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Photo: Solar power in the desert. Terlingua, TX, USA. Credit: Gene Jeter | Unsplash.

Texas’ Sustainable Energy Initiatives Under Fire Amid the Latest Grid Failures

By J W Jackie

RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) — The recent energy failure in Texas left 4 million Texans without power and almost half the state under a boil water advisory. As below-freezing temperatures and an intense winter storm swept the state, the state’s energy grid—at the worse possible time. Clean energy is poised to grow in 2021.

Now, in the wake of consequences, everyone is asking whether renewable energy is to blame—and realizing that maybe the U.S. energy system is not as indestructible as they once thought. For now, interesting conclusions are being drawn relating to the state’s dependency on fossil fuels, and the need to do more with its energy-saving and green energy initiatives in the coming years.

: Jaya Ramachandran; SUSTAINABILITY; Affordable Clean Energy; 03 March 2021

Photo: A visual from a section of the Indian farmers' protests on 3 January 2021. CC BY-SA 4.0

India’s Farmers’ Protests Threaten to Overturn the Political Landscape

Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad*

NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (IDN) — For the past three months, Indian farmers and agricultural workers have been in the middle of a difficult struggle against the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Tens of thousands of them have gathered around the capital city of New Delhi; they say that they will not disband unless the government repeals three laws that negatively impact their ability to remain economically viable.

The government has shown no sign that it will withdraw these laws, which provide immense advantages to the large corporate houses that are close to Prime Minister Modi. The government’s attempt to crack down on the farmers and agricultural workers has altered the mood in the country: those who grow the food for the country are hard to depict as “terrorists” and as “anti-national.”

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 03 March 2021

Photo: Ethiopian refugees fleeing clashes in the country's northern Tigray region, rest and cook meals near UNHCR's Hamdayet reception centre after crossing into Sudan. Credit: © UNHCR/Hazim Elhag

Humanitarian Situation Getting from Bad to Worse in the Horn

By S. Gianesello

BRUSSELS (IDN | EEPA) — As the UN Security Council prepared to meet on March 4 to talk over the humanitarian situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, the situation in the Horn of Africa was getting from bad to worse with reports of ethnic targeting and cleansing. The meeting was requested by Ireland, joined by other members of the UN Security Council.

Diplomats stated there is no assurance that the closed-door meeting will produce a joint statement. The Security Council held several meetings over the situation in Tigray since the beginning of the conflict, on November 4, 2020. The last Council meeting was held on February 2, 2021.

: Europe Editor; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 03 March 2021

Photo: US carried out air strikes in Syria targeting Iranian backed militias on February 26. Such airstrikes add to the suffering of the people who are already suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: WFP/Khudr Alissa

Biden Should Stop Military Activism and Start Thinking

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — “Diplomacy is back”, President Joe Biden said recently. But then in the middle of a delicate diplomatic dance with Iran he goes and bombs a small, politically inconsequential, Iranian surrogate in Syria, in retaliation for the killing of one American soldier.

This seems to go against everything he said during his presidential campaign on moving towards fashioning a quick agreement with Iran so that the deal made by President Barack Obama that froze Iran’s nuclear activities could be resuscitated after Donald Trump’s decision to blow it up. Biden’s bombing has made the chance of simultaneous choreographed moves by both sides to get back to the deal made by Obama more difficult.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 02 March 2021

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Leads A New Era for the WTO

Viewpoint by Yvonne Bartmann*

This article first appeared on International Politics and Society, an e-Journal published by Germany's Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung's office in Brussels.

GENEVA (IDN) — When problems proliferate, expectations tend to be high. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is facing many problems, indeed a whole raft of them. Accordingly, there’s a lot of pressure on its new Nigerian Director-General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Not just because of the state of the WTO, but also because she’s its first female and first African leader. So it's on Okonjo-Iweala now to fix the WTO's many problems.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 02 March 2021

A Woman, a Latin American and a Future Force of Change

By Isabella Duque Muñoz

This article first appeared as one of Youth Community's Spotlight Stories on February 26, 2021, as a part of UNODA's #Youth4Disarmament Initiative.

BOGOTA (IDN) — As a Colombian, I grew up in a nation marked by violence and armed conflict. These matters seized my interest from a very young age; learning about them felt vital to understanding my country and the factors that drive conflicts around the world.

In 2016, Colombia signed a historic peace agreement and began a process of laying down arms. Witnessing these developments confirmed my passion for issues of peace, security and disarmament, as well as development in emerging countries. I wanted to get involved and make my own contribution.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 02 March 2021

Doubts Whether Return to Exceptionalism Will Serve Perceived U.S. Interests

Viewpoint by M.K. Bhadrakumar

The writer is a former Indian diplomat. This article was produced in partnership by Indian Punchline and Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute where it first appeared.

NEW DELHI (IDN) — In a statement marking the “return” of the United States to the United Nations Human Rights Council on February 24, Secretary of State Antony Blinken disclosed that the Biden administration is placing democracy and human rights at the centre of American foreign policy.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 02 March 2021

Photo: Collage of the book cover and Kalinga Seneviratne's picture at a railway station in a Southeast Asian country.

Buddhism Under Threat in Asia, Warns New Report

By Krishan Dutta

BANGKOK (IDN) — A new report released by the Sydney-based Lotus Communication Network (LCN) on February 26 warns that Buddhism is under threat across Asia, both from within and outside, and calls for concerted action by Buddhists across the region to empower themselves.

The 238-page report produced as an eBook identifies six issues that threaten Buddhism in Asia, a region, whose identity over the centuries has been built around what is called the ‘Indic-Buddhist’ civilization. These issues include proselytism targeting Buddhist communities, particularly by Evangelical (Pentecostal) Christian groups and lately Wahabi Islamists.

: Krishan Dutt; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 01 March 2021

Photo: An event to commemorate the first anniversary of the abduction of Chibok schoolgirls in northern Nigeria held by CEE-HOPE in Makoko, Lagos Nigeria. CC BY-SA 4.0

Seven Years Since Chibok, Search on for Missing Schoolgirls in Latest Nigerian Kidnap

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Nail-biting negotiations are underway for the release of 317 schoolgirls kidnapped on February 26 in north-western Nigeria — a region beset by banditry that takes thousands of lives each year. Terms of a large ransom are reportedly being discussed but officially denied.

Frightened parents who raced to the scene on hearing gunshots arrived too late to rescue their daughters at the Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, a village in Zamfara state. Police say they believe the girls in a state of distress were taken to a forest after being abducted at about 1 a.m. from their boarding school.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 01 March 2021

Photo: Long lines of people forced to flee Ethiopia's Tigray region waiting outside the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) office in Sudan's Um Rakuba camp. Photo: Ingebjørg Kårstad/NRC

U.S. President Biden Concerned About "Deteriorating Humanitarian Crisis" in the Horn

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — In what may be U.S. President Joe Biden’s first major test in Africa, a key U.S. ally stands accused of undertaking a campaign of ethnic cleansing, massacring hundreds of unarmed civilians and threatening the fragile stability of the region.

President Biden, confronting the scenario linked to U.S. ally Ethiopia, shared his concerns in a telephone call on February 25 to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.