By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 21 October 2025 (IDN) — In Charles Dickens’s novel “A Tale of Two Cities”, set during the French revolution of 1789, he draws the character of Madame Defarge. She along with other members of the Tricoteuse, the knitting women, perch every day next to the guillotine, knitting into hats […]
Latest UN Resolution Puts Sri Lanka’s Commitment To The Test
By A.L.A. Azeez* This article was first published on Daily FT. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 19 October 2025 (IDN) — Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath made a statement in Parliament on Thursday, explaining Sri Lanka’s position at the 60th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC). On 8 September 2025, he delivered the country statement during consideration of the comprehensive report […]
How Island Nations Are Rewriting Climate Finance
Caribbean states are pioneering bold financial reforms to survive climate change. This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 18 October 2025 (IDN) — When hurricanes strike the Caribbean, they leave behind more than just destruction. They also leave debt. Small island developing states (SIDS) often have to borrow large sums at high interest […]
The World Needs Compassion with Urgency to Eradicate Poverty
By Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai The writer is Chairman, World Forum for Peace & Justice. NEW YORK | 17 October 2025 (IDN) — The 33rd commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP 2025) on October 17, 2025, in the ECOSOC Chamber at UN Headquarters in New York City. The event was jointly organised […]
Germany Redefines Development Cooperation with the Global South
A Legacy of Nobel Peace Laureate Willy Brandt By Ramesh Jaura This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 14 October 2025 (IDN) — More than forty years ago, former German Chancellor Willy Brandt—winner of the 1971 Nobel Peace Prize—warned that prosperity in the North and hardship in the South were two sides of […]
Urgent Next Steps for Palestine at the UN
By Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK | 9 October 2025 (IDN) — As US President Donald Trump surely intended, his “20-point Gaza plan” succeeded in upstaging calls by many other world leaders at the UN General Assembly for concrete, coordinated UN-led measures to force Israel to end its criminal genocide in Gaza and the […]
When the Seasons Forget the Wayfarers
UN Warns on Migration By Ramesh Jaura Migration is a memory, an ancient synchrony of wings, hooves, and tides. As the planet warms, that memory falters — and the world grows quieter without its travellers. This article was first published on: https://rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 5 October 2025 (WorldView) — On a fog-thick morning in the […]
Inertia on Nuclear Weapons
Between morality and strategy, the world drifts closer to annihilation By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 30 September 2025 (IDN) — We were standing in Hiroshima looking at a stone wall. All there was to see was a shadow of a man. It had been etched into the wall at the moment of his obliteration […]
Trump’s UN Meltdown: When Diplomacy Becomes Anti-Diplomacy
By Ian Williams The writer is the President of the Foreign Press Association in New York and a former President of the UN Correspondents’ Association. NEW YORK | 24 September 2025 (IDN) — If Donald Trump had worn a gaudy uniform like Gaddafi, he might have pipped the Libyan leader for the most memorable UN […]
Where Can the UN Really Make a Difference?
By Simone Galimberti* KATHMANDU, Nepal | 22 September 2025 (IDN) — The United Nations must change. This is imperative, if the institution created to promote universal rights, peace and development, wants to remain relevant. The ongoing global landscape with developed nations retrenching from their international development commitments is finally forcing the UN to do it. […]