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Photo: Participants in a Forum in 2022 to explore job possibilities for Sri Lankans in Singapore with the country's High Commissioner Sashikala Premarwardhane in first row centre. Source: High Commission of Sri Lanka in Singapore.

The “Job” Culture Is Changing in The Post-Pandemics Era

Viewpoint by Jayasri Priyalal*

SINGAPORE (IDN) — How many of us can predict continuing to hold the job that we do currently into the future? That is the challenge many policyholders grapple to address to develop strategies to stimulate the stalled economies to grow sustainably.

The concept of a job is disappearing as there is an increasing trend of atomization of work processes with technological infiltration. As such, job security is fading away, and the employability of human talent is gaining prominence.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 14 January 2023

UN Report Finds Survival Chances of a Child or Youth Worrisome

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) — Some five million children died before their fifth birthday and another 2.1 million children and youth aged between 5–24 years lost their lives in 2021, according to the latest estimates released by the United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 14 January 2023

Security Disorder: Is There a Way Out?

Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

BONN (IDN) — Putin's war against Ukraine has not only damaged the cooperative security architecture but destroyed it permanently. The Helsinki Act of 1975, the Paris Charter of 1990 and the NATO-Russia Founding Act of 1997 created a basis for security cooperation in Europe – even "a new era of democracy, peace and unity" as the Paris Charter titled euphorically. At least that's how state leaders saw it at the decade after the end of the Cold War.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 13 January 2023

Photo: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

On the March to Destroy Israel as We Know it

Viewpoint by Dr Alon Ben-Meir*

NEW YORK (IDN) — For the past four decades, I have been a keen observer of Israel. I taught scores of courses and wrote several books and hundreds of articles and essays, featuring the country’s uniqueness. I praised its democratic institutions, revered its untainted judiciary, admired its inner strength and ingenuity, applauded its discoveries in so many fields, and marveled over its emergence as a technological powerhouse.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 13 January 2023

Photo: The foreign affairs ministers of the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, France, China, the European Union and Iran (Lausanne, March 30, 2015). Wikimedia Commons.

US Must Offer a Nuclear Deal That Iran Cannot Afford to Decline

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The policies of Iran’s government are not set in stone, as critics interminably suggest. Early December Iran’s prosecutor-general was reported as saying that the morality police were being disbanded. Clearly two months of demonstrations, led mainly by women, and now with open support by Iran’s football World Cup team while competing in Qatar, have made some in the government have a big think about its long-term policies.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 12 January 2023

Photo: President Yoon Suk Yeol shown on Jan. 9 receiving this year's business briefings from government ministries at Yeongbingwan, the guesthouse at the former presidential compound of Cheong Wa Dae. (Office of the 20th President)

South Korea Warned Against Talk of Pursuing Nuclear Weapons

By J C Suresh

TORONTO | WASHINGTON (IDN) — A former U.S. official has cautioned South Korea against talk of pursuing nuclear weapons. Mr Thomas Countryman, who served as the acting Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security until January 2017, was responding to remarks by South Korea's president Yoon Suk Yeol.

: Ramesh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 12 January 2023

Photo: Beaches of Queensland's Gold Coast during the pandemic. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | INPS-IDN

Australia May Not Like China But Likes Chinese Tourists

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — In April 2020, the then Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an independent inquiry into the origins of Covid-19, which riled the Chinese leadership. China rapidly imposed sanctions on Australian imports, especially on the lucrative barley, wine and wheat trade. They also started looking for new iron ore suppliers, an export to China that has helped Australia’s economic boom in the past three decades.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; COVID-19; 11 January 2023

Image: The powerful Group of 20 agreed on Nov. 16 at their summit in Indonesia that threats and use of nuclear weapons are “inadmissible.” Source: Twitter@g20org

The Nuclear Taboo Remains Strong for Now

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

The writer is the Executive Director of the Arms Control Association (ACA). The following text was published in the organization’s monthly journal, Arms Control Today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — Even before his disastrous decision to invade Ukraine last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin had demonstrated a malign indifference toward basic norms of international behavior, an uneven record of compliance with cornerstone arms control agreements, and a penchant for bullying and using deadly force against opponents.

: Arms Control Association; OPINION; 11 January 2023

Photo: Daisaku Ikeda. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun.

On the Ukraine Crisis and No First Use of Nuclear Weapons

By Daisaku Ikeda

The following is the text of the statement by peacebuilder and Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda, who is president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI).

TOKYO (IDN) — The Ukraine crisis that erupted in February last year continues with no prospect for cessation. The intensified hostilities have inflicted great suffering in population centers and destroyed infrastructure facilities, compelling large numbers of civilians, including many children and women, to live in a state of constant peril. More than 7.9 million people have been forced to find refuge in countries throughout Europe, and some 5.9 million have been internally displaced.

: Daisaku Ikeda; OPINION; 11 January 2023

Image: Shahed 129 UAV during an exhibition in Tehran. Source: Iran International.

Iranian Drones Include US & Western Components

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The United States has continued to accuse Russia of using scores of Iranian-made drones in its 11-month-old conflict with Ukraine.

But in an ironic twist, the Biden administration is now investigating widespread reports that Iranian drones include American and Western components— despite longstanding economic and military sanctions against Iran.