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 […]
Is China Seeking to Remake the World in Its Own Image?
Viewpoint by Richard Hanania* This is the second of a four-part series. Click here for Part 1 NEW YORK (IDN) – No other state was considered a fundamental threat to the U.S. over the issue, with a mix of external pressure and internal incentives leading them to ultimately develop more rigorous patent laws and enforcement. […]
What Is the U.S. Afraid of China Actually Doing?
Viewpoint by Richard Hanania* This is the first of a four-part series. NEW YORK (IDN) – Across the political spectrum, there is widespread agreement that America must get serious about the threat posed by China. As the Trump administration comes to a close, the State Department has just released a document called ‘The Elements of […]
Ending Our Suicidal War Against Nature
Viewpoint by John Scales Avery* COPENHAGEN (IDN) – “Our planet is broken,” the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has warned. Humanity is waging what he describes as a “suicidal” war on the natural world. “Nature always strikes back, and is doing so with gathering force and fury,” he told a BBC special event […]
There Is A Silver Lining in The Cloud of Brexit
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Writing in 1751 Voltaire described Europe as “a kind of great republic, divided into several states, some monarchical, the others mixed but all corresponding with one another. They all have the same religious foundation, even if divided into several confessions. They all have the same principles of […]
Ocean Threatened by Loss of Coral Reefs
Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad * NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (IDN) – With a recent report titled “Projections of Future Coral Bleaching Conditions,” published by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in November, Leticia Carvalho—head of the Marine and Freshwater Branch of UNEP—said on December 21 that coral reefs are the “canary in the coalmine for climate’s impact […]
Let Us Make 2021 a Year of Healing!
The following is the text of 2021 United Nations New Year’s message delivered by Secretary-General António Guterres. NEW YORK (IDN) – 2020 has been a year of trials, tragedies and tears. COVID-19 upended our lives and plunged the world into suffering and grief.
The Guest, Corona, Didn’t Come to Play
Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA (IDN) – It’s true that Coronavirus is not among the top five most deadly diseases in Africa today. But it’s also correct that at this time, we know far less about the COVID-19 pandemic than we […]