Art is a means of soft power for persuading and attracting global attention. “As globalization has distributed economic benefits around the world more broadly, emerging economies are stepping up to express their role as actors in the global sphere,” explains John Zarobell, associate professor and chair of International Studies at the University of San Francisco. […]
Indian Foreign Policy Not Walking Modi’s Big Talk
Viewpoint by Bharat Karnad The author is Research Professor for National Security Studies at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. He is author of ‘Staggering Forward: Narendra Modi and India’s Global Ambition’ and blogs at ‘SecurityWise‘. This article first appeared on EastAsiaForum on 24 December 2018. NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) – The 2018 G20 Summit […]
The Biomass Shore Project – A Leading Model For Next-Generation Innovation
Viewpoint by Midori Kurahashi The author is Project Associate Professor, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo, Japan. TOKYO (IDN) – Worldwide forest fires and the abnormal heat experienced last summer are still fresh in our memory. Many people throughout the world had a sense that some kind of unsettling change […]
The U.S. Is Apparently At The Mercy Of Saudi Arabia
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman remains at large, the unapologetic murderer (according to the CIA) of the respected dissident journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. Even though President Donald Trump came close to accusing him of the deed, he has pulled back, citing Saudi Arabia’s importance as an oil producer […]
Nigeria’s Ex-President Shehu Shagari Mourned
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | ABUJA (IDN) – Former President Alhaji Shehu Usman Shagari, a devout Muslim, a former school teacher, son of a farmer, trader and herder, was remembered in December as a nice man, a gentle man but not a particularly strong man. Nice, gentle and amiable – good […]
Press Freedoms Return To Gambia Under New Government
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | BANJUL (IDN) – Following the end of the regime of former President Yahya Jammeh, journalists in The Gambia are beginning to enjoy press freedoms for the first time in 22 years. During the two decades of ex-President Jammeh’s rule, journalists were regularly abducted, tortured and killed. […]
Wickremasinghe’s Reappointment As Sri Lanka PM Opens Door To The ‘Indo-Pacific’
By Kalinga Seneviratne COLOMBO (IDN) – For the past two months Sri Lanka’s deeply divided political community has been fighting to protect democracy in one of the oldest democracies in Asia. One side wants a general election to elect a new parliament claiming the current one is corrupt and wants to divide the country. The […]
UN Intervention In The Congo Appears To Be Successful
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The general election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has been postponed yet again – to December 30. Will this country, the largest and potentially the richest in Africa, ever escape from its continuous dictatorship, and its propensity to civil war? It’s not so […]
Swahili Speakers Stunned As Disney Claims Trademark For ‘Hakuna Matata’
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – The once common phrase “Hakuna Matata” (No Problem!) is now off limits for African speakers of Swahili. Any commercial use of the two word expression is reserved for its new owner – the American company that produced Lion King. That’s right: Walt Disney! The California-based […]
Emeralds, Rubies Score Big Profits For Foreign Firms As African Countries Go Broke
The information presented here has been superseded and the corrected article can be found here https://indepthnews.colo.ba.be/index.php/the-world/africa/2476-emeralds-rubies-could-make-zambia-rich By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Foreign mining companies extract more than a quarter of the world’s production of rare emeralds in Zambia yet declare losses to make themselves tax exempt. So far, charges of […]