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DON'T QUOTE ME: An Indian Ocean Island That Comes with an Expiry Date

By Thalif Deen*

NEW YORK (IDN) — Just after a band of mercenaries tried to oust the government of the Maldives, I asked a Maldivian diplomat about the strength of his country's standing army. "Standing army?", the diplomat asked with mock surprise, "We don't even have a sitting army."

With a population of about 250,000, back in March 1999, the Maldives was perhaps one of the world’s few countries with no fighter planes, combat helicopters, warships, missiles or battle tanks. As a result, the island's fragile defenses attracted a rash of free-lance mercenaries and bounty hunters who tried to take over the country twice—once in 1979, and a second time in 1988.

: Thalif Deen; UN INSIDER; 12 June 2021

US Withdrawal from Afghanistan and National Security

Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Jainendra Karn

Manish Uprety is an ex-diplomat & ALCAP’s Special Advisor for Asia & Africa and Jainendra Karn is a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News.

NEW DELHI (IDN) — Who would have thought that Heroin which inspired Lou Reed to write a cult classic in 1967 would be discussed in the strategic circles of global democracies especially for its national security implications in the twenty-first century.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 12 June 2021

Photo credit: European Union | Mathias Eick

EU and the US Concerned About the Humanitarian Emergency in Tigray

By Reinhardt Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) — Together with the United Nations, the European Commission has urged "all parties to the conflict" in Ethiopia’s Tigray region to agree to "a ceasefire immediately to facilitate humanitarian assistance to reach all people in need in Tigray regardless of where they are and to stop violence against civilians".

Leading representatives of the two organizations had a virtual meeting on June 10 to discuss the situation seven months into the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 11 June 2021

Photo: Now we are chasing behind oxygen to save lives; next would be chasing behind precious freshwater for survival. South America's Amazon River. CC BY-SA 2.0

If Lessons Are Not Learned, Eternal Abnormality the New Normal?

Viewpoint by Jayasri Priyalal *

SINGAPORE (IDN) — The new normal has become a famous phrase with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This new normal could become an eternal abnormality if lessons learned about inequality in the globalized world economy exposed by the COVID-19 are not recognized and acted upon.

Today, people feel frustrated about adjusting to the health crisis's eternal uncertainties with looming confusions and contradictions between the normality of the past and not the usual present.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 11 June 2021

Photo credit: A faith-based legal advocacy organization, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International showing Dalits.

Mounting Atrocities Against Dalits Across India

India is witnessing a worrying decline in the social status of the Dalits, coupled with an economic decline. This makes the marginalised groups even more vulnerable.

Viewpoint by Dr Ram Puniyani

This article is the 13th in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. The writer is a former professor of biomedical engineering and former senior medical officer affiliated with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (now Mumbai) and meanwhile a social activist and commentator.

: Suresh Jaura; THE WORLD; South Asia; 11 June 2021

Photo: UN Headquarters in New York. Credit: Wiki Commons/Neptuul (CC)

No Bold Actions Yet to Stop the Flows of Dirty Money

Viewpoint by Maíra Martini *

NEW YORK (IDN) — Governments gathered for the first-ever UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) against corruption June 2-4, 2021. This could have been an opportunity for the more and the less advanced economies to come to the table and discuss bold improvements to the current international anti-corruption framework and architecture. It fell short.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 11 June 2021

Photo: Two women at an empowerment workshop. Credit: High Atlas Foundation.

Heart Disease in Morocco and Empowerment Workshops

By Carlie Daniel

Carlie Daniel is an Intern with the High Atlas Foundation and a student at the University of Virginia.

MARRAKECH (IDN) — Heart disease is a prevalent chronic disease in Morocco and has been one of the leading causes of death over the last 10 years. Heart disease can be prevented through lifestyle changes, but people must be made aware of the steps they should take to effectively curb this health concern.

: Africa & ME Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 10 June 2021

Photo: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. Credit: CGTN Africa.

What Twitter Ban Teaches the World About Nigeria

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — The Nigerian government thinks Twitter is the greatest source of its misery. After straining at the leash for months, it couldn’t resist swatting the microblogging platform with a ban last week. But what does the ban mean, really?

It means that about 40 million users in Nigeria who are mostly young people would be unable to access the service through local service providers.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 June 2021

Photo: The writer who just turned 80. Source: www.jonathanpowerjournalist.com

'Maintaining A Sense of Hope' In A Time of Corona

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — There’s hardly a person alive who doesn’t know that the Third World continents of Africa, Asia and Latin America are having a desperate struggle fighting the Coronavirus. At a time when the richer countries are winning the fight against the virus many Third World countries—like Brazil, India and South Africa—are overwhelmed by it.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 10 June 2021

Photo: Dr. Kakha Shengelia, President of IAUP and Caucasus University.

The Role of Academia and Universities in Fostering Awareness of SDGs

Viewpoint by Dr. Kakha Shengelia

The writer is President of the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP) and President of Caucasus University (CU). The following is the text of Dr Kakha's Foreword to Striving for People, Planet and Peace, 2021 Joint Media Project Report of the Non-Profit International Press Syndicate Group with IDN as flagship agency in partnership with Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

TBILISI, Georgia (IDN) — It was in the year 2015 when the world convened and defined 17 concrete objectives to achieve till 2030 that would improve everyone’s lot around the globe. Touching on every aspect of human existence, from social inequalities to the planet we live on.