By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 29 April 2026 (IDN) — Not long ago, U.S. Strategic Command—the branch responsible for nuclear weapons—issued a stark warning: conflict conditions could “very rapidly drive an adversary to consider nuclear use as their least bad option.” That sober assessment captures a growing unease. President Joe Biden’s decision to send […]
IRAN: Sustainable Peace Takes Time
By David L. Phillips* OXFORD, UK | 29 April 2026 (IDN) — I spent hours with Ambassador Javad Zarif, Iran’s Permanent Representative to the UN and Foreign Minister in 2015. Rather convincingly, he maintained that Iran was not seeking a nuclear weapon but merely insisting on its right to enrichment. He called Iran’s nuclear program a […]
Rethinking Conservation as a Climate Solution
Connecting the futures of jaguars, whales, and humans into one vibrant ecosystem. By Ramesh Jaura This article was first published on rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 22 April 2026 (IDN) — Marking a watershed moment for global conservation, countries at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of […]
A Fool Threw a Stone into a Well…
By James E. Jennings* ATLANTA, Georgia, USA | 15 April 2026 (IDN) — An Arab proverb says, “A fool threw a stone into a well—a hundred wise men could not get it out.” By thumbing his nose at the Constitution, bypassing Congress, and zeroing out 349 million US citizens kept in the dark about launching […]
Remembering Stephen Lewis — A Tireless Advocate for Africa, Women, and Children
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 […]