Viewpoint by Syafruddin Arsyad* JAKARTA (IDN) – As the Iranian leaders are now feeling the pressure of the full sanctions on Iranian oil and the terror-designation of Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), they will try and shift much of the IRGC’s human resources and assets into Iranian intelligence service that operates under Iran’s Ministry of […]
Rajapaksa’s Election Win in Sri Lanka Exposes Bankruptcy of ‘Velvet Revolutions’
Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne SINGAPORE (IDN) – International news reports about former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s rise to power in Sri Lanka project him as a human rights violator who detests democracy. But, there is an untold story behind his path to the country’s presidency that would have lessons for Asian countries in particular, who […]
The China-India Double Helix in the Reemergence of Asia as World’s Dominant Power
Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Jainendra Karn * NEW DELHI (IDN) – It has been posited that in the 19th century, the world was Europeanized. In the 20th century, it was Americanized. Now, it is being Asianized. But is the story of the Asian success as blossoming as it looks. There are immense challenges […]
A Lot More Needs Be Done to Achieve Gender Parity
By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka Government Ministers and senior officials from the Ministries of Women, National Planning, and Finance, representatives of civil society and other key stakeholders from across the Asia-Pacific region have gathered at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand for a three-day Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on the Beijing+25 Review […]
The two-state Solution is Dead as Netanyahu Pushes for ‘Greater Israel’
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) – It’s unbelievable that 102 years have passed since the Balfour Declaration when the British colonial government decided to give the Jews their own homeland – but also promised that “it be done without infringing on the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish population”. Now, this […]
How Nuclear False Warning Could Have Unleashed a Catastrophe
Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball The writer is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. The following is the text of his article published in Arms Control Today. WASHINGTON (IDN) – Forty years ago, on November 9, the U.S. Defense Department detected an imminent nuclear attack against the United States through the early-warning system of […]
Communities at The Forefront in the HIV/AIDS Response
Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa* NEW YORK (IDN) – Since the first identification of HIV/AIDS in the United States of America (USA), in 1981, approximately 80 million people have been infected with HIV, and over 40 million have died of AIDS – the highest global death toll of all time – and also one of the […]
Anxiety Looms Over the 10th NPT Review Conference Next Year
Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte The writer is President of Pugwash. Former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. NEW YORK (IDN) – The contentious start of the 74th Session of the First Committee of the General Assembly last October in New York was a harbinger of the difficulties to be faced in the run-up to the […]
Be Mindful of Constantly Confronting Iran
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Of all the present foes of America it is Iran which has consistently been over time the number one. Since its Islamic Revolution in 1979 that overthrew the secular-minded Shah and supplanted him with a militant, sometimes warlike, Islamic theocracy, it has been America’s Great Satan. (But […]
The Importance of Gambia Invoking Genocide Convention Against Myanmar
Viewpoint by Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens GENEVA (IDN) – The Government of Gambia on November 11, 2019 has brought to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague a complaint against the Government of Myanmar (formerly Burma) for violation of the 1948 Convention on Genocide concerning actions against the Rohingya. Under […]