By Kul Chandra Gautam* KATHMANDU, Nepal | 5 April 2026 (IDN) — I join many former UNICEF staff members in expressing profound sorrow at the passing of Stephen Lewis, a friend, colleague, mentor, and fellow Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF. I first learned about Stephen Lewis in the 1980s when he was the Canadian Ambassador […]
A Lament for the Rules-Based International Order
By Reihshan Deen* COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 4 April 2026 (IDN) — In 1648, the Thirty Years’ War came to an end. Beginning as a religious and political conflict between Catholics and Protestants regarding freedom of worship and the power of secular authorities to impose their beliefs on their subjects, the war fed upon itself, […]
After Recognition: The UN’s Next Reckoning on Slavery
Will global powers act—or stall—on reparative justice? By Ramesh Jaura This article first appeared on https://rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 2 April 2026 (IDN) — The United Nations’ declaration of the transatlantic slave trade as the “gravest crime against humanity” marked a moment of moral clarity on March 25, 2026. Yet, almost immediately, geopolitical tensions and diverging […]
Life in a Lawless Nuclear World
Radiological Consequences of Military Attacks on Bushehr and Barakah Atomic Power Plants By Tariq Rauf The writer is a former Head of Verification and Security Policy at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). VIENNA | 30 March 2026 (IDN) — In 1975, the US-based RAND Corporation published a seminal report entitled “Moving Toward Life in […]
Brute Force Prevails The Global Order
The UN is sidelined as U.S.-backed Israel strikes deep into Iran By Ramesh Jaura This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 25 March 2026 (IDN) — Wars no longer announce themselves with official proclamations. They creep forward, strike by strike, each retaliation erasing another line once thought uncrossable. In April 2024, Israel’s unprecedented […]
The Role of Imported Arms in the Iran War
By Zain Hussain and Pieter Wezeman* STOCKHOLM | 20 March 2026 (IDN) — Imported arms have significantly shaped developments in the Middle East since Israel and the United States launched coordinated attacks on Iran last month. In this Q&A, Zain Hussain (ZH) and Pieter Wezeman (PW) of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme discuss what the […]
An Indian Ocean Tragedy: Time to Close US-UK-France Military Bases, Decolonize and Stop War
By Darini Rajasingham Senanayake* COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 17 March 2026 (IDN) —The bodies of eighty-four Iranian sailors who died in a US torpedo attack in the seas of Sri Lanka were repatriated yesterday, 13 March 2026. Describing the scene of the rescue of some of the sailors who survived the dastardly attack, the Sri […]
Asian Expertise Is Now Driving The SDGs In The Region
By Kalinga Seneviratne BANGKOK, Thailand | 16 March 2026 (IDN) — The US President Donald Trump may like to believe that it is the US with its powerful military that is driving the global order, but, the recently concluded 13th Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) reflected the newly evolving global order is driven […]
Erasing Palestinian Identity
Netanyahu’s strategy to prevent Palestinian statehood. By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 10 Mar 2026 (IDN) — Prime Minister Netanyahu does not seek a negotiated peace with the Palestinians; instead, he perpetuates constant hostilities as a means to incrementally seize ever more territory in the West Bank and Gaza—territory he knows he could never secure […]
Implications of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Parliamentary Supermajority
Resurrection of Bushidō into a tool for Japanese ultra-nationalism & military expansionism? By Purnaka L. de Silva* NEW YORK | 22 February 2026 (IDN) — Japan’s acquisition of a parliamentary supermajority under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s landslide election victory marks a qualitative shift in the country’s political trajectory with significant implications for regional security, historical reconciliation, […]