The Race to Keep War Under Human Control By Ramesh Jaura This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com/ BERLIN | 18 August 2026 (IDN) — As artificial intelligence moves from supporting military operations to becoming a weapon that can choose and launch attacks, governments must now decide, without further delay, whether machines should ever be […]
The Digital Quarantine: Youth Social Media Bans Undermine Fundamental Rights
By Gina Romero The writer is a UN Special Rapporteur for the rights to freedom of assembly and of association. BOGOTA, Colombia | 17 August 2026 (IDN) — The global trend of imposing blanket social media bans on youth under 16 creates a civic-political vacuum where they can neither assemble nor digitally associate, effectively stripping […]
Wars, Inequality, And Poverty No Longer Confined To Faraway Places
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 16 August 2026 (IDN) — Fragmented power, deepening inequality, climate stress, dying democracies, and weaponized information have fused into one global crisis; we can break the cycle if we only summon the will We are living through a moment in time of cascading disorder. Wars, inequality, and poverty are […]
The Battle for Believability
Why Trust Has Become the World’s Most Valuable Strategic Resource By Ramesh Jaura This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com/ BERLIN | 10 August 2026 (IDN) — The most serious problem of the AI age might not lie in the ease with which lies can be produced, but in the increasing difficulty of believing in […]
Netanyahu’s Challengers Are Selling The Same Poison
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 9 August 2026 (IDN) — The men who could replace Netanyahu know the truth and refuse to say it. A Palestinian state is not an existential threat to Israel; the endless denial of one is. By reciting the old lie for votes, Israel’s opposition is not offering a new […]
Governments Must Act Now to Stop the Tobacco Industry Recruiting the Next Generation of Customers
By Gene Gesite Jr., Juan Herrera, Sama Ghozlan, Sarah Rauzana and Winnie Olwal BANGKOK | 8 August 2026 (IDN) — On International Youth Day (12 August), youth advocates around the world are calling on governments to take stronger action to protect young people from nicotine addiction. In Asia, proposals in the Philippines to raise the […]
Forestalling Future Viruses Must Be Done — And It Can Be Done Inexpensively
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 5 August 2026 (IDN) — Almost forgotten in the story about the Coronavirus is the story of AIDS. The drive to deal with it, the search to find medicine to cure it, and the self-discipline by homosexuals only began in 1981, when the disease was discovered and its causes understood. […]
Rebuilding Before Peace
How Ukraine Is Reshaping Europe and the International Order By Ramesh Jaura This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 4 August 2026 (IDN) — The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has now gone well beyond being just a conflict in a particular region; it has changed Europe’s strategic position, brought deterrence back to […]
The Challenges Facing African Candidates for the Top Job at the United Nations
By Rev. Gabriel Odima The writer is President & Director of Political Affairs, Africa Centre for Peace & Democracy. MINNESOTA, USA | 31 July 2026 (IDN) — President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda’s decision to nominate Ambassador Olara Otunnu for the top job at the United Nations is, in my view, a mockery of the international […]
Who Will Lead the United Nations?
Leadership, Legitimacy and the Future of Multilateralism By Ramesh Jaura This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com/ BERLIN | 27 July 2026 (IDN) — The election of the next United Nations Secretary-General is about far more than choosing the Organisation’s ninth leader. It will test whether the international community still believes dialogue, cooperation and shared […]