By Manish Rai MUSCAT, Oman (IDN) – It’s widely believed that there are two main branches of Islam i.e. Sunni and Shia, which differ in their understanding of early Islamic history and hence they have different ideas about how Islam’s leadership should have been organised in subsequent eras. But there is a third, lesser-known body […]
Fear, Greed and Hate as We Enter the 2020s
Viewpoint by Roberto Savio* ROME (IDN | OtherNews) – In a world in which the institutions that govern us are rapidly losing their moral compass, it is difficult not to realise that in 2020 we are now entering – or have already entered – a new low point in the history of humankind. Today, for […]
Russia Urges U.S. to Agree to Extending New START
By Kester Kenn Klomegah MOSCOW (IDN) – In a series of significant discussions and a special interview with Rossiya Segodnya, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has reiterated Russia’s plea for the extension of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START). President Vladimir Putin had clearly stated that “Russia is ready to extend it without any preconditions,” […]
Turbulent Start to a New Decade for Central Europe
Viewpoint by Wojciech Przybylski In 2020, Central Europe will observe plenty of electoral races and will be exposed to a few important economic and security impulses, writes Wojciech Przybylski, Chairman of the Res Publica Foundation and Editor-in-chief of Visegrad Insight where this article was first publisehd. WARSAW (IDN-INPS) – In February parliamentary elections will be […]
Kenya and Uganda Partner With the UN to Achieve SDGs
By Siddharth Chatterjee and Rosa Malango UN Resident Coordinators in Kenya and Uganda, Siddharth Chatterjee and Rosa Malango respectively report in a blog how the two East African neighbours have kick-started a Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by partnering with the UN to address challenges that transcend country borders. The UN […]
WISHING US ALL AND OUR PLANET PEACE & SECURITY
Trump Fighting the Wrong Battle in A Tit-For-Tat Confrontation with China
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) – In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, Sherlock Holmes lectures Watson on the unlikely subject of free trade. Holmes: “Capital article this on free trade. Permit me to read you an extract from The Times: ‘You may be cajoled into imagining that your own […]
Eminent Kenyan Writer Urges Africa ‘To Do Things for Itself’
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Over the last 100 years, Africa has been the eternal donor to the West but has been represented as always reliant on aid from the Western community. “We must find a way of reversing this by becoming makers of our own raw materials,” asserts Kenyan […]
UN Chief Regards Youth As the ‘Greatest Source’ Of Hope
By Santo D. Banerjee NEW YORK (IDN) – With “uncertainty and insecurity all around”, Secretary-General António Guterres has described young people as “the greatest source of hope”. In welcoming the New Year, he said: “The United Nations stands with you and belongs to you”. According to the UN chief, the current situation is characterized by: […]
Iran Turns to China and India In the Face of US Sanctions
Viewpoint by Mohammad Soltaninejad Mohammad Soltaninejad is Assistant Professor of Middle East studies at the University of Tehran. This article appeared in the most recent edition of East Asia Forum Quarterly, ‘Economics and security’, Vol. 11 No. 4. TEHRAN (IDN-INPS) – In the face of the United States withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal and […]