By Marc Saxer* This article was issued by IPS-Journal. BERLIN | 20 February 2025 (IDN) — At the Munich Security Conference, two starkly opposing visions of order collided. Future historians may mark this moment as the definitive end of the US-led liberal world order and the point when the erosion of liberal hegemony within Western […]
Sharp Divides as Parliamentarians Debate the Future of SDGs
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | 19 February 225 (IDN) — Parliamentarians gathered at UN Headquarters in New York haveunderscored the pressing need to reboot the 2030 Agenda. Some called for renewed commitment; others questioned whether the goals should be replaced entirely. But there was little consensus on solutions. “We are far behind from where […]
Ukraine War Calls for A Scale-Up in Support to Women and Girls
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK | 19 February 2025 (IDN) — Ahead of 24 February marking the third anniversary of Russia’s all-out assault on Ukraine, the United Nations has warned that the war is having a devastating effect on women and girls, with 1,869,000 internally displaced, almost 6.7 million women in need of humanitarian assistance, […]
US-Russia Meeting in Riyadh Successful, More to Follow
Meeting Atmosphere Professional, Not Ideological By Stephen Bryen* This article was issued by Weapons and Strategy and is being republished with their permission. WASHINGTON, D.C. | 18 February 2025 (IDN) — Both the Russian and the US side say that the high level diplomatic meeting held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on the morning of February […]
To Bomb or Not to Bomb Iran
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 18 February 2025 (IDN) — The talk is talk. Or will it walk? President Donald Trump has raised the stakes once again, repeating the threats against Iran in his first term. It all goes back many years. Mitt Romney, the US Republican candidate for the presidency, said that on […]
BRICS Proves Increasingly Attractive for Middle Powers in The Region
By Marlies Linke* ALMATY, Kazakhstan | 17 February 2025 (IDN) — The sixteenth BRICS summit, held in Kazan, Russia from 22 to 24 October 2024, bore the slogan “Strengthening Multilateralism for Fair Global Development and Security”. According to its concluding statement, the summit was intended to demonstrate that the participating Global South countries are expanding […]
The Upcoming Test Launch of a Nuclear Missile Is All Waste – and Dangerous Folly
By Ryan Black* FORT WAYNE, Indiana, USA | 17 February 2025 (IDN) — If President Trump and Elon Musk want to cut federal waste, they should listen to activists who’ve been targeting the land-based leg of the nuclear triad for decades. At a press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (12 February), […]
Was the AI Summit in Paris a Missed Opportunity?
By Simone Galimberti* KATHMANDU, Nepal | 16 February 2025 (IDN) — Since the start of the Paris AI Action Summit, held on the 10th and 11th of February, the expectations were minimal. Yet there was a trickle of hope that the gathering would succeed at maintaining a modicum focus on safety and security of artificial […]
The Need for U.S. Action in the Democratic Republic of Congo
By Kate Hixon* WASHINGTON DC | 16 February 2025 (IDN) — On 18 January, the M23, a Congolese Tutsi-led, Rwandan-backed rebel military group, launched a military operation to expand the territory it had gained over the past three years. The operation violated an August 2024 ceasefire agreement between Rwanda and the DRC established through the […]
Navigating a Low-Carbon Future: Maritime Decarbonisation on the 2025 Global Agenda
By Pascal Lamy and Geneviève Pons* BRUSSELS | 15 February 2025 (IDN) — Ten years ago, at COP21 the Paris Agreement was adopted as a global response to the threat of climate change, aiming at limiting the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. In the same year, world leaders also committed to thriving the […]