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Photo: US Sponsored Al Qaeda “Freedom Fighters” Were Used to Railroad the Formation of a Secular Socialist Government. Mohammad Najibullah, Former President of Afghanistan, in the centre. Source: Global Research

The Story of US-Led Collusion in Razing Afghanistan to the Ground

This article was produced by Globetrotter. John Pilger is an award-winning Australian journalist, filmmaker, and author. Read his full biography on his website here, and follow him on Twitter: @JohnPilger. Source: Globetrotter

SYDNEY (IDN) — As a tsunami of crocodile tears engulfs Western politicians, history is suppressed. More than a generation ago, Afghanistan won its freedom, which the United States, Britain and their “allies” destroyed.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 25 August 2021

Photo source: LOKMARG, Voice of the People

Taliban In Frame, Afghanistan in Flames, India in Firing Range

By Mahendra Ved, LOKMARG

MUMBAI (IDN) — Buzkashi, the national game of the people of Afghanistan, has horsemen competing to possess the headless body of a goat. In one of the world’s most enduring ironies, the country has itself become the goat, being dragged and tossed around. A horrified world watches as an elected government is losing out to the Taliban, a group of women-hating men poised to take control.

They have rendered impotent and helpless the outsiders, all powerful, that have been either backing them diplomatically and militarily, or opposing them meekly, with wordy resolutions.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; South Asia; 16 August 2021

Photo: Screenshot of "Tryst with Destiny" full speech delivered by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, to the Indian Constituent Assembly in The Parliament, on the eve of India's Independence, towards midnight on 14 August 1947. Uploaded by Xplorer India.

Will India Return to The Path Envisaged by The Freedom Movement?

Musings on 75th Year of Independence

Viewpoint by Dr Ram Puniyani

This article is the 16th in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. The writer is a former professor of biomedical engineering and former senior medical officer affiliated with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (now Mumbai) and meanwhile a social activist and commentator. This article was first published on CounterCurrents.org on August 11, 2021.

: Suresh Jaura; THE WORLD; South Asia; 14 August 2021

Photo: T. S. Tirumurti, India’s ambassador to the United Nations, leads the monthly rotating Security Council presidency in August. JOHN PENNEY

India Aims to Use Its Security Council Seat to Show Why It Should Be Permanent

By Stéphanie Fillion, Passblue

NEW YORK (IDN) — The presidency of the Security Council is always a high time for a country’s diplomacy, but for India right now, it’s more than that. In August, the country is going to try to show the world why it deserves a permanent seat in the United Nations’ most important body. According to T. S. Tirumurti, India’s ambassador to the UN, the Covid-19 pandemic has once again highlighted the need for major reforms of the Council and India’s long quest for permanency in it.

: Opinion Editor; UN INSIDER; 08 August 2021

Image: Fiji's Fijiana women's sevens rugby team bags bronze medal after beating Great Britain. Credit: 24News

For Sesenieli Donu, The Fijiana Sevens Rugby Triumph in Tokyo Thrills Home Village

By Josefa Babitu*

SUVA, Fiji (IDN) — It might have been just a bronze medal to some people but for the Fijiana team—especially Sesenieli Donu—it was the fruit of sacrifice and a token of appreciation for her village of Vatukarasa in Nadroga.

After an intense competition for the bronze medal with Great Britain at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Japan, the country’s women sevens rugby team bagged their first ever medal after defeating their former coloniser on July 31.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 06 August 2021

Photo: Olkaria geothermal complex and power station, the first geothermal power plant in Africa located in Nairobi, Kenya.

Energy Will Play a Critical Role in The Success of Africa’s Free Trade Area

Africa Renewal's Managing Editor Kingsley Ighobor talks to Damilola Ogunbiyi

NEW YORK (IDN | Africa Renewal) — Damilola Ogunbiyi is the CEO of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All. On the sidelines of the UN High-Level Political Forum from July 6 to 15 in New York, Ms. Ogunbiyi spoke to Africa Renewal’s Kingsley Ighobor on a range of issues, including how to tackle energy poverty in Africa. Here are the excerpts:

: Africa Renewal; SUSTAINABILITY; Affordable Clean Energy; 04 August 2021

Photo: Petteri Taalas, the head of the World Meteorological Organization, a United Nations specialized agency based in Geneva, speaking at the Conference of State Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Dec. 10, 2019. WMO

Doubts Whether the World Meteorological Organization Will be Reformed

Viewpoint by Maurizio Guerrero* Passblue

NEW YORK (IDN) — Back in June 2019, the World Meteorological Organization embarked on an ambitious effort to streamline its internal operations, cut expenses by two percent and realign the organization with “21st-century realities, priorities and dynamics.”

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 31 July 2021

Photo: A ship in The Arctic Sea. Source: eurasiareview.vom

Russia, US and The Churning Arctic Geopolitics

Viewpoint by K.M. Seethi*

KOTTAYAM | India (IDN) — The Arctic geopolitics has become one of the strategic policy planks of big powers. This has been reflected in the separate statements issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden after the US-Russia summit in Geneva on June 16.

Putin told reporters that Moscow and Washington “should interact on issues related to the Arctic region.” He said: “Russia and the United States are among the eight members of the Arctic Council; Russia chairs the Arctic Council this year. Moreover…there is a strait between Alaska and Chukotka, the United States is on one side and Russia is on the other. All this together should push us to join efforts” (The TASS News 16 June 2021).

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 18 June 2021

Photo: G7 leaders with their family members. @GretaTunberg

G7 Judged a 'Colossal Failure' for All the World to See

Viewpoint by Jon Queally*

PORTLAND | USA (IDN) — Anti-poverty groups, climate campaigners, and public health experts reacted with outrage and howls of disappointment Sunday after the G7 leaders who spent the weekend (June 11-13) at a summit in Cornwall, England issued a final communique that critics said represents an extreme abdication of responsibility in the face of the world's most pressing and intertwined crises—savage economic inequality, a rapidly-heating planet, and the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 13 June 2021

Photo: UNICEF Teachers and students were able to return to school in Lao Cai, Vietnam, in May 2020. Credit: UNICEF

Make People’s Vaccine Top Priority to Fight a Mutating Virus

Viewpoint by Nicolas J. S. Davies*

PORTLAND | USA (IDN) — A recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll found that worries about the COVID pandemic in the United States are at their lowest level since it began. Only half of Americans are either “very worried” (15%) or “somewhat worried” (35%) about the virus, while the other half are “not very worried” (30%) or “not worried at all” (20%).

But the news from around the world makes it clear that this pandemic is far from over, and a story from Vietnam highlights the nature of the danger.