Viewpoint by Ben Phillips* This article was originally published on openDemocracy. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News. LONDON (IDN) – 2020 isn’t just the year of the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s also the year when protest has gone viral. Covid-19 has both […]
Distinguished Diplomat Kohona Tipped to be Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to China
By Radwan Jakeem NEW YORK | COLOMBO (IDN) – A major overhaul of the heads of Sri Lankan diplomatic missions abroad will come into effect in the next 30 days and new ambassadors have already been handpicked to key embassies abroad. These include New Delhi, Washington DC, Chennai, Tokyo, Beijing and Ottawa, reports Sunday Times. […]
Japan’s Longest-Serving Prime Minister Failed to Achieve Most of His Goals
Viewpoint by Sven Saaler The writer is representative of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Japan and Professor of Modern Japanese History at Sophia University in Tokyo. This article appeared the web-based International Politics and Society Journal on September 3. TOKYO (IDN) – On 28 August 2020, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that he would […]
A Generation and a Day in Development Life – HAF Celebrates 20 Years
Viewpoint by Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir The writer is President of the High Atlas Foundation in Marrakech, Morocco. MARRAKECH (IDN) – As so many of us ask when we commemorate an anniversary of decades: where have all the years gone? Have we done all we can? Have we been of true service? Did we do right? […]
Financing Economic Recovery in The Midst Of COVID-19
Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana The writer is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific BANGKOK (IDN) – As the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the length and breadth of Asia and the Pacific, finance ministries are continuing their relentless […]
Let us draw on the activist spirit of the Beijing Conference on Women
By Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka The writer is UN Women Executive Director. The following is her statement for the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Fourth World Conference on Women on September 4, 1995. NEW YORK (IDN) – Exactly 25 years after the opening of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, its significance […]
What Happens to the Plastic the UK Recycles?
Viewpoint by Regina Frei & Diego Vazquez-Brust* SOUTHAMPTON | PORTSMOUTH, United Kingdom (IDN) – The secretive way in which plastic recycling is handled in the UK carries the potential for the next big scandal. While the government’s statutory guidance is supposed to clarify who is responsible, our research suggests that what happens to plastics we believe to […]
Food, President and Things We Don’t Like About Ghana
Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA (IDN) – Three years ago, it was a war spiced with condiments and paste over a dish of grain. Nigeria’s Information Minister Lai Mohammed was answering a question by CNN’s Richard Quest about who makes the […]
Somalia Remains the Epicentre of Global Geopolitical and Geo-Economic Competition
Kester Kenn Klomegah* talks to a Former Somali Diplomat Abukar Arman MOSCOW (IDN) – Though Somalia is coveted for its strategic location and huge marine resources, it remains one of the largely unstable and underdeveloped countries in Africa. With its longest coastline, bordering Ethiopia to the west, Kenya to the southwest and the Gulf of […]
A New Alliance Will Likely Shape U.S. Foreign Policy for Years to Come
Viewpoint by Marshall Auerback and James Carden* This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute. NEW YORK (IDN) – In early June, a group of former officials from the George W. Bush administration launched a PAC in support of Joe Biden’s candidacy. The group, 43 Alumni for Biden, […]