Viewpoint by Angélica Maria Jácome Daza The writer is FAO Director, Office for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs). BRUSSELS (IDN) – The possible food crisis that could be triggered by the effects of COVID-19 differs significantly from traditional food crises brought on by conflict or natural […]
Great Expectations! The Non-Proliferation Treaty and The Coming of The Messiah!
Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf* from Vienna for IDN Great Expectations is a novel published in July 1861 by the renowned British writer, Charles Dickens. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip who has a stroke of good luck and great expectations but then loses both his luck and his expectations. Against that backdrop, […]
Pacific SIDS Champion Oceans and Blue Economy Preparing for COP 26
Viewpoint by P.I. Gomes* PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) – On December 10, 2020, marking five years since adoption of the landmark Paris Agreement of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Heads of Government and Leaders of the Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) deemed it fit to convene a High-Level […]
Trump Paves Highway to Hell
Viewpoint by Bill Dahl* QUERETARO, Mexico (IDN) – Donald Trump lost the U.S. Presidential election. Trump garnered 73.9 million votes to Joe Biden’s 80 million (47.2% to 51.1%). Yet, Trump refuses to formally concede his loss. His attempts to win legal challenges based upon assertions of widespread voter fraud have been unanimously rejected by U.S. […]
Australia-China Spat: It’s More Than Just Trade
Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) – A one-sided trade war has been gathering momentum between China and Australia, ever since Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an “independent” international investigation of the origins of Covid-19, which infuriated China. China is Australia’s biggest trading partner with two-way trade worth A$ 235 in financial year […]
How Nigerians Remember Maradona
Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA (IDN) – When the news of the death of Diego Maradona broke, I was in a friend’s office. Our initial spontaneous reaction was sorrow and regret. And then we drifted, almost as if we had rehearsed […]
Biden Would Do Well to Roll Back the Expansion of NATO
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Top of President-elect’s Joe Biden’s foreign policy list must be Russia. Not China, not Europe. Russia has been the West’s mortal enemy since shortly after the end of World War II, with a short break when Communism was overthrown in 1991, until NATO began its expansion in […]
Vanuatu’s Development Success Overshadowed by COVID-19
Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). BANGKOK (IDN) – The Pacific Island Developing State of Vanuatu has emerged as one of the region’s great success stories. Vanuatu has joined the […]
US Policing and Militarism Perpetuate Sexual Violence
Viewpoint by Olivia Pace* The original version of this article was published on Waging Nonviolence and is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. PORTLAND, Oregon (IDN) – From the forces of policing to the military, these arms of the US state claim to be arbiters of justice and safety in the most superficial […]
Human Exploitation of the Biosphere Threatens Mass Extinction
Viewpoint by John Scales Avery* COPENHAGEN (IDN) – According to a recent United Nations report, more than a million species of plants and animals are currently threatened with extinction because of human activities. Rates of extinction today are as much as 1,000 times greater than the normal background rate. As the greenhouse gas emissions of […]