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Image: North Korea Test-Fires New 'Long-Range Cruise Missile': KCNA

North Korea Flexes its Nuclear Muscles – and Defies the Western World

By Thalif Deen

NEW YORK (IDN) – North Korea, long dubbed as a "hermit kingdom" has continued to remain cut off from the rest of the world—politically, economically and geographically.

But neither rigid sanctions, nor international isolation and growing food insecurities, have prevented the country—officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)—from making significant advances as the world’s ninth nuclear power, along with the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Israel.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 17 October 2021

Volunteerism Must be at the Centre of Our Common Agenda

Viewpoint by Simone Galimberti

The Co-Founder of ENGAGE, a not-for-profit NGO based in Nepal, Simone Galimberti, is one of the participants at the IVCO 2021 conference.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (IDN) — The ambitious plans put forward by UN Secretary-General António Guterres with the recent launch of Our Common Agenda, are based on key universal values and principles fostering better humane relationships.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 17 October 2021

Public Development Banks Fail to Meet Commitments to Human Rights & Community-led Development

Viewpont by Siddharth Akali

The writer is an international lawyer who has been trained by local communities, Indigenous governments and peoples in Canada, India and Nepal. He works as director of the Coalition for Human Rights in Development, a global coalition of social movements, civil society organizations, and grassroots groups working together to ensure that development is community-led and that it respects, protects, and fulfills human rights.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 October 2021

Photo: Bali opened the country for tourism on October 14. Source: Travelling Lifestyle.

As Asia Grapples 'Living With COVID-19' Media May Need to Shed Adversarial Culture

Viewpoint By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — Indonesia’s popular tourism islands of Bali opened for tourism October 14, while Thailand announced that from November 1 vaccinated travellers from 19 countries will be allowed to visit the kingdom including its tourism island of Phuket. Both those countries’ tourism industry, which is a major revenue earner, has been devastated by over 18 months of inactivity that have impacted on the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 15 October 2021

Photo: NZ Broadcasting and Media Minister Kris Faafoi's ambition is to “reflect the cultural diversity of New Zealand”. Credit: Samuel Rillstone/RNZ

With Public Interest Journalism Fund, NZ Seeks To 'Normalise' Diversity

By Sri Krishnamurthi

The author wrote this article for the IDN partner Asia-Pacific Report on October 13.

WELLINGTON (IDN) — The announcement in February of a new $55 million, three-year Public Interest Journalism Fund (PIJF) by Minister for Broadcasting and Media Kris Faafoi suggested a revitalisation of tired old traditional media models.

Since then it has been viewed suspiciously by journalists with right-leaning tendencies and denizens of the dark who contend the government is attempting to curry favour with this bauble.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 15 October 2021

Photo: (left) Buildings affected by worsening flooding in Bangladesh. After Nurjahan moved into a slum to escape flooding in Bangladesh’s south, she used the Graduation program to give her and her family a new outlook on life (right). Credit: BRAC 2019.

We Are in a Global State of Emergency on Extreme Poverty

Viewpoint by Shameran Abed

The writer is Executive Director, BRAC International. Originally founded in 1972 as the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee and later known as the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, BRAC’s operations have grown globally and with that growth, the organization is now simply known as BRAC.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 14 October 2021

Photo: Mwala Mooto of Mooto Cashew Suppliers Ltd., a tree nursery focusing on drought-resistant crop trees to help depleted ecosystems. Source: Mootoo Cashew Suppliers Limited

How Hyperlocal Businesses can Save Biodiversity

Viewpoint by Julia Rohe-Frydrych and Luis Ebert

BERLIN (IDN) — Markets have not been kind to biodiversity. Activities up and down the economic value chain take an enormous toll on the planet’s ecological riches, and many people believe conservation and private-sector commerce are mutually opposed. In recent years, some conservationists and economists have started to argue that biodiversity is essential to long-term business survival.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 14 October 2021

Photo: Captain Thomas Sankara and journalist Sennen Andriamirado in Paris in 1986. Pascal Maitre/Archives JA. Source: The African Report.

Alleged Killers of Pan-African Icon Thomas Sankara on Trial

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The trial of the accused killers of Thomas Sankara, revolutionary leader of Burkina Faso—including his former friend Blaise Compaore who succeeded him as president and went on to rule for 27 years— has now been adjourned to October 25 after defense lawyers asked for more time to prepare their case. It was to have opened on October 11 in the capital Ouagadougou.

Fourteen men are being tried over the assassination in 1987. Near the Thomas Sankara memorial site, many expressed the hope that the trial would shed light on his murder.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 October 2021

Photo: U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 2021 Russia–United States summit in Geneva, Switzerland. Wikimedia Commons.

Russian Threat Perceptions in American Foreign Policy

Viewpoint by James W. Carden

This article was produced by Globetrotter in partnership with the American Committee for U.S.-Russia Accord. James W. Carden is a writing fellow at Globetrotter and a former adviser to the U.S. State Department. Previously, he was a contributing writer on foreign affairs at the Nation, and his work has also appeared in the Quincy Institute’s Responsible Statecraft, the American Conservative, Asia Times, and more. Source: Globetrotter.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 13 October 2021

Image: The Islamic Bomb. Credit: The Conversation

About the First Islamic Bomb and Its Father

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Whenever I introduced Munir Khan to a friend I would say light-heartedly “and this is the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb,” just to enjoy the pleasure of watching the reaction. Khan himself would give a self-deprecatory smile. As Hans Blix, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the world’s nuclear policeman, put it to me, Khan was “a cheerful soul.”