and Executive Secretary to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, Mr Ibrahim Thiaw, responds to the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land. BONN (IDN) — We have known for over 25 years that poor land use and management are major drivers of climate change, but have […]
Media and Western Governments Give Little Chance to Non-Violence as A Tool of Political Change
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — By any reasonable measure violence should have had its day. Throughout our long history violence and war have solved little. In most cases, if not all, war could have been pre-empted by deft diplomacy and non-violent action. Take Afghanistan where after America’s longest ever war the US […]
Code Red for Humanity — Imminent Risk of Hitting 1.5 degrees C
By António Guterres, UN Secretary-General NEW YORK (IDN) — Today’s IPCC Working Group 1 Report is a code red for humanity. The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk. Global heating is […]
Call for ‘Immediate Signing’ of the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty
By MATSUI Kazumi, Mayor of the City of Hiroshima Every year on August 6, the City of Hiroshima holds a Peace Memorial Ceremony to pray for the peaceful repose of the victims, for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and for lasting world peace. During that ceremony, the Mayor issues a Peace Declaration directed toward the […]
Japan Should Take the Initiative in Proposing New Security Alternatives to Nuclear Deterrence
Interview with Mr. Tetsuo Saito, Vice Representative, Komei Party By Katsuhiro Asagiri TOKYO (IDN) — Hiroshima and Nagasaki mark the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs on August 6 and 9 for the first time since the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) came into force on January 22. The survivors […]
Sustainable Development through Mother Tongue and Multilingualism
Viewpoint by Yossef Ben-Meir and Ellen Hernandez Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir is President of the High Atlas Foundation in Morocco. Professor Ellen Hernandez teaches in English at Camden County College in the United States. MARRAKECH (IDN) — When community meetings are held to determine priority development projects in villages, in neighborhoods, in schools, in agricultural fields—wherever […]
In Quest of the Best Way to End a War
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Let me appear to be cynical for once. I’m constantly arguing that war can be avoided and even pre-empted if would-be war criminals are arrested and stopped in their tracks. But what if the way to end a war is not to intervene, not to help, but […]
New Big Tobacco Products Threaten Global Progress on The Fight Against Tobacco
Viewpoint by Matthew L. Myers, President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — In 2020, 3.6 million kids in the United States used electronic cigarettes, including 1 in 5 high school students. A growing percentage of them did so frequently or daily, a sure sign of addiction. With 83% of youth e-cigarette users using […]