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 […]
Are Christian Missionaries Vestige of Colonialism?
Viewpoint by Dr Ram Puniyani This article is the 15th in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. The writer is a former professor of biomedical engineering and former senior medical officer affiliated with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (now Mumbai) and meanwhile […]
The Study of History Can Avert a New Cold War
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Does America know what a dangerous game its leaders have been playing? Does it know its history? And do the leaders of Europe, who should be a brake on American determination, go along with Washington because they are almost equally ignorant? The fact is none of the […]
Workers Open to Abuse in Australia’s New ASEAN Agriculture Visa
Viewpoint by Abul Rizvi* MELBOURNE (IDN) — After years of resisting pressure from the Australian National Party and the farm lobby to create an agriculture visa, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has at last relented. A new agriculture visa for workers from ASEAN nations is currently being negotiated. Applications will likely start from November 2021 […]