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Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*
NEW YORK (IDN) – One week after the heinous bomb blasts that shattered the calm of an Easter Sunday, the Sri Lankan Sunday Times carried an editorial titled 'Let’s resurrect ourselves from this catastrophe'. This was a timely advice since only crude opportunists would attempt to hijack "the dastardly attacks by crazed religious bigots condemned by their own community" to advance their goals.
Viewpoint by James M. Dorsey
James M. Dorsey – a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture – offered this viewpoint to IDN.
SINGAPORE (IDN) – There’s a ‘blame the messenger’ quality to global efforts to counter misinformation, extremism and hate speech by world leaders and technology companies.
Viewpoint by James M. Dorsey
James M. Dorsey – a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture – offered this viewpoint to IDN.
SINGAPORE (IDN) – A Saudi push to become a major natural gas player is as much about diversifying the kingdom’s domestic consumption and export mix as it is about taking advantage of harsh U.S. economic sanctions against Iran designed to force a change of the Islamic republic’s policy, if not its regime.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Traditionally old men have sent young men to fight the wars they have started. Today it may be somewhat different. Old men may be shying away from war while young men are still beholden to it.
The world, as never before, is becoming demographically lopsided, with older people concentrated in rich countries and the young in not-so-rich countries. These older societies are becoming less warlike, as the influence of the experienced and the wise filters down into the body politic.
Viewpoint by James M. Dorsey
James M. Dorsey – a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture – offered this viewpoint to IDN.
SINGAPORE (IDN) – Political transition in the Middle East and North Africa operates so far on the principle of ‘The King is dead, long live the King.’
Viewpoint by Sir Shridath Ramphal
"The truly compelling lesson . . . is how critical it is to pool our resources: political, economic and intellectual in negotiating with countries beyond ourselves: globally, in Europe, in the Hemisphere," says Sir Shridath Ramphal – one of the original drafters of the 1975 Georgetown Agreement that created the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP). The following are extensive excerpts from his Opening Remarks on 26 February 2019, tracing the genesis and the process of unification for the ACP at the Inter-Regional High-Level Consultation in Barbados.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Let’s make America great again! Or as the prime minister of France said: Let’s make France great again. Or, as President Donald Trump conceded, let every nation in the world announce that they are going to be great again. But what makes for greatness? Over that there is a big dispute.
Strategists say that power has to be measured carefully because “the balance of power is the motor of world politics, playing a role as central as the role of energy in physics and money in economics”, as writes Professor Michael Beckley of Tufts University.
Viewpoint by Jayasri Priyalal
The writer is the Regional Director responsible for Finance Sector of UNI Global Union, Asia & Pacific based in Singapore. This article was first published in the Financial Times, Sri Lanka.
SINGAPORE (IDN-INPS) – We are now in the era of acceleration termed as the Fourth Industrial Revolution [4IR]. In the new era, the impact and relevance of old ethical theories of yesteryear have severe limitations to offer solutions to the complex problems unfolding in the twenty-first century.
By Ramesh Jaura
BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – In the run-up to the forthcoming round of crucial talks on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, Buddhist philosopher, educator and a staunch advocate of nuclear disarmament, Dr. Daisaku Ikeda, has called for easing tensions to halt further escalation of the conflict over nuclear weapons development.
Underlining the importance of the third session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) from April 29 to May 10, 2019 at UN Headquarters in New York, Dr. Ikeda has urged the need to gather the support of States parties for multilateral efforts toward nuclear disarmament. 2020 will mark the 50th anniversary of the entry into force of the accord.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Conversation with Manmohan Singh was always fascinating at the time he was prime minister of India. It was difficult to challenge his superior intellect. He could, in his calm, disciplined way, out-argue anyone. He saw where India was going with a degree of exactness that dwarfed other observers. On the economic front it was, for his Congress Party government, all about ending poverty which he thought doable, although achieving a fairer income distribution was much more difficult.
