By Tariq Rauf* VIENNA | 10 November 2025 (IDN) — On 26 September 1996, on the floor of the United Nations General Assembly, at the signing ceremony for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), then-US President William J. Clinton declared the treaty as “the longest-sought, hardest fought prize in arms control history.” He exaggerated; in […]
UN80 Initiative – Between Renewal and Regression
By Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury The following are extensive excerpts from the address by the former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the United Nations, Ambassador Chowdhury — who founded the Global Movement for the Culture of Peace (GMCoP) — at the United Nations Asia Network for Diversity and Inclusion (UN-ANDI) on the occasion of the […]
Kenya’s Liberal Economy Attracting Russian and Foreign Investors
By Kester Kenn Klomegah* MOSCOW | 9 November 2025 (IDN) — Over the years, Kenya and Russia have enjoyed cordial and warm bilateral relations. Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus remain key to Kenya’s development agenda, aligning with the country’s economic blueprint, Vision 2030, and the Fourth Medium Term Plan (MTP IV) 2023–2027, under the broad economic philosophy of […]
Sudan’s Civil War Ravages the Core of Our Humanity
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 6 November 2025 (IDN) — The Sudanese civil war is one of the greatest tragedies we are witnessing today. The international community is disgraceful for sitting on its hands, watching with indifference this ongoing humanitarian catastrophe. Sudan’s civil war erupted in April 2023, and so far, several rounds of […]
Venezuela’s Oil, US-led Regime Change, and America’s Gangster Politics
By Jeffrey D. Sachs & Sybil Fares* This article was first published on Common Dreams and is being reproduced with the authors’ permission. NEW YORK | 5 November 2025 (IDN) — The flimsy moral pretext today is the fight against narcotics. Yet, the fundamental objective is to overthrow a sovereign government, and the collateral damage […]
Israel’s Secret Cache of Nuclear Weapons
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 4 November 2025 (IDN) —The story of Israel’s nuclear bomb is rarely told. Yet we hear a lot about the possible Iranian bomb and the dangerous bombs of Pakistan that militant Islamists might seize—although that is unlikely, given that the U.S. has supplied state-of-the-art locks to Pakistan. And then […]
Every Breath Counts
By Praise Nutakor The writer is a Partnerships and Communications Specialist at UNDP. NEW YORK | 2 November 2025 (IDN) — Every breath matters. For a newborn struggling for air, an expectant mother requiring surgery, or a patient battling respiratory illness, access to medical oxygen can mean the difference between life and death. Yet in […]
Sri Lanka Is the Crucial Hub of the Ancient Maritime Silk Road
By Ambassador Dr Palitha Kohona The writer is Sri Lanka’s Former Ambassador to China, a former Permanent Representative to the UN, a former Foreign Secretary, and a former Head of the UN Treaty Section. The following is extracted from a presentation De Kohona made to the Colombo Port City Rotary Club. COLOMBO | 1 November […]
From A Beacon of Democracy to Authoritarian Rule
There is a growing consensus among many notable political scientists and historians that America is at a perilous crossroads; Trump has chosen the road that leads to disastrous authoritarianism. The question is what it would take to stop Trump from destroying our democracy and replacing it with a dictatorship. By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | […]
The Changing Monsoon in The Himalayas: Lessons from Bhutan’s Floods
By Madhurima Sarkar-Swaisgood, Prangya Paramita Gupta, Shashwat Avi, and Sanjay Srivastava, ESCAP* BANGKOK | 29 October 2025 (IDN) — The Himalayan arc from Bhutan through Nepal and India into Pakistan has always followed the rhythm of the monsoon. In 2025, that rhythm became deadly. Rain that sustains agriculture and rivers turned destructive, testing the capacity […]