Viewpoint by Dr Ram Puniyani This article is the 18th 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 […]
Clarion Call for Policies to End the Nuclear Arms Race
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | PRAGUE (IDN) — On January 24, 1946, the United Nations General Assembly adopted by consensus its very first resolution Resolution 1 (I), which established a commission of the UN Security Council to ensure “the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction”. […]
Devastating Loss of Civilian Lives in a Middle East War Fuelled by Western Arms
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen on January 21, which killed at least 70 civilians, has shifted the focus once again to the festering seven-year-old conflict in the Middle East, which the UN has described as “the world’s worst humanitarian disaster”. The disproportionate retaliation was a response to a […]
The West Needs to Understand Why Ukraine Is So Important to Russia
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — “George, you have to understand that Ukraine is not even a country. Part of its territory is in Eastern Europe and the greater part was given to us.” These were the ominous words of President Vladimir Putin of Russia to President George W. Bush in Bucharest, Romania, […]
‘Coronavirus Is Here to Stay’
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK (IDN) — It is “dangerous to assume that Omicron will be the last variant, or that we are in the endgame” of the pandemic. “On the contrary, globally, the conditions are ideal for more variants to emerge,” exactly two years and a day since he declared the deadly virus a […]
Health System in Afghanistan Is on The Brink of Collapse
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA (IDN) — The World Health Organization (WHO) a specialized agency of the United Nations, has warned that fundamental and life-saving primary health care services in Afghanistan are under severe threat. It is, therefore, making an urgent appeal to international donors to rapidly finance the Sehatmandi programme, as they have done for […]
Court Freezes Planned Amazon HQ in Cape Town on Historically Significant Site
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — A massive new complex housing Amazon’s proposed South African headquarters along with a hotel and other businesses continues to face stiff opposition from indigenous Khoisan, environmental and community groups despite city officials already approving of construction of the nine-story construction. Opponents say the project will […]
Concern Over ‘Fortress Conservation’ and Evictions of Kenyans from Ancestral Homelands
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Nature conservancies, with the stated goal of protecting wilderness and endangered wildlife, have enabled the removal of tribal peoples from their ancestral homelands in Africa to allow superior “western” models of conservation to prevail, according to the activist group Survival International. Under the western model, […]
“Africa Has Been the Linchpin of The Machine of Modernity”
By Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS (IDN) — This remarkable quote appears on page 6 of Howard French’s latest book, published in October 2021, “Born in Blackness. Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World. 1471 to the Second World War“. In doing so, he casts a lot of doubt on traditionally held opinions about Africa […]
The Global Corporate Tax Deal–An African Perspective
Viewpoint by Orria Goni and Luckystar Miyandazi Orria Goni is SDG Financing and South-South Cooperation Advisor, UNDP, and Luckystar Miyandazi is Regional Tax Specialist, UNDP. This article was posted on UNDP Blog. NEW YORK (IDN) — On October 30, 2021, the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies, the G20, endorsed a two-pillar blueprint to […]